So, the re-released set of the Traveling Wilburys material has entered the UK and Australian album charts at number one, giving Dylan — in a certain way — his second number one hit in less than twelve months.

The last time I posted about this collection, I didn’t have it in my hands, but that’s now changed. As far as the bonus DVD is concerned, it’s about 24 minutes of the story of how the band came to be, with some “home movie” type footage of the guys working on the first record. Dylan-obsessive-types will be pleased to see some lingering focus on Bob while working on Tweeter and the Monkey-Man, and Congratulations. The DVD also includes the videos that the Wilburys made.

Altogether, I’m surprised at how well the music has stood up. If anything, I think some of the songs sound better now than when they first came out — when the novelty of the project may have overwhelmed the lighter-than-air charm of the material. It’s easy to dismiss Dylan’s contributions as doodling on his part, but he’s always liked to work spontaneously and in this way the situation suited him to a tee, and got some genuinely good stuff out of him. I think Congratulations is one of the most charming and irresistable things Bob ever came up with, and the second album has some really worthwhile Dylan-centered numbers too, like Where Were You Last Night?, If You Belonged to Me and 7 Deadly Sins. I was struck, too, by one of the bonus tracks: Nobody’s Child: a song recorded in 1990 to raise money for Romanian orphans. Dylan’s vocal contributions on that track are nothing short of a knockout. He just comes in at the end of each refrain to sing a variation on these lines:

Got no mommy’s kisses, no daddy’s smile
Nobody wants me, I’m nobody’s child

His voice, singing these words, sounds just so utterly bereft, while at the same time being fantastically musical, and incarnating pure Americana.

Anyhow, I think it’s fun stuff.

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