Roger McGuinn's 'Back from Rio' was one of my favorite
records of 1990.  A generally strong set of songs
(um...minus "The Trees Are all Gone" and "Car Phone,"
perhaps -- although the latter is kind of catchy),
with a great set of players and collaborators, among
them Tom Petty & most of the Heartbreakers, Michael
Penn, Elvis Costello, David Crosby, Chris Hillman,
Dave Stewart, Stan Ridgeway, and, uh, Timothy B.
Schmidt.  It definitely has that late 1980s gloss to
it, but I really do like the songs.  My favorites are
"You Bowed Down," "Suddenly Blue," "King of the Hill,"
Without Your Love," and the beautiful version of Jules
Shear's "If We Never Meet Again," which closes the
record.  Did someone say they thought Jeff Lynne had
produced?  It does have some of that feel to it, but
he's not the credited producer (McGuinn and David Cole
share the credit).

As for the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, I went back in
1996, and, while I wouldn't tell anyone not to go, I
have to say that I found it rather disappointing.  At
that time, at least (I haven't been back -- that was
not too long after they had opened, I believe, and I'm
sure they are constantly building the collection), I
found it a bit short on non-paper artifacts.  And,
while it's cool to see John Lennon's hand-written
lyrics for "Imagine," for example, it is less
thrilling to see, say, the handwritten lyrics for
Donald Fagan's "I.G.Y." or the rider for R.E.O.
Speedwagon's "You Can Tune a Piano But You Can't Tuna
Fish" tour.  There were some cool items (Lennon's and
Janis Joplin's psychedelic cars, a couple of the Sgt.
Pepper's uniforms, plenty o' guitars), but, for the
most part, I went away let down (and I had planned the
vacation specifically for the purpose of going to the
RnRHoF).

--Shawn

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com