Description
Back from Rio is an album by the American singer, songwriter, and guitarist Roger McGuinn of The Byrds fame, released on Arista Records in January 1991. The album was recorded by David Cole and Peter Doell at Capitol Studios in Hollywood, California; with Cole and Roger McGuinn producing. Mixed by Cole and McGuinn at Lion Share Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California.
By now you’ve read, either in Rolling Stone or Pulse, how Roger McGuinn – the centering personality in the Byrds who gave us hits like «Turn, Turn, Turn», «Eight Miles High», and the Dylan cover «Mr. Tambourine Man» – has been a Christian since the 70s, recently assisted in releasing a fabulous Byrds’ box-set compilation and was inducted into the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame. He has been quoted as not making a contemporary Christian album in his return to recording as a solo artist, ‘Back From Rio’.
That’s all well and fine, but this contemporary Christian (as in I’m currently alive and kicking and I still believe; not that I accept the sub-cultural designation commonly held in popular culture) finds a lot of worth in the familiar melodies, beautiful harmonies, jangling 12 string guitar sounds and thoughtful lyrics to recommend it to my ccm friends. Sorry, Roger, but we’re looking for music that tastes good, not just music that suits a certain ideological box or taste. Excuse me, but aside from Mylon, Carman and Sandi Patti I’m not even sure what a ccm album is. Oh, yeah, a ccm album is a DeGarmo & Key record.
Anyway, ‘Back From Rio’ reinvents that copyrighted McGuinn/Byrds sound in a modern context, but thankfully McGuinn held enough of the reins away from co-producer David Cole (Richard Marx’ co-conspirator) to keep it from become all too modern. (Remember the Poco comeback?) McGuinn calls in friends like fellow-former Byrds David Crosby and Chris Hillman, Tom Petty (one of McGuinn’s most faithful fans) and most of the Heartbreakers, Elvis Costello, Timothy B. Schmidt, Michael Penn and J. Steven Soles, many of whom owe more to McGuinn than can be proven empirically.
Most of these songs reflect the value of love in a world that has trouble accepting its importance, as suggested in the closing track, the Jules Shear penned «If We Never Meet Again». “But I got to have faith/ I got to know that a boy and a girl/ Can still make it even though they’re/ Just not spinning with this world.” The opening track, «Someone to Love», not unlike The Choir’s «I Need Somebody to Hold On To», reminds us just how important our relationships are in affirming the meaning of our lives.
«The Trees Are All Gone» takes on environmental issues in a most outspoken fashion, unlike McGuinn’s non-political approach of the past. “Man has tried his suicide/ With bigotry and hate/ But in the end he’ll kill himself/With nothing but his waste.” «Car Phone» takes a rather humorous poke at how all our attempts to improve the technology of communication don’t really bring us closer together. However the two most critical songs, Elvis Costello’s «You Bowed Down» and the current single written and performed with Tom Petty, «King of the Hill», seem to challenge individuals to not sell out important values for gains measured in status and finance.
These themes, while not necessarily “contemporary Christian” (of course they’re not necessarily not contemporary Christian), do reflect the truth of the gospel that God’s way affirms loving, creative, nurturing relationships, where meaning and fulfillment are found in lives marked by compassion and conservation. Fine, it’s not a ccm album, it’s just the kind of heart-felt folk/rock rich in spiritual values that turned on a generation which hasn’t lost its vitality yet. [Brian Q. Newcomb, Harvest Rock Syndicate, Issue 2, 1991 (Volume 6)]
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CD tracklist:
01. Someone To Love – 3:32
02. Car Phone – 4:33
03. You Bowed Down – 3:52
04. Suddenly Blue – 3:49
05. The Trees Are All Gone – 3:51
06. King Of The Hill – 5:27
07. Without Your Love – 3:59
08. The Time Has Come – 3:45
09. Your Love Is A Gold Mine – 4:06
10. If We Never Meet Again – 4:28
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette, 12-inch vinyl LP, and CD by Arista Records.
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