My Amazon Reviews: Todd Rundgren "2'nd Wind"

Running short of breath
3 out of 5 Stars

After the excellent "Nearly Human," Todd Rundgren mixed two of his major fascinations for "2nd Wind." Those being live digital recording and the musical "Up Against It." Todd formed a band and booked a residence at San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts Theater for five nights. The audience was informed that they were attending a recording session and not a concert, and were not to whoop, holler or applaud. (Much like Joe Jackson's "Big World.") In fact, the only time you hear the audience is cheering at the end of "The Smell of Money," otherwise, they followed Todd's rules of the set.

"2'nd Wind" treated those crowds to three songs Rundgren wrote for the off-Broadway musical "Up Against It," which was based on an unproduced screenplay British playwright Joe Orton wrote in the 1960s for the Beatles. Todd has produced the play both Off Broadway in 1989 and as a live concert event (there's a Japanese import of you want to hunt it down), and of the three tracks, "If I Have To Be Alone" is the strongest. On the other hand, "The Smell of Money" borders on parody of the non-humorous kind and has not aged well. Although "Public Servant" was not part of the play, it also carries the weight of a faux show-tune and is one of the album's lesser efforts.

On yet another hand, Todd must get bored writing the same brilliant pop songs he seems to deliver with seemingly little effort. On "2nd Wind," they are the opening "Change Myself," the funky rocker "Love Science," and the introspective "Kindness" and title track. Todd also had an incredible band for these Sf shows, an all star roster that included Roger Powell of Utopia, Vince Welnick and Prairie Prince of the Tubes, Ross Valory of Journey, guitarist Lyle Workman and Jenni Muldaur. Musically, "2'nd Wind" is performed beautifully. Song for song, though, it is a very average Todd Rundgren album.