The Rhinos "In Rhi-Fi"

Those Swedish pop masters, The Rhinos have a new album out called “In Rhi-Fi” and if you are a Byrds fan, you will get your fill of jangling 12 string Rickenbacker here. Lasse Hindberg has 14 original songs, and unlike the debut album which sounds more like a tribute band, the Rhinos sound begins to evolve. Using more four way harmonies, the opener “Everything That She Believed” is a lot closer to The Association in style. The although the melody in “PTO” is positively gorgeous, the lyrics are more suited to a punk rant about a “media whore” who supports war and “is gonna crash” (I think it’s about Carl Rove). This is followed by the great “After The Love Is Gone” which continues the baroque harmonies, along the lines of The Left Banke.  “Just Another Hour With You” attempts to be a Pet Sounds era ballad, and it almost works. The vocals on some tracks are just too understated and even though there are a few gems here (“Before I Set You Free” and “I’d Rather Be Sad” ) there are plenty of embarrassing songwriting examples (“She Presents The News” and “My Town”) that spoil it. Another good one is the very Ringo-like “Tell On You” but the band would do better to do some editing for it’s next album. McGuinn fans and retro enthusiasts will enjoy the impressive musicianship, others here can pass.

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