My Amazon Reviews: Todd Rundgren “The Definitive Rock Collection”

Name Your Price, A Ticket To Paradise...
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Trying to boil Todd Rundgren's prolific output down to two CD's basically means nobody will ever be completely satisfied. That holds true for this "Definitive Rock Collection." While it tries mightily to give Todd's music a fair shake, I will still say that there's songs that I wished were here. But that hardly matters, as everything here is good to great. Not a dud in the set.

Todd has a little bit of everything. Classic pop songwriting ("Hello It's Me"), soul bred from his life in Philadelphia ("The Want of a Nail" with soul legend Bobby Womack), and harder rock (mainly with Utopia, represented here by "Hammer In My Heart"). There was even the prog-rock that some albums ("Ra" or "Something/Anything") reached for that is sadly not represented here. You do get many songs here that should have been hits (probably because of Bearsville Record's notoriously chintzy promotional tactics) like "Time Heals" or "Real Man." Same with Utopia, who were cheated out of a hit when England Dan and John Ford Coley covered "Love Is The Answer." However, this being the first Rundgren anthology that includes choice Utopia songs does give this set an edge over others. We can also add that the re-mastering is excellent and begs the question of why there haven't been deluxe editions of some of Todd's best (Come on Rhino, you already have the catalog).

I have some personal faves here, like "Compassion," "Love In Action" and "Change Myself." You get the hits themselves, "Hello It's Me," "We Gotta Get You a Woman," "I Saw The Light" and "Can We Still Be Friends" but not Todd's top 40 remake of "Good Vibrations" from "Faithful." The almost hits "Bang On The Drum All Day" (which has become something of a radio staple since), "A Dream Goes On Forever" and "The Verb To Love." Then there are the unsung heroes like the terrific Utopia songs, "Cry Baby," and "Love In Action" or Todd's "All The Children Sing."

As I noted previously, there are those who will nit-pick that "The Definitive Rock Collection" miss a whole batch of prime Todd (like skipping The Nazz's "Open My Eyes") but for a primer for Rundgren and Utopia, you'll have a tough time finding better short of your own playlist.

     

My Amazon Reviews: The Tubes "Love Bomb"

Bang Zoom To The Moon
3 Out Of 5 Stars

By the time of "Love Bomb," tensions in The Tubes was at a boiling point. Fee Waybill was on the brink of launching his solo career, while the rest of the band wanted to get "Love Bomb" out there. For whatever reason, Capitol Records decided to put their muscle behind Fee's "Read My Lips" while "Love Bomb" slid under the radar. Even worse, Fee's album was a commercial dud. It turned into a lose-lose situation, effectively breaking up the band and Waybill with a solo stint that excited exactly no-one. Even worse, "Love Bomb" was easily as good as "Outside/Inside," the previous Tubes album.

The band had re-enlisted Todd Rundgren to produce again, as he also helmed one of the Tubes' most artistically satisfying albums, "Remote Control." As is typical with any Rundgren production, his hand weighs heavy on the proceedings here. But the Tubes had some great material up their collective sleeve, including the terrific first single "Piece By Piece." Todd even helped make an ahead of its time computerized video. But again, with no label support, it vanished with barely a trace. You can still find the vid on YouTube, and it's worth a look-see.

The real genius was to be found on what was originally the album's side two. A twenty minute collage of mini-tunes strung together as a medley, it should have been a critically acclaimed masterwork. It shows just how musically adept the Tubes in their prime truly were, even with the sideshow style of their burlesque concert act. Mixing found sound, narratives, and "Theme From A Summer Place" mashed up with "Wooly Bully" (keeping in mind that mash-ups weren't this commonplace as now) into another ahead of its time number (there weren't any other rock bands that I can recall at the time using samples), it holds "Love Bomb" up all by itself.

Still, Capitol bet on Waybill's solo career over this, and when you compare the two, it's frustrating. One one hand, you had the Tubes and Todd Rundgren working an arty album, and Fee recording with David Foster, most of Toto, and an up and coming songwriter named Richard Marx. Don't get me wrong, "Read My Lips" is as good as any 80's pop album from the period, but "Love Bomb" should have been salvaged from the scrap pile. Given a decent remaster from the folks at BGO Records but not adding any additional liner notes, this is a must for Tubes fans and probably Todd fans, too.

     

My Amazon Reviews: The Tubes "Remote Control - Expanded Edition"

Tube-opia!
4 Out Of 5 Stars

The Tubes were licking their wounds from the dismal dismissal of their highly experimental "Now," when they decided to pool all their strengths and shoot for a concept album. It made perfect sense that they would create a grand satire of pervasive media, since most of their best work lampooned that topic with gleefully broad strokes. This time, however, The Tubes brought on board a secret weapon in the person of Todd Rundgren. He was running hot as a producer at the time, coming off the huge success of Meat Loaf, solo albums, and the breakout of his band Utopia.

What Rundgren did to "Remote Control" was to slicken the sound to a commercial sheen that the band had lacked in the past. For their part, The Tubes came forth with a very strong batch of songs, all tied together with the Marshall McLuhan styled "medium is the message" theme. The protagonist of "Remote Control" wanders the album becoming increasingly absorbed/disillusioned with the fact that his life isn't matching the programs he's watching, from the desire for instant gratification in "I Want It All Now," to the terrific ballad "Love's A Mystery (I Don't Understand)," featuring a superb vocal from Fee.

Perhaps the most interesting moment here is the instrumental "Get Overture," which had the band showing off their musicianship in a way that was only hinted at before (though it also bears the very heavy hand of Todd). It proved once and for all that The Tubes were more than just comical music pranksters and had more to offer than the shocking stage antics of their live shows. It's hard for me to decide which Tubes CD is really their finest, but between "Remote Control" and "The Completion Backwards Principle," I'd give this disc the higher scores for composition. "TCBP" was a sleeker musical effort, but in their desire to land that elusive hit single, had a damper lyrical bite. However, in all things Tubular, you really need both.

The best two things about this re-issue? There are four bonus tracks from the long unreleased "Suffer For Sound" sessions. They show the metamorphosis of the band in transition to what would eventually be their slicker sound. I think "Holy War" is my favorite of the batch. Then there's the sound. Beefed up and sharpened considerably from my old original A&M CD, the disc sounds terrific. Add the story of the album's gestation in the liner notes, and you have the best Tubes issue in their always eclectic discography.

     

My Amazon Reviews: New England "Walking Wild"

Walking Wild, Heavy Style
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Back in 1981, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing New England's lead singer John Fannon for my college radio station as we sponsored a "Week in New England" promotion for "Walking Wild." The finale was a 100 yard Wild Walk race, with the winner getting a Sony Walkman (a cool prize back then) and copies of "Walking Wild" on cassette to groove on. John was an amicable interview and even complimented me on having knowledge of the band and decent questions prepared for our chat.

So I have a certain amount of nostalgia involved with "Walking Wild." While it is my personal favorite New England album, it's probably not the most representative work of the band. ("Explorer Suite" claims that title.) The person to point the finger of circumstance at is producer Todd Rundgren, who helped the band whip "Walking Wild" together in less than a month. He stripped a lot of the layered production of the first two albums away and turned the album into a leaner and tougher record.

There are moments when Todd's hand weighs in very heavy, making New England sound like a fantastic Utopia cover band. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the album's first single, a goofy hook feast called "DDT." Short for "Dirty Dream Tonight," it steams away with a barreling piano, thick harmony and an insta-catchy chorus. This really should have been the band's breakout single, but maybe it was a little too risque for the moment.

The sound New England is better known for shines through in the lush ballad "Love's Up In The Air" and the progressive synths of "Get It Up." The rockers (the title cut and "She's Gonna Tear You Apart") are the kind of arena rock you'd probably peg right-off as 80's music. There's also a great rock-rebel lyric line in the opening track that states "he looks good, he feels good, he's fashionably mad." When I asked John Fannon what that meant, he replied that "it feels good to be a little crazy sometimes. It's hip to be a little mad." "Walking Wild" was New England's last big crazy swipe at the brass ring, and they went for it with all guns blazing.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Ben Folds "The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective"

Action Packed
4 Out Of 5 Stars

This review is from:  (3 CD). I have to give Ben Folds credit for his generosity of nothing else. His Three CD "Best Imitation Of Myself" best of is packed with hits, live tracks and oddballs. He also regroups The Ben Folds Five for three new songs (or one, "House," if you're buying the single disc edition. But if you're getting the deluxe version, Folds is all but daring you to say "but you should have put THIS song on the album instead of..."

Which kind of fits into Folds' offbeat personality. His best songs alternate between earnest emotion and nerdy snark, along with being a dutiful acolyte of Elton John and Todd Rundgren. Like Rundgren, Folds is 100% OK with taking a song you think should go one way and then bend it exactly towards the opposite ("Anna," "Army" - here in a live version). He also tends towards the hyper-literate in his emotional songs, which does make them standouts. It's that trait that made "Brick" the most unlikely of top 40 singles, a ballad about taking your girlfriend to get an abortion shortly after the Christmas holiday. Better still is "The Luckiest," a gorgeous ballad from "Rocking The Suburbs," about love everlasting with a twist. Why it never became a single I wonder about, and so does Folds in the collection's extensive liner notes.

Folds, naturally leans on that album and "Whatever and Ever Amen," his two most commercially successful. He doesn't slack for the other albums, though, with songs from each album included. On the live disc, he digs even deeper from other albums, and the rarites disc has a few worthy B-Sides (his hilarious cover of "B^tch@s Ain't Sh!+") and soundtrack contributions, like his cover of Steely Dan's "Barrytown." However, the disc is loaded with demos of never finished songs, along with the other two new BF5 recordings. It's obvious that Folds is smarter than the average pop-star and pretty humble (who else would record stuff like "There's Always Someone Cooler Than You" or feel comfortable covering Wham's "Careless Whisper" with Rufus Wainwright?

That is what makes "Best Imitation Of Myself" cool. Ben Folds has the chops, the knack for melody, and sense of humor to take average pop and make it into something better. Even if you don't have any of his albums or maybe just one or two, this is as solid a retrospective of one man's work as you'll find by any 'star' of the 90's and beyond.

   

My Amazon Reviews: Todd Rundgren "Anthology"

Two CeeDees Worth of Tunes  
4 Out of 5 Stars

When he ironically titled and album, "A Wizard, A True Star," Todd Rundgren may or may not have known how prophetic it would be. As a singer, songwriter, one man band, band leader, producer and techno-wiz, he has certainly achieved status as one of rock's great renaissance men. And as the 27 songs on this collection prove, his recorded legacy is truly that of a star.

Rundgren has been a cult artist for so long that he discovered early on that he had free reign to try any style he wanted. Granted, the early songs show a strong Beatles orientation as well as the confessional singer songwriter mode. The Nazz single "Open My Eyes" does show an early Rundgren trait; that of the musical mimic. He was soon mixing rock, soul ("Be Nice To Me"), perfect pop ("Hello It's Me") and the almost effortlessly flawless ballads he created on a regular basis ("It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference"). And that's just disc one.

The next 15 years is on disc two, and finds Rundgren getting even more idiosyncratic. While the two songs from "Healing" are the single "Time Heals" and the ballad "Compassion," the bulk of the album is almost meditative new age. The album "A Capella" was nothing but Todd. His voice (however heavily manipulated) without any instruments. All while he still covered his rock bases; his last major 'hit' "Bang The Drum All Day" is here.

While his broad recording career will likely have this collection falling short for enthusiasts, Todd's Anthology is as good a starting point as you can find for one of America's great musical visionaries.

My Amazon Reviews: Todd Rundgren "No World Order"

Rapping and Ranting with Rundgren
3 Out of 5 Stars

In the early 90's, the ever inventive Todd Rundgren took a stab at a new technology, the Interactive Musical CD. Rechristening himself TR-I, the unique "No World Order" appeared. While the original CD-I's were playable in a now obsolete format/technology, the CD's themselves are still available - and cheap, too - for play on a standard CD player.

This is one of Todd's oddest recordings. Comprised of 10 songs that are fractured into snippets across "No World Order's" duration, the album is all Todd playing all the music. He cross-cuts bridges, lyrics and choruses from each song (plus a quick drop-in from "The Twilight Zone" and a sample pulled over from his own "A Capella"), bouncing from one theme to another. Instead of the lyrical exercise of writing lyrics, cutting them apart and reassembling them at random, Todd did the same to his musical fragments. It makes for a very interesting cycle.

There are some superb individual songs here, with Todd singing (or more often, rapping) over the synthesized beats. This also perhaps Todd's angriest album, with the scathing "Fascist Christ" mincing no words when it comes to religious fundamentalists and "World Wide Epiphany" encouraging his listeners to "send a message to the government, pack it in cement." But it wouldn't be a complete Todd album without that one soul searching ballad, and on "NWO," it's "Time Stood Still."

That is the odd song out here, with rapid-fire rants like "Day Job" setting the primary tone of the CD. Todd kept the TR-I moniker for two more releases, "The Individualist" and a remixed soft-sounding version of this album called "No World Order Lite." This original "No World Order" remains as a testament to Todd's ongoing fascination with new technologies and his constant ability to leap from style to style at will.

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.

My Amazon Reviews: Todd Rundgren "Nearly Human"

Back to Philadelphia
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Todd Rundgren went back to his hometown and went for the sound of Philadelphia on "Nearly Human." There's a delightful abundance of Philly White Guy Soul spread across this poppy return to form, as he decided to eschew the gimmicks and just have his band record the album live in the studio. This resulted in two of his best late 80's songs, "The Want of a Nail" with Bobby Womack and the ballad of despairing "Parallel Lines."

His sense of fun is also back, as his spry cover of Elvis Costello's "Two Little Hitlers" indicates. The Tubes join him for a rocking number called "Feel It" (both Prairie Prince and the late Vince Welnick eventually joined Todd in a few of his touring bands). And finally, there's the stunning "Hawking." Todd sings his heart out on one of his most soulful ballads. As usual, "Nearly Human" shares many of the delights of knowing you're not always going to get a standardized album when Rundgren decides to let one out. This remains one of his better 80's albums.

My Amazon Reviews: Todd Rundgren "Healing"

I had a vision in my sleep last night...
4 out of 5 Stars

Todd Rundgren took a stab at new ageist music in 1981, long before it was popular, with "Healing." It is designed as a complete listen, with most of the album ebbing and flowing from song to song, culminating with the three part "Healing" suite at the album's end. The music is back to Todd as One Man Band, focusing more on texture and feel than on style and pop structure.

The only time the original album diverted from that form was on the song "Golden Goose," whose quirky hook seemed jarring in the middle of "Healing's" more gentle nature. Allegedly written about a home invasion incident where Todd and his house-mates were tied up then robbed while the perps were whistling "I Saw The Light," it jerks the album from its meditative state. "Goose" is then followed by the superb ballad, "Compassion," which should have been a hit single. It's a song so emotionally rich and beautiful, it is among my ten favorite Todd songs. Funny thing as, the suits at his record company must not have heard "Compassion" that way.

When Todd first delivered "Healing," the execs were aghast. Obviously hoping for another popfest like Hermit of Mink Hollow, they sent it back to Todd with the demand for a hot single. Todd's response was to include "Tiny Demons/Time Heals" as a single inserted into pressings of the original album. As bonus tracks on the CD, they come off as out of place, even if "Time Heals" was a great bit of 80's power pop. That kind of jarring conclusion made it obvious that "Healing" was meant to be taken as a whole work. Todd never ventured back to an album like this (and the 80's instruments sometimes sound a bit dated now), placing "Healing" in a unique position in his already eclectic discography.