Todd Rundgren: C or D

But I can't stand Frank Zappa.

I'm really enjoying listening to The Nazz right now, thanks to the recently issued "Todd Sings The Nazz" CD. Seems like all they needed was a good singer. But I think we did The Nazz recently too, so I'll shut up now.

I searched, I searched! Anybody got the link?

damn.

new Rundgren LP - Arena - sort of a metal/stoner guitar record.
sounds good on paper, but the thing itself- i've seen better.
it's not the Todd it used to be..

My friends got me tickets to see him in November...kinda dreading it...never seen him live before and fear it could be a carwreck...

He's coming to the super-small community theatre in my town next month.

Haven't heard this, but the last one, Liars, was a huge return to form and probably his best record since the 1970's...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qbzqv

"Bang on the Drum" is the best of the "Turn that off! That song couldn't be any more played out TURN IT OFF" songs.

Busy in Louisiana helping kids in the 9th Ward according to Offbeat magazine:

Todd Rundgren is coming to Louisiana in a big way: Not only is he playing the House of Blues (on June 23) and hosting his Toddstock fan convention at the Nottoway Plantation in White Castle, but he’ll be making a side trip to the Upper 9th Ward on June 19, where he’ll join the Youth Orchestra of the Lower 9th Ward (YOL9W) to celebrate his 65th birthday

This month he launched a fan campaign to raise money for the YOL9W; as of this week they’d taken in more than $3,000. He’s also invited fans to design a logo for the Orchestra; the winning entry will be unveiled at the event. The after-school music program aims for social change through music; the group has played eight concerts this year and worked onstage with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

As part of the visit, the group will perform at least one of Rundgren’s songs with him.

So I've been a fan of Wizard and the pop hits on Very Best of for a little while and have just started exploring his vast discography. I've been listening fairly obsessively. Right now, I almost feel like he was classic on a Beatles level. The guy is almost depressingly talented. Not only is he wildly eclectic but he achieves a fairly high level of mastery at most of the things he attempted: singing, lead guitar, synths (and every other instrument on some albums!), production, songwriting; post-Beatles/Beach Boys pop-rock, 70s singer-songwriter tunes, post-Hendrix guitar solos, eccentric 1-minute art-pop songs, Zappa-meets-Yes epic prog, soul-pop balladeering, electronic new wave, wholesale replications of difficult works by classic artists. I'm pretty surprised by how consistently good I find many of his albums, considering how eclectic they are. I like all of these without much reservation: Runt; Something/Anything; A Wizard, a True Star; Hermit of Mink Hollow; Healing; the first two Utopia albums; Faithful. Plus, there's some really good stuff on Todd and Initiation (didn't get into that 35-min synthesizer composition though).

Faithful

I mean, I imagine that side 1 of this becomes pretty inessential once you get past how impressive it was as an exercise.

He was the all-in-one studio whiz that Prince modeled himself after

there are more than a few moments where he doesn't sound like the model for prince so much as he just simply sounds like prince. his version of "never never land" on wizard for example.

Utopia's Deface the Music is way way better so far as a pastiche/homage/parody type thing goes, tho Faithful isn't really that, but y'know. Amazing record

that's weird; I had a dream about XTC last night and woke up thinking about the Rundgren-produced albums, then opened my computer to see this thread. I suppose I need to hear his own stuff now

Imago, A Wizard, a True Star is still my favourite so I highly recommend that one. However, I'd also be interested to know what you'd think of the first Utopia album (this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Rundgren's_Utopia_(album) ), since it was his full-on prog album.

Deface the Music was actually the first TR album where I felt turned off pretty soon. It just reminded me of a kind of Beatlesque indie twee-pop that I don't care for. But maybe I'll try again. It's possible that I wasn't in the mood at the time. I didn't make it the whole way through. I love the Beatles so I'm not sure exactly what the problem was.

When you say "Runt", do you mean "Runt" or "Runt. The Ballad of Todd Rundgren"

I meant the former, the one with "We Gotta Get You a Woman". I still haven't listened to all of The Ballad of.

I saw him live last night. full on EDM for the most part! The only old song he played was "secret society" from POV, wtf. Oh and he did EDM covers of "personality crisis" and "prime time". 3 piece band, electronic drum kit (think it was prarie prince), lasers, multiple pairs of scifi goggles. Some great guitar solos from Todd and the other guitarist, but todd was mainly singing and dancing. Idk, it was weird.

t/s: oblivion vs. P.O.V.

circle of amour by prince sounds pretty todd-y.

Imago... I'd also be interested to know what you'd think of the first Utopia album (this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Rundgren's_Utopia_(album) ), since it was his full-on prog album.

