Honest Work-Todd As Producer: THE WEEKEND MIX

(This was originally posted in May of 2010. With Rundgren's new tour just getting underway, I thought I get it up again.)

Todd Rundgren's customers were kept satisfied between the years 1972-1983. There was little rest for the "wizard" or his listeners, as he seemed to always have something in the on-deck circle. If it wasn't a solo record, or a Utopia record, it was his new production project. Those years saw the following records released with Todd Rundgren behind the scenes--



Badfinger- Straight Up (1972)
New York Dolls- (1973)
Grand Funk- We're An American Band (1973)
Fanny- Mother's Pride (1973)
Grand Funk- Shinin' On (1974)
Felix Cavaliere- Felix Cavaliere (1974)
Daryl Hall & John Oates- War Babies (1974)
Hello People- The Handsome Devils (1974)
Hello People- Brick (1975)
Steve Hillage- L (1976(
Meat Loaf- Bat Out Of Hell (1977)
Mark "Moogy" Klingman- Moogy II (1978)
Tom Robinson Band- TRB2 (1979)
Rick Derringer- Guitars and Women (1979)
The Tubes- Remote Control (1979)
Patti Smith Group- Wave (1979)
Shaun Cassidy- Wasp (1980)
New England- Walking Wild (1981)
Jim Steinman- Bad For Good 1981
Psychedelic Furs- Forever Now (1982)
The Rubinoos- Party of Two (1983)
Cheap Trick- Next Position Please (1983)
Jules Shear- Watch Dog (1983)
Will Powers- Dancing For Mental Health (1983)
The Lords of the New Church- Live For Today (1983)


And let's not forget the man's own output.

Something/Anything?
A Wizard/A True Star
Todd
Todd Rundgren's Utopia
Initiation
Faithful
Ra
Oops Wrong Planet
The Hermit Of Mink Hollow
Adventures In Utopia
Deface The Music
Healing
Swing To The Right
Utopia
The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect


At my count, that's over 40 projects in ten years.








Todd Rundgren has been known to shake things up while in the producer's seat. He doesn't like to waste time. He tells his bands to show up ready. "This is not a rehearsal." Thanks to his vision, which has pissed many off at showtime, the artists who hired the man for his services, were rewarded with final product that became some of the most memorable and most successful releases of their careers.

XTC's Andy Partridge has famously torn Todd a new one for his mad methods, and then on several subsequent occasions, publicly apologized in various interviews, succumbing to the genius of "Skylarking," arguably the best record of XTC's career. Take a look at this clip from the insert which was included with XTC's 1991 release "Nonsuch." It was Andy himself, on XTC's catalogue:




The side long sequencing of "Skylarking" wasn't part of the band's design, but I'll bet dollars to donuts that Todd knew what he wanted all along. He used the same method two years earlier on The Tubes "Love Bomb" release of 1985.

I won't be so reckless as to compare Side Two of "Love Bomb" with Side Two of "Abbey Road." But I will say that it is one of my favorite sides of music of all time; a suite of music featuring some of The Tubes' best songs--"Eyes," "For A Song," and the original version of "Feel It," which found its way onto Todd's "Nearly Human" LP of 1989---strung together with funk rhythms, samples, and mayhem. This could only be the work of Todd Rundgren, who co-wrote most of the record and can be heard singing and playing all over the album. Side Two is included here in its entirety.


I stayed away from the obvious, Meat Loaf's "Bat Out Of Hell." Though unintentionally hilarious lyrically, I'll go on record as saying that it is a masterwork, though it hasn't aged well and I find a lot of it unlistenable now. It's Todd, the E-Street Band, and Broadway all wrapped up in one. Big choruses, drama, cliches, Phil Rizzuto, guitar solos, sound affects, cliches, love songs (some bad, some worse) and a phalanx of pretension. You all know it and not all of you love it. But you have to admit, Jim Steinman wrote himself some ticket. I've included the single off of Steinman's solo LP, "Bad For Good" instead of anything from "Bat Out Of Hell." I like this track. The a capella coda gets me every time.




We have some early Sparks, when they were known as Halfnelson, Gong guitarist Steve Hillage with Utopia backing him, one of my favorite songs from Badfinger's legendary "Straight Up," Cheap Trick's, Rundgren-penned "Heaven's Falling," which is basically Utopia's "Cry Baby" a year early, and the anthemic closer from Rick Derringer's "Guitars & Women" CD, which features my first published liner notes. (Don't bother, they're lousy.)



TRACK LIST

IT'S ALL TOO MUCH- STEVE HILLAGE
(I am pretty sure this is Kasim Sulton's first appearance on record with Utopia)

IF I HAD YOU BACK- THE RUBINOOS

WONDER GIRL- HALFNELSON (SPARKS)

PERFECTION- BADFINGER

SLEEP COMES DOWN- PSYCHEDELIC FURS

THAT'S REALLY SUPER, SUPERGIRL- XTC

LIFE GOES ON WITHOUT YOU- JILL SOBULE
(Gorgeous ballad from the brilliant Miss Sobule. The production reminds me (in some ways) of "Flesh" from Rundgren's "Healing" LP.)

NIGHT PEOPLE SUITE- THE TUBES

WAITING FOR THE WORM TO TURN- BOURGEOIS TAGG

SHE'S SO YOUNG- THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
(TPOH'S "Love Junk", a lost masterpiece.)

70'S SCENARIO- HALL & OATES
(From "War Babies," and featuring one of my fave Todd guitar solos)

HEAVEN'S FALLING- CHEAP TRICK

DON'T EVER SAY GOODBYE- RICK DERRINGER

ROCK & ROLL DREAMS COME THROUGH- JIM STEINMAN

Enjoy!

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STILL THERE IS MORE...

Here, because I love this clip so, so much, is...

well...

this clip.

From the brilliant, short-lived, NBC late night series, "Night Music," enjoy Todd, with Taj Mahal (Yes! F**king Taj Mahal) singing Gilbert & Sullivan's "Never Mind The Why & Wherefore," from H.M.S. Pinafore.

 

 

Songs Of The Week, 2024: 4/6-4/12

 

Mother's Little Helper- The Rolling Stones
Leave My Kitten Alone- The Beatles
I Am An Animal- Pete Townshend
Don't Talk- Charlie Hunter & Leon Parker
Nothing Doing- The John Sally Ride
Standing On Ceremony- Lou Reed
Nightingale- Detective

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Mother's Little Helper- The Rolling Stones
I found some old video on an external hard drive of what I believe was the very last rehearsal of The Hard Copies. We were set up in a different room than usual, a bright sunlit studio with a window at our backs, so all of the videos show the band in shadows. Kinda sucks, but the audio wasn't bad. We tackled this one from the Stones, and so that's where we begin.

Leave My Kitten Alone- The Beatles
One of Lennon's greatest lead vocals!

I Am An Animal- Pete Townshend
My friend Derek and I were talking about how great "Empty Glass" is and how great this song is.

Don't Talk- Charlie Hunter & Leon Parker
A stunning cover of the "Pet Sounds" gem. I highly recommend the entire "Duo" album.

Nothing Doing- The John Sally Ride
An oldie but a goodie. I loved singing the harmony on this one.

Standing On Ceremony- Lou Reed
Whenever I mention Lou Reed, either back in the days of NYCD or on social media now, my friend always needs to say. "Growing Up In Public is Lou's best record." I laugh at him and that's that. I decided to finally play it forty years later. I remembered none of it and somehow thought it was a stinker. It's not. It's also NOT his best, but it is a solid record. I owe my friend an apology.

Nightingale- Detective
This record blew my teenage mind when it came out and it still holds up. I love the way this song shifts gears. The second half really cooks.

BW's Saturday #14

 

Badfinger: THE WEEKEND BOINK!!

 

 

Loosely using The Replacements' "Boink!!" as a template---6 album tracks, a b-side and an unreleased track---here are my choices to rep Badfinger.

The Beatles connection was a big deal for me when I was a kid. I wanted to love everything on Apple Records, even the Radha Krsna Temple. But it was not to be. Even those amazing Badfinger hits were not enough to carry four very uneven records. By the time they hit Warner Brothers, I lost interest almost completely, save a track or two.

Of course, 50 years later, I don't feel that way at all. I not only love all four Apple Records, including the oft-maligned "Ass," I'd go as far as saying "Wish You Were Here" is better and more consistent than both "No Dice" and "Straight Up."

I used the single mix of "Baby Blue" for that bit of extra pop on the snare. "Baby Please" is an unreleased track from the "Straight Up" sessions. 

Hope you enjoy it.

TRACKLIST

Know One Knows
Baby Blue (U.S. Single Mix)
Lonely You
Baby Please
I Can Love You
Dennis
No Matter What (demo)
We're For The Dark

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The Dan Auerbach App

 

I've had a love/hate relationship with Dan Auerbach for some time now. As a producer, I thought he helped create one of the best Dr. John albums of his career. But he also had a hand in one of the worst Pretenders albums of their career. He made Shannon Shaw of Shannon & The Clams solo album "Shannon In Nashville" sound a bit like "Dusty In Memphis," but then made Yola sound just like "Shannon In Nashville." (Or was it the other way around?)  I guess my problem with Auerbach is that he has one trick, and it either works with the artist or it doesn't.

Which brings me to "Ohio Players," the new Black Keys record, an album I found myself enjoying until I realized, about halfway through, not much had changed. By the end, I thought, I liked every song. That every song sounded pretty much like the one before it was something I'd have to deal with, but what a solid one song...14 times. 

As an experiment, if I find myself incredibly bored one day, I'd like to make a playlist featuring Dan Auerbach solo tracks, Yola and Shannon tracks, Black Keys and Pretenders tracks and maybe a Dr. John track or two. I'd bet dollars to donuts it would play like one coherent Auerbach record.  Does that make Auerbach a consistent producer, or a producer that isn't really getting the most out of his artists and repertoire, but instead just makes everyone sound like Dan Auerbach, for better or worse? He should just create an Auerbach App so everyone could make a Dan Auerbach record.

"Ohio Players" was a fun spin and I imagine any song could pop up any time and I'd turn it up. But as a whole, it grows tiresome. Beck's involvement, by the way, was not lost on me. I've had a love/hate relationship with him, as well. Unlike Auerbach though, Beck has genre-hopped often enough to keep things interesting, but unfortunately, much of his work has left me cold and I don't believe his involvement with this new Black Keys album makes much of a difference. The Black Keys could have worked with Lemmy or Lily Pons and the records would still come out sounding like a Dan Auerbach record.