TODD RUNDGREN ARENA BLOG: 8/21/11

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

180g Vinyl remastered Something / Anything LP release

Thanks go out to Thom Nova for bringing this to my attention.

amazon and elusivedisc have preorders on this
http://www.amazon.com/Something-Anything-Todd-Rundgren/dp/B005DZMOJW/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1314153666&sr=1-1

http://www.elusivedisc.com/prodinfo.asp?number=WEALP79759

September 20, 2011 pre-order your copy today! Orders with both pre-order and in stock items will have all in stock items shipped immediately!

Classic 1972 Album From Todd Rundgren Makes An Encore Appearance! Pressed at RTI On 180g Vinyl!
Mastered by Chris Bellman From Original Analog Masters at Bernie Grundman Studios!

This 1972 release, from Bearsville Records, was engineered by Todd Rundgren with a little help from his friends Rick Derringer, Billy Mundi, Moogy Klingman, Amos Garrett, Bugsy Maugh and Gene Didwiddie (both from the Butterfield Blues Band), the Hunt Brothers, Rick Vito, Jim Horn and the Brecker Brothers. The set contains many selections that have survived the decades, from radio perennials Hello, It's Me and I Saw the Light, to a more recent cover of Slut by the latest version of Alex Chilton's Big Star. Bottom line, this collection defines Rundgren's many talents.

"Listening to Something/Anything? is a mind-altering trip in itself, no matter how many shamelessly accessible pop songs are scattered throughout the album, since each side of the double-record is a concept unto itself. The first is "a bouquet of ear-catching melodies"; side two is "the cerebral side"; on side three "the kid gets heavy"; side four is his mock pop operetta, recorded with a full band including the Sales Brothers. It gallops through everything -- Carole King tributes ("I Saw the Light"), classic ballads ("Hello It's Me," "It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference"), Motown ("Wolfman Jack"), blinding power pop ("Couldn't I Just Tell You"), psychedelic hard rock ("Black Maria"), pure weirdness ("I Went to the Mirror"), blue-eyed soul ("Dust in the Wind"), and scores of brilliant songs that don't fall into any particular style ("Cold Morning Light," "It Takes Two to Tango"). It's an amazing journey that's remarkably unpretentious. Rundgren peppers his writing with self-aware, self-deprecating asides, indulging his bizarre sense of humor with gross-outs ("Piss Aaron") and sheer quirkiness, such as an aural tour of the studio at the beginning of side two. There are a ton of loose ends throughout Something/Anything?, plenty of studio tricks, slight songs (but no filler), snippets of dialogue, and purposely botched beginnings, but all these throwaways simply add context -- they're what makes the album into a kaleidoscopic odyssey through the mind of an insanely gifted pop music obsessive." - Allmusic.com, Stephen Thomas Erlewine