Todd Rundgren - S/D please

Anyway. I think his early to mid 70s albums like "Something/Anything", "A Wizard, a True Star" and "Todd" would usually be seen as his best albums (they certainly are IMO), but you don't completely escape those "weird" bits on those albums either.

Isn't Wizard/ True Star a bit of a slog? This album was my first thought, but I had heard that it's too long and got far too much filler. Maybe it's my subconscious lying to me again.

I'll also suggest "Back to the Bars" - Todd's greatest hits, live. (I lived off that record in 7th grade.)

something/anything is the super-over-long one, but todd is pretty excessive (despite "heavy metal kids" and a few other songs)

Healing is pretty fucking weird too, esp. the first track and "Golden Goose" (destroy: "Compassion").

I should like A Capella more, but I just don't.

"Tood" isn't all that different from those other two albums, only it has a lot more use of synths.

One thing that puzzles me about Todd Rundgren is that, surely, listening to his albums and not least his production work for other acts, he is undoubtedly an audio freak who is really into as perfect audio as possible.

What puzzles me then is the fact that "A Wizard a True Star", "Todd" and "Utopia" were, from what I know, single albums, yet with a playtime of 60 minutes plus. Wasn't Rundgren aware of the fact that squeezing more than 30 minutes into a vinyl side would reduce the sound quality?

As much as I love Todd, in no way would you call him an audiophile. Most of his records sound thin and toppy. A bit like Prince he is more concerned about getting ideas down than the fidelity of his recordings. I'm sure that having so much music on one side of vinyl didn't help matters but none of his albums are good examples of great engineering...

And I imagine he wouldn't have taken kindly to someone telling him that his records would sound better if only he didn't put so much material on them

I LOVE "A Treatise on Cosmic Fire" from Initiation, but that is pretty much *the* example for TR's "excesses". Still, are there any examples even in the most outré prog rock that are as ambitious as that?

"Initiation", now there's another extremely long single album. :)

International Feel = one of the great album openers imo.

So is "All the Children Sing" from Hermit of Mink Hollow — So jubilant!

God I love Todd...

Wasn't Rundgren aware of the fact that squeezing more than 30 minutes into a vinyl side would reduce the sound quality?

Yup:

"!IMPORTANT NOTICE!

I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but due to the fact that you can only put so much music on a piece of plastic before you start to loose (sic) some of the sound, and due to the fact that I have exceeded what is considered the practical norm by at least 6 or 7 minutes per side, you will probably want to crank up your Victrola as loud as it will go to get the full enjoyment contained on this here L.P.

Thanx"

- from the AW/ATS liner notes.

If Nazz counts, search "Forget All About It."

I think I'm starting to figure out Todd's career arc - he pretty much dominated power pop early on with the Nazz, and by his second solo album he had perfected the ballad and had nowhere to go besides A) commercial success (achieved on his next album) and B) far out acid freak territory that the fans would love and the critics would hate (AWATS and Todd). After that I don't think he had any idea what to do, challenging himself by recording a capella albums, note-by-note recreations of classic rock hits, forming his own prog band (even though prog had pretty much expired). I don't think he "lost it", I think he just stopped caring after a while. Anyways, thanks for reading.

Then, at one stage, he just thought fuck it and just made an effort to make a great pop album again, and "Healing" was his best in ages.

My favourite Nazz song outside of "Open My Eyes":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrPiA_VPB60

"Healing" is pretty fantastic...

What's the best compilation?

http://clzimages.com/music/large/7a/7a_3453650_0_GoAheadIgnoreMeTheBestofToddRu.jpg

listening to a live show from 1990 and wishing todd would cut the edm crap and do like a 70s retro soul album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liNBn5jxfDE

I wonder if "he should cut the ______ crap and do _______ instead" has ever been said more about another artist

he cut whatever and did something with hans-peter lindstrøm and emil nikolaisen (serena-maneesh)
http://pitchfork.com/news/53929-todd-rundgren-lindstrm-serena-maneeshs-emil-nikolaisen-to-release-collaborative-album-runddans/

first side of tortured artist effect is pretty damn good. "influenza" is one of his very best. i could listen to a loop of the "don't hurt yourself"'s intro all day long.