I'm just getting into Todd Rundgren after hearing one of his tunes (the excellent Tiny Demons) in Miami Vice. I'd barely heard of his name before.

Just now digging A Wizard, A True Star.

Incredbile production, and some melodious songs too

Any thoughts/tales/recommendations?

i enjoy most of his work up until the early 90's

>Any thoughts/tales/recommendations?


SOMETHING / ANYTHING? Also the live album BACK TO THE BARS is a nice 70s overview.

His solo & Utopia catalogs were reissued awhile back as two-fers in nice, reasonably priced packages. I stocked up at the time and was very pleased. Check amazon.co.uk if interested.

Have fun!

Most of his album up to Healing are pretty good. The great ones are Something/Anything; A Wizard A True Star/Todd/ side one of Initiation/side 2 of Faithfull and the live album Another Life.

i dont want to work , i just want to bang on my drum all day (more like play my guitar)

Todd has a lot of excellent songs, you probably can't go wrong with the Anthology collections from both Todd Rundgren and Utopia.

Mid to late 90s he got too U2 for my test, i.e. too experimental and too much crapola that just wasn't good at all.

Here's one of my favs:

Hello It' Me, Saw The Light...that's about it for my liking.

Tame Impala covered International Feel and did it beautifully. I had his name on the list of musicians I needed to dig into. Looks like that has been validated...

video: [youtu.be]

That Something/Anything album is his legacy album. I like also what he did with The Nazz, as brief as the career was with them.

You need this song on your Todd playlist

With Todd, expect the unexpected. Everything from blue-eyed soul to rock to prog to experimental and currently electronic dance music.

He worked producing The Tubes, Psychedelic Furs, XTC and many others.

His live shows can be completely different from one tour to another...not just setlist, but genre. I have seen him on stage with an orchestra, a basic rock lineup and once completely solo...in his Todd Pod...basically a studio-stage, creating loops and songs live, riff and rhythm and solo. A studio genius, and like many geniuses, has a reputation as challenging to work with.

Though not normally a fan of 'greatest hits' collections, I prefer them with Todd, simply because some of the records, especially earlier ones, get a little indulgent at times.

I recommend the double CD set Anthology 1968-1985 which has songs from his first band, then solo, a little Utopia etc.

My favorite song by him: For The Want Of A Nail (which also features Bobby Womack)

Thanks guys. The Wizzard... album is what I'm enjoying most at the moment.

In a strange coincidence, I see he is playing the Belly Up in a couple of days...

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peoplewitheyes
Thanks guys. The Wizzard... album is what I'm enjoying most at the moment.

In a strange coincidence, I see he is playing the Belly Up in a couple of days...

this tour its todd with a dj and backup girl singers. he is also playing mostly stuff from 2000-now

The Nazz stuff was about as good as an American band can get. I guess the Flamin'Groovies Shake Some Action topped it, but Nazz was good, particularly considering the year.

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buffalo7478
With Todd, expect the unexpected. Everything from blue-eyed soul to rock to prog to experimental and currently electronic dance music.

He worked producing The Tubes, Psychedelic Furs, XTC and many others.

His live shows can be completely different from one tour to another...not just setlist, but genre.

Yes indeed. He can change like a chameleon from album to album, tour to tour, much like Neil Young or Bowie. He also has been a musical pioneer, with some of the earliest forays into music video production, the first truly interactive performer (Woodstock '94 or '99), could make an entire album himself (all instruments, vocals, producing, engineering), computer graphic images live during a show, and was the first artist to play a live stereo broadcast show on FM radio.

Since he has such a large and varied back catalog, I'd agree with others to try out a compilation first,

Enjoy your Todd adventures. He's a theater-level draw now, but back in 1979 I saw him headline an all-day festival over the Cars, Cheap Trick, Eddie Money, etc. and he was on the bill with Skynyrd, 10cc and the Stones at Knebworth 1976. An invaluable, but often overlooked, artist in our modern frenzied world of media.

Some faves:

Classic solo lovelorn ballad, A Dream Lives on Forever:




Jubilant anthem with Utopia, Just One Victory:




Johnnie Jingo, from the all voice-generated album A Cappella:




Cliche, from the album Faithful, side 2 of which he tried to successfully recreate classics from Hendrix, Beach Boys, Beatles, etc: