http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/news/todd-rundgren-a-wizard-reborn-in-london/
Todd Rundgren will make a dozen costume changes when he showcases the celebrated album A Wizard, A True Star in London next month – and he’ll do them all on stage!
“When I decided to do the whole of this record live, I thought about the best way to make it really theatrical,” Rundgren told Classic Rock.
“At first I was gonna bring in acrobats, clowns and animals – to make it something of a circus. But that just wasn’t practical. But I knew that this couldn’t just be about the music. I needed a striking visual element. So what I’ve done is create a dressing room on stage.
“During the gig, I make about 12 changes, in a dressing room mocked up behind a curtain. This gives everything a certain magic feel, because I am effectively changing right in front of the fans! And there’s the tension of wondering whether I can get it done in time to make my musical cue.
“So, I’ll be relaxed and singing something like Never Never Land, then have to dash and change while the band carry on. I hope the audience find it interesting.”
Although Rundgren has so far performed the iconic 1973 album at four shows in America last December, the original idea was to do it solely in London.
“The suggestion was first made when I toured the UK in November 2008. The promoter told me that the record had become really popular with electronic artists and DJs. There was a real buzz about it. He felt that if I performed the whole album at a gig in London, and got some of these talents involved, then I could reach a younger audience.
“Then people in America got to hear about the idea and, not wanting to be left out, sorted out some dates at the end of last year. So the London one, instead of starting it all off, has come a lot later.”
Rundgren is remaining virtually faithful to the style and running order of the album, although there is one major shift.
“The song International Feel is now at the end of the set. Because it sits a lot better there. When the album came out, I had to split the music into two ‘acts’, really. Which were the two sides of the vinyl. So I had to make some arbitrary decisions. Now, I can visualise it as one continuous piece, which was the idea in the first place. So far, the reaction to this from fans has been fine – it hasn’t shocked them too much!”
Rundgren has admitted that he wanted to do the whole of this album when it first came out. What stopped him?
“Technology wasn’t up to it. I’d have had to get so many musicians involved to make it work, and that just wasn’t practical. Now, I can use samples if necessary. It all makes more economic sense.”
Right now, the plan is to do A Wizard, A True Star in London at the Hammersmith Apollo on February 6 (for tickets go here) and then in Amsterdam, at the Paradiso two nights later. But that’s not the end… only the end of the beginning.
“I will also take it out to other cities, where my popularity is still such that I know I can sell tickets. That’ll happen in the spring. So, this will carry on for a while.”
And there’s a DVD in the works, which Rundgren is currently putting together.
“We filmed all of the US dates, and right now I’m going through all of the footage on my laptop. The idea will be not only to put out a live DVD, but also a box set with all of those shows in their entirety. That’ll be one thing, I assume, only dedicated fans would want.
“What we did was video simulcast all of the gigs, and then specifically shoot one concert. So, we’ve multi-camera angles for it all. It means I’ve got so much to go through, but it’s worthwhile, and these days it’s so much easier to edit.”
Rundgren doubts that he will ever take a similar approach with any of his other albums, believing that none really lend themselves to such exposure.
“One thing with A Wizard, A True Star is that it’s nearly an hour long. It represents that period when I looked beyond the pop song, and started to invest in sounds and experimenting with what you could do with music. I’d had enough of writing songs about the same subject over and over again – the girl with whom I’d split up eight years earlier. So, it was time to move on.
“Why was it such a long record in an era when most were about 40 minutes in length? Because I lost track of how it was turning out, to be honest – which I regularly did! Fortunately, we managed to get away with it, even though there was some loss of frequencies at the bottom end on the vinyl format back then.
“The problem is that none of my other records are long enough to turn into self-contained shows. Hermit Of Mink Hollow (1978) has been mentioned. But how would that work? Just me on stage… as it was on the record.”
One final thing: Rundgren doesn’t want this to be viewed as a nostalgia trip and nothing more…
“No artist likes to be seen that way. I believe that I’m bringing something new and fresh to what I did in 1973. Come along and see for yourself.”
Todd Rundgren performs the British premiere of A Wizard, A True Star at the HMV Hammersmith Apollo in London on Saturday, February 6. Box office: 08700 603 777. Book online: http://www.seetickets.com/
The "almost" official blog for everything Todd Rundgren Related........................................................................................................................................................................... Please visit the sister facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Ma4utopia?ref=hl
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
interview; todd rundgren the producer BBC
BBC 6 Music radio will air a fascinating 90-minute documentary on
"The Record Producers: Todd Rundgren" on Saturday January 23rd
at 22:00. As part of BBC Radio's critically acclaimed "Record
Producers" documentary series, the 90-minute special will air on
BBC 6 Music two weeks before Rundgren performs the British concert
premiere of his psychedelic 1973 album "A Wizard, A True Star"
at the HMV London Hammersmith Apollo on Saturday February 6th (Box
Office: 08700 603 777 / Book Online: www.seetickets.com).
Read the official BBC 6 Music Todd Rundgren documentary page here -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qbzqv
The Record Producers documentary will also include dialogue of Rundgren
discussing some of his most popular albums including A Wizard, A True
Star and Something/Anything, and will give listeners exclusive access to
the original multi-track tapes of two songs from Rundgren's most
successful production as a record producer – Meat Loaf's
multi-million selling "Bat Out Of Hell".
The documentary will be followed by a 30-minute companion programme
"The Producer's Playlist" where, Record Producer Steve
Levine will present a selection prime cuts from Patti Smith, New York
Dolls, Hall & Oats and Utopia, all produced by Rundgren, whose own solo
recordings also feature on the show.
Click here to access further information about the "The
Producer's Playlist" - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qcjyv.
Visitors to the BBC 6 Music website can listen live or play the show via
BBC i-Player - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio/bbc_6music.
A 60-minute edition of the Rundgren documentary will be aired on BBC
Radio 2 on February 27th at 22:00 - (5 PM EST)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0072fbv.
Don't miss the British concert premiere of Todd Rundgren's
"A Wizard, A True Star" live at the HMV London Hammersmith
Apollo on Saturday February 6th.
For further details about the Hammersmith Apollo concert -
www.noblepr.co.uk/Press_Releases/meanfiddler/Todd_Rundgren_wizard.htm
"The Record Producers: Todd Rundgren" on Saturday January 23rd
at 22:00. As part of BBC Radio's critically acclaimed "Record
Producers" documentary series, the 90-minute special will air on
BBC 6 Music two weeks before Rundgren performs the British concert
premiere of his psychedelic 1973 album "A Wizard, A True Star"
at the HMV London Hammersmith Apollo on Saturday February 6th (Box
Office: 08700 603 777 / Book Online: www.seetickets.com).
Read the official BBC 6 Music Todd Rundgren documentary page here -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qbzqv
The Record Producers documentary will also include dialogue of Rundgren
discussing some of his most popular albums including A Wizard, A True
Star and Something/Anything, and will give listeners exclusive access to
the original multi-track tapes of two songs from Rundgren's most
successful production as a record producer – Meat Loaf's
multi-million selling "Bat Out Of Hell".
The documentary will be followed by a 30-minute companion programme
"The Producer's Playlist" where, Record Producer Steve
Levine will present a selection prime cuts from Patti Smith, New York
Dolls, Hall & Oats and Utopia, all produced by Rundgren, whose own solo
recordings also feature on the show.
Click here to access further information about the "The
Producer's Playlist" - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qcjyv.
Visitors to the BBC 6 Music website can listen live or play the show via
BBC i-Player - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio/bbc_6music.
A 60-minute edition of the Rundgren documentary will be aired on BBC
Radio 2 on February 27th at 22:00 - (5 PM EST)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0072fbv.
Don't miss the British concert premiere of Todd Rundgren's
"A Wizard, A True Star" live at the HMV London Hammersmith
Apollo on Saturday February 6th.
For further details about the Hammersmith Apollo concert -
www.noblepr.co.uk/Press_Releases/meanfiddler/Todd_Rundgren_wizard.htm
Monday, January 18, 2010
Interview :quicktime audio>> Billy James new book about todd
copy and paste this link to hear interview
http://webtalkradio.net/index.php/show-podcasts/71-the-pop-culture-road-trip
-with-chris-epting/4829
Legendary manager, producer, and rock and roll impresario Marty Thau shares stories from his incredible life in the business featuring the New York Dolls, The Ramones and more - and his Red Star Records is still going strong today as Red Star Digital Music. Then, Billy James discusses his new book, "A Dream Goes on Forever - The Continuing Story of Todd Rundgren - The Utopia Years." It's the second book James has written on the Wizard and this is a must listen for any Todd fan.
http://webtalkradio.net/index.php/show-podcasts/71-the-pop-culture-road-trip
-with-chris-epting/4829
Legendary manager, producer, and rock and roll impresario Marty Thau shares stories from his incredible life in the business featuring the New York Dolls, The Ramones and more - and his Red Star Records is still going strong today as Red Star Digital Music. Then, Billy James discusses his new book, "A Dream Goes on Forever - The Continuing Story of Todd Rundgren - The Utopia Years." It's the second book James has written on the Wizard and this is a must listen for any Todd fan.
youtube interview: KASIM 12/2/09 capital chaos
KASIM SULTON (interview) on CAPITAL CHAOS 2009 @ The Crest Theater~Sacramento, California 12-2-09
Kasim Sulton is an American bass guitarist, keyboardist, and singer. Best known for his work with Utopia, Sulton sang lead on 1980's "Set Me Free", Utopia's only top 40 hit in the US. As a solo artist, Sulton hit the Canadian top 40 in 1982 with "Don't Break My Heart".
http://www.kasimsulton.com/
Sulton has been a frequent collaborator, bassist and singer on many of Todd Rundgren's projects and solo tours.
http://www.kasiminfo.com/
Sulton started his musical career playing piano for Cherry Vanilla before gaining a place in Todd Rundgren's Utopia in 1976. During his time with Utopia they recorded nine albums and toured extensively.
http://www.kasimstore.com/
He has toured with Meat Loaf, Hall & Oates, Cheap Trick, Blue Öyster Cult, Richie Sambora, Patti Smith and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. As a studio musician, he has played on albums by Patti Smith, The Indigo Girls and Steve Stevens, and appeared on an album of traditional Irish music by Eileen Ivers. He was a member of Joan Jett's backing band, The Blackhearts, touring with them and playing on Jett's album Up Your Alley (1988) as well as contributing a number of tracks to her compilation album The Hit List (1990).
http://www.youtube.com/user/kasimsulton
Sulton was the bassist on the Meat Loaf album Bat Out of Hell. He and Thommy Price collaborated on an album, Lights On, which Sulton co-wrote. The song "No T.V. No Phone" was featured in the 1987 film The Allnighter, starring Susanna Hoffs.
http://www.myspace.com/kasimsulton
Sulton sang background vocals on Meat Loaf's album Bat out of Hell II: Back Into Hell, joining his backing band, The Neverland Express, and touring for three years on the Everything Louder Tour. He also recorded on Meat Loafs album Welcome to the Neighborhood, arranging and singing background vocals on most of the tracks. He went on to become Musical Director for Meat Loaf, rehearsing Meat Loaf's band, Neverland Express, in preparation for touring. The Very Best of Meat Loaf album was released with three new tracks, one of which, "Is Nothing Sacred", was later re-recorded as a duet with Patti Russo and produced by Sulton, with the track reaching #15 on the UK charts. Sulton also produced the Meat Loaf StoryTellers album, and toured with the band on the Night Of The Proms Tour in Europe and the "Meat Loaf Just Havin' Fun for the Summer" and "Winter" Tour in the US and Europe, where he and Patti Russo both served as opening acts. He also toured on Meat Loaf's "Couldn't Have Said It Better" tour where he played a short solo acoustic set to open the concert at most venues. One of Meat Loaf's shows on this tour was filmed for the dvd Bat out of Hