Exclusive Song Premiere: Listen to 'Ride,' From Todd Rundgren's 25th Album, 'Global'
By Gary Graff
Todd Rundgren
Esoteric Antenna/Cherry Red
It's prolific year for Todd Rundgren.
Already part of Ringo Starr's latest All-Starr Band, with playing and writing credits on the new Postcards From Paradise album, Rundgren will be releasing his 25th solo studio album, Global, on Apirl 7th (and will be touring to support it). And the musician has teamed with Norwegian electronic musicians Emil Nikolaisen and Hans-Peter Lindstrom for "Runnddans," a 39-minute song suite inspired by Rundgren's 1973 album A Wizard A True Star.
Clearly age (he's 66) is not slowing the rock veteran down at all. "It isn't necessarily that I've been prolific recently," Rundgren tells Billboard. "It's just all of these things that I've been working on for the past couple of years are kind of coming out at the same time, so it seems like I've been working my ass off -- so let's pretend I have."
Billboard has the exclusive premiere of "Rise," from Global. Listen to it below.
Rundgren says he "hadn't really been pondering making a record" of his own and was instead focusing on the "Runnddans" project before the Global idea popped up. "I was tinkering around with that when I came up with a song, and ('Runnddans') wasn't really songs, anyway," Rundgren recalls. "And I thought, 'I'm just gonna detach myself for a second and write something, and that was the song 'Global Nation.' " An offer from Cherry Red Records to make an album came along shortly after that, and Rundgren notes that "the record business being what it is nowadays, if somebody offers to pay you to make a record then you take the opportunity."
"Global Nation" gave him a jumping-off point for the rest of the album, which Rundgren calls "a kind of a planetary consciousness record. Most of my albums have been insular and about self-examination, and this is a little more about the collective and the issues that face everybody. I wanted to make a record that was sort of simultaneously like a cheerleading record but at the same time not letting anyone forget that we have issues that can only be addressed collectively."
There's a positivism that flows throughout Global in tracks such as "Rise," but Rundgren confesses that he had "an existential crisis in the middle of the record because of ISIS and police shooting innocent people and all the other stuff that makes you want to get really cynical. So I essentially just stopped watching the news after awhile so I could finish the record."
Rundgren -- who last fall released a Todd Rundgren at the BBC box set -- will be touring extensively to support Global, staring April 2 in Denver with dates booked into mid-June; he'll be accompanied by a DJ and two singer-dancers "to humanize the whole thing, but I'll be taking care of most of the music myself." Come October, meanwhile, he'll be back on the road with the All-Starr Band, his second tenure with Ringo and this time part of a lineup the ex-Beatle has called his favorite one yet. "This is the first time he's gotten musicians that get along with each other and have mutual respect for each other and at the same time have a degree of musical expertise where we can all make significant contributions to each other's material," Rundgren says. "I know that he hasn't always been able to line it up like that before."
The alignment also allowed the All-Starrs to become a vital part of Starr's just-released new album. "That was all kind of an afterthought, actually," Rundgren says. "We were at the end of a tour last November and Ringo was wrapping up the album. In one instance we had this little song we were jamming on during sound check and Ringo said, 'Let's write something for it and finish it and then I'll record it and put it on my record,' and that was 'Island in the Sun.' And another time Ringo came into the dressing room one day and sat next to me and said, 'You fancy writing a song wtih me?' And I said, 'Well, sure. How much time have we got?' He said 'A couple days.' (Laughs) He had a demo track and an idea of what the song should be about and I had a couple days off right after the tour, and I put together a demo and sent it to him and he finished it off in L.A. and now it's on the record."
15 comments:
Absolute, utter shit time indeed keeps ticking away listening for the catchy hook that never shows up. Rubbish.
I can`t believe anyone would peg this as a TR song who wasn`t told in advance.
How many fans out there ever want to hear this again?
Wonder if Billboard will fix its typo from Ride to Rise? It's The Last Rise ;-)... ah well...
Why?
Bash Todd?
Hasn't he given our. collective Little Peebles a lot to ponder over the decades ?
It bodes ill that someone picked this stinker out of the batch to promote the new album. If this is the 'single' God only knows how rancid the rest of the garbage on this album might be......Todd has no shame when it comes to paying the bills in Kauai. Global may be the low-point of a long, storied career and time to hang it up and retire.
I am still curious to hear the album, as the press and early reviews say it's not all electronica.
I was not a fan of Liars when it first came out, and it grew on me, especially after the live show.
While State did not grow on me as much-I've probably listened to it once since seeing the last AZ show-I still liked the live show quite a bit.
Even as much as I did not like (re)Production, I can only see myself using the word 'shit' and and TR song title in the same sentence if I am referring to the second to the last song on side one of AWATS.
LC
Yeah, after seeing the State presentation at the Gramercy in NYC, it struck me that Todd must have conceived it as a whole from the start.
The songs and album still sucked but the lights made some weird sense of it.
Faint praise, I know but I`m really not as much of a "hater" as critics of myself and "Winston" seem to be.
Again, lighten up guys. We`re just exchanging opinions here.
I agree with the spellcheck. Way to promote. And that's his label that wrote that press release, right? Ack.
Ruddnans or Runndans doesn't really roll off the tongue either but...
If he stops watching the news no wonder he writes some out of touch things sometimes. It's hard to make things topical because the whole landscape will have changed by the time you write it.
The lights were very pretty for the State show. They were a little too much at first but by the end of the tour they had them worked out. I wore sunglasses a lot. I've got a collection! Including Spectrespecs so I can see wrackspurts.
The Runnddans project seems to have the potential for some interesting music...the sample that was provided recently was complex and layered (plus, the fact that it was inspired by the Wizard album makes me eager to hear it)
As far as "Rise"...not as horrific as 23rd & Winston say, but it certainly didn't blow me away.
I hope, as DiscConnected said about liars, it's the kind of album that gets better after a few listens.
What kind of bothers me is a pattern concerning the recent utter simplicity of the lyrics...Collide a Scope was all, "I'm black I'm white, I'm up, I'm down", etc., and now on Rise we get the oft used cliche "If we don't rise, we will fall" repeating over and over and over and over...
I love Todd.
Started listening in '76, first show was the RA tour in Chicago in March of '77 (38 freakin' years ago, gulp!) and I've treasured tagging along on his musical journey ever since...I'd never have the heart to tell him to "hang it up" like some others; I have too much respect for Todd.
I wasn't thrilled to hear that there's no band on the Global tour, but you never know...just when you think you've got the game figured out...
Peace
I'm really really sorry folks, I feel I must apologise because I actually kind of liked Rise.
Listening on my smartphone wasn't ideal but I can imagine it having a nice strutting drive to it when it's cranked at home or in the car.
Yep, it's pretty darn simple, but that's ok; it's almost got a little Gary Numan DNA happening.
You can call me a Todd apologist, and, well, that's just fine with me.
Some of my most cherished albums were the ones that needed a few spins before I "got it".
Here's hoping that Global surprises us (in a good way)
Then we'll raise a glass
And we'll drink a toast
And the haters will dance
With A-po-lo-gists
And the critics and Todd fans
Will all join hands
As we listen to Global
And become friends
(With apologies to "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell")
Hey, let's listen to State, ReProductions and Global again, said absolutely nobody, ever. It is time to rise up against Todd's failed electronica.
I will not be purchasing Global. Bought State and I cannot listen to it. State tour was a technological presentation (better sound and lighting), the very superficial things Todd dislikes. To equate Global, or even Rise, to AWATS is strictly an advertising gimmick. I think AWATS is a masterpiece, and even seeing it live 2 years ago was a treat!!! I cannot say the same for (re)Production, State or this new release.
I'm stuck. Already got tickets for a couple of shows. I won't be able to see the live broadcast and see what I signed up for cause I'll be at work. Post your reviews please if you see it. I'd appreciate it.
Having listened to Global for a few days now, I have to admit that it is growing on me.
There is a lot more here (to my ears) than there was on , in fact the album lives up to the early billing claiming it blends elements of his "classic" sound with the last album.
I like the songwriting better and the production makes for a better listening experience.
The lyrics seem to be more present, so I have a better feel for what the song is about. I listened to State a lot, but don't remember much lyrically except for "party liquor" and "she's an angry bird" (cringe).
I thought (re)Production was rubbish. I thought State was a novelty record-I may have listened to it twice since seeing the last live show in July 2013 (although I did enjoy the live shows far more than I would have expected.
But I like a lot more than I expected to, although I wish the show was going to have a band-a lot of what I like about the album may get lost in the presentation.
After a couple months of trepidation, turns out Todd has delivered a pretty good album.
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