Not Imago here, but if I may interrupt, I'd say it was...

http://lyriki.com/images/thumb/a/a4/AlbumArt-Various_Artists-Best_Prog_Rock_Album_(2003).jpg/250px-AlbumArt-Various_Artists-Best_Prog_Rock_Album_(2003).jpg

Oh, and Evening Star, stick with the 35-min synth composition ('A Treatise on Cosmic Fire'). I've always loved the first half of this, and then, about 30 years later, I finally learned to appreciate the rest of it!

"The Ikon" is really quite amazing - one of the greatest (and longest) prog epics. I never came around to "Treatise" but the start of part three (when things really start to go into full freak mode) is entertaining.

i adore the main riff of "the ikon". those first two utopia albums are so much fun. i could listen to Mid70s Todd and Roer jams forever.

roer = roger powell

that part in the Ikon when it turns into one of Todd's trademark awesome R&B ballads - the "you don't have to be afraid" bit, it always floors me because its really out of nowhere.

heres the real question - is he worth seeing live nowadays? he's coming to Milwaukee and tickets aren't really too bad - my Dad is big into Todd and I was thinking about taking him.

I saw him live last night. full on EDM for the most part! The only old song he played was "secret society" from POV, wtf. Oh and he did EDM covers of "personality crisis" and "prime time". 3 piece band, electronic drum kit (think it was prarie prince), lasers, multiple pairs of scifi goggles. Some great guitar solos from Todd and the other guitarist, but todd was mainly singing and dancing. Idk, it was weird.

― brimstead, Saturday, July 13, 2013 7:17 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Most of his new stuff is still really soulful, though, he opened with "truth" from Liars and that's kind of where the new stuff branches out from.

my bad, didnt fully read the thread - I dunno if that's good or bad, I don't think either of us have heard anything even up to POV, but his new stuff does get good reviews. interesting

i just remembered that he DID play a medley of "hello it's me"/"i saw the light"/"can we still be friends" for the encore. all sidechain-y dance pop versions.

I'm astounded by how great the second side of Faithful is - combine it with side one of Initiation and you've got a hell of a record

for all the praise "Couldn't I Just Tell You" seems to get, "Love of the Common Man" is basically just as good, and maybe even more repeatable

IDM covers of "personality crisis" and "prime time".

I was just gonna ask "The Tubes' "Prime Time?" and then I went to youtube. Uh, yeah, that's kinda goofy. The synths sound way too thin and cheesy.

Love of the Common Man is great

this guy is a piece of shit

a soulless fake prog nilsson is no way to go through life, son

There is nothing fake about Rundgren's prog.

Ummmm

a soulless fake prog nilsson

Even if this was true, it sounds like it would be pretty cool.

soulless? have you heard "the last ride"?

when i met her, it felt like the first time i heard "bang on the drum all day"

you should, though don't expect to hear any of the classics, when I saw him it was nearly all 21st Century stuff. who knows though he changes it up a lot so maybe he is touring the classics now

If he wanted to do Liars all the way through I'd be up for that show.

fuck, yes

I just realized he’s playing in early May in Boston. Just got tickets.

I watched a couple recent live videos of his within the last six months or so and I remember thinking that the vocals sounded pretty capital r ruff but hopefully he was having an off night…he also fell flat on his face at the end of one of the tracks which was just hard to see tbh. He did spring right back up though…

Vocally or physically? Yikes

I saw him about 5 or 6 years ago, he sounded great. Dude tours a lot though so idk how he sounds night to night

Yeah I saw him 6 years ago and he mostly played new stuff I didn’t recognize. He did a medley of hits, iirc and closed with “one world” (which fucking rocked). He also played “secret society” for some reason??

Also saw the live Wizard show he did in SF in 08 or so, completely brilliant and perfect, insane amount of costume changes despite no gaps in between songs, spectacular performance, the band nailed it (kasim, prairie, young Todd clone)

Only other time I saw him was on the Arena tour and I don’t remember him playing anything before 2000 besides… “number one lowest common denominator” or something? rocked but idk kinda boring tbh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ro9g_ZZ88xk

This is the one I was thinking of…I just browsed some other stuff from 2023 where he sounded better though (I had to be sure) so I doubt this is the usual Todd experience.

its definitely not he never tripped over a speaker any of the times I saw him

#Runt4Prez

Was wondering why he was playing Sugar Land, but then looked it up and he was opening for Daryl Hall at The Smart Centre (Todd's second time playing the venue: he opened for Yes there in 2017).

Terrific looking setlist for that '23 show:

Real Man
Love of the Common Man
It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference
We Gotta Get You a Woman
Buffalo Grass
I Saw the Light
Black Maria
Unloved Children
Hello It's Me (Nazz song)
Sometimes I Don't Know What to Feel
I'm So Proud (The Impressions cover)
Ooo Baby Baby (The Miracles cover)
I Want You (Marvin Gaye cover)
The Want of a Nail

Imagine being an old person in 1973 who dozed off during Carson and who suddenly woke up during this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGcqnb0LFTw

My favourite live clips from that moment are British glam bands on Top of the Pops, but that one's right up there too. He seems so aware of how ridiculous he looks--if CHiPS had done a glam episode, that's about what their costume department would have come up with--and delivers the song beautifully anyway.

well im an old person now but i saw this on the old grey whistle test when i was 17 and i thought it was a bit silly (and i was right)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgJRtI3CUdk

smash the glass guitar todd!

kinda wish Utopia's prog phase lasted a bit longer I mean "Communion with the Sun" is so fucking good

smash the glass guitar frogsbs!

going to see him tonight!

Folks: it was good

Did he do Weezer hash pipe?

no but he did the song he did with Mr. Weezer

anyway for those who are curious - vocally he was pretty good, a bit weak at first but I think he was just saving himself for the 2nd half where he did a lot more challenging stuff. not gonna spoil the setlist but he did a few absolute showstoppers which would immediately be followed by TR-i stuff, which I thought was hilarious. I mean hey, it worked, in fact I think all his post-Nearly Human material comes off way better live than on the record

This show is blowing my mind and possibly making me rethink a majority of my life choices.

To frogbs' point, I agree 100%. This was maybe one of the best shows I've seen and I was fully prepared for it to be a miss given Todd's reputation. The band, stage design were terrific (we were in the balcony so had a great view of it). I actually found him to be in tremendous voice for the duration -- tho I concur that it was most noticeable in the second half.

Also, frogbs, I actually have a theory about this show -- that the song they open with is a commentary on--possibly even a bit of a joke about--the whole subsequent setlist.

Not to derail the talk, but I was going to bump this thread anyway... I was listening to this We're An American Band (really good!) comp from Cherry Red last night and guess I've just never paid attention to the lyrics for "Is It My Name?" before now. Oof.

hah yeah I was excited for a minute that he might be doing a bunch of his mid 70s proggy stuff which would've been a trip, but in the end I'm glad the setlist focused on "newer" stuff, kinda affirms my theory that it's his production choices and not his songwriting that's declined over the decades. I remember thinking "Woman's World" was some amazing Utopia song I'd forgotten about, turns out it's from the album where he also tries to imitate Snoop Dogg. the whole thing was so good that when he actually started playing some of his old hits during the encore it felt like he was just showing off.

Just saw him last night as my wife really wanted to go and we got balcony seats from that Live Nation $25 rate. His voice mostly sounded pretty strong. As noted by others his current set consists of more "newer" songs and he left his hits for an encore medley that he seemed less into -- I Saw the Light / Can We Still Be Friends / Hello It's Me.

I saw online that he used to go from his song "Lost Horizon" into a Marvin Gaye medley, but last night he just stuck to "Lost Horizon." I kinda wish he was still more into soul.

During the middle of his set, a guy right in front of my wife screamed out between songs "play the songs we came to hear, not these." Rundgren ignored him and others began to cheer more loudly and someone else yelled "we love you Todd." The guy briefly left to get a beer or something, and came back and watched the rest of the show politely.

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/todd-rundgren/2024/warner-theatre-washington-dc-5ba9e364.html

LOL, that's similar to what happened to me at my first Steely Dan show, and that was one of the class action lawsuit settlement shows that Ticketmaster/Live Nation ponied up for (i.e. "free" but IIRC you still had to pay some fees). I get the feeling free shows or bargain deals can bring out more demanding and less adoring fans - they just want the radio hits.

(Assuming that guy in front of you also did the $25 deal.)

I am thinking you’re right. Although I guess there are still people who go to Bob Dylan shows thinking they will get hits in the arrangements they know, and Dylan doesn’t care to deliver that .

last time I saw him it was 6 years ago in my hometown, which was kind of nuts...I live in a city of 50k and Todd was playing like 3 miles away from me. I don't think there were a whole lot of true Toddheads in the crowd, outside of a bunch in the front rows. bumped into a lot of people I knew there too, guessing most of them didn't know much about Todd outside of a few songs. I mean for my city this was sort of an event. you could definitely sense a restlessness in the crowd as not only was he not playing the hits he wasnt playing songs that sounded much like them either, instead there were a bunch of songs from Global which ain't exactly the style people know him for (its not one of his better albums either). totally different vibe at this show I thought. I mean "Buffalo Grass" got a big response so I'm guessing these people had actually kept up.

I'm not usually a fan of shouting people down, but people who complain about shit like that deserve it probably.

I was prepared for (something?) anything at this show -- blooze, New Cars, him playing a Casio keyboard solo on stage wearing a diaper. I think most of Todd's longtime fans know he just does what he wants (or needs to in order to make a buck). And as a longtime (but not LONG longtime) fan, I appreciated the extent to which his audience for this tour was like that. I actually didn't see anyone in the balcony leave until around the encore actually. They knew the score.

As for it being "newer" stuff, I mean ... I guess it was. But I think it was more stuff from records nobody but completists bought (hence opening with "I Think You Know") -- and I was kind of stunned how committed to it he was to the concept, as I googled lyrics to most songs to figure out what they were. Normally it would bug me being so unfamiliar with the setlist. But in this case, the songs were so universally strong and their presentation so entertaining that I enjoyed all of it.

Also: he played like four songs from Liars--p much my favorites--and they all ruled. Including one of the best soul ones.

I noticed he seemed to favor Liars, whereas most albums (including his newest one!) he was only doing one song apiece. I wonder if that's because of the RSD reissue or if he just likes that album a lot

"God Said" was such a showstopper both times I've seen him now, was pretty cool finally hearing the album and realizing "oh shit it's that song". you really do have to hear it live though.

What a great song that is, hits home more and more every time I hear it.

God Said was #9 on my Todd ballot – #7 was Afterlife (which he also played) but that post-ZTT bass thump of the former gets me right in the feels as well.

Liars is also (gah) twenty years old.

… which might explain why he played so much of it.

Shamefully I haven’t really listened to Liars much, but I do remember that it was perceived a “return to form” after all the rap/electronica stuff/industrial songs about ISPs (even though it opens with what i recall to be a very trance-y song with “truth”, although maybe it has more in common with “shine” from healing or something)

"Truth" is like a Paul Oakenfold track with Daryl Hall singing. I love it but I know it freaked a lot of people out when they heard it. Including, I believe, ILM-er Gerald McBoingBoing when I recommended Liars to him a few weeks ago.

I do agree it's very much like "Shine", it rules despite having that "I dunno if you should be doing this" feel to it. first time I saw him I think he opened with that song and I was pretty floored by it, kinda hoped the rest of his set would be like that but it was not

Liars is probably his best since either Healing or Nearly Human, actually his first real solo album in like a decade, so maybe he just had a lot of good stuff stockpiled up. song for song it's very strong though probably too long as a whole. don't think I'd cut anything but some of the songs could stand to be a little shorter.

FWIW "I Hate My Frickin' ISP" is actually a pretty solid tune

Hah it is, he actually did a damn good hard rock version of it when I saw him on the “Arena” tour

Marcello Carlin wrote very eloquently about Liars at the time, which is what piqued my interest though I would have discovered it eventually. "Future" is just gorgeous, I wish TR would have made an entire ambient drum 'n bass LP while he was on that roll. "Soul Brother", which I think was the single, is the only track I am tempted to skip over.

More about "Shine": his singing in the first segment is so beautiful, one of those rare times that makes me wish I could sing!

Anyone heard this japanese tribute album? It has Yukihiro Takahashi, Dip In The Pool and a Moonriders guy
https://www.discogs.com/release/11183102-Various-Todd-A-True-Star

I really want to hear that. it’s on a discogs list I made of stuff I can’t find anywhere on the net.

oh shit i didn't know about this one... is this adjacent to those "rabid chords" and "smiling pets" comps from around the same time?

came up immediately on slsk lol, i'm listening now

well this is the most fucking charming thing i've heard this year

that's a joke and also it's been three months since i've heard something this charming

it's shibuya-kei as all hell, if you've heard _smiling pets_ or _rabid chords_ or either of the _fine time: a tribute to new wave_ comps, it's about what you'd expect. some very different takes, some takes that replicate the studio version down to the false starts, some in english, some in japanese

I got a bone to pick with this man, as you may know there's an RSD reissue of Initiation on 2xLP, which is how it was originally intended - the album was originally over 70 minutes long, but due to the vinyl shortage of the mid 70s he was pressured to get it on one. to accomplish that he basically sped up everything by 5-7% outside of a few songs on Side A. its why the album has always given me a slightly queasy feeling. now I didn't get a copy (my local store somehow sold all 4 they ordered by 8 AM) but from what I'm hearing it's the same sped up mix as the original?? why not release it the way it was intended?

He called me the thing you can never call a woman

???

The one that rhymes with your favorite Todd Rundgren album...

The Hermit of Mink Hollow?

i'm listening to initiation downloaded from ssk, when did he remove the post-chorus jesus-moses-mohammed chanting?? and yet somehow saying "a dash of the old kung fu" in a funny voice and including "voodoo" among a list of "eastern" "mystical" traditions is okay?

wait, it's back on the third go around but there's no reverb. wtf. am i just misremembering shit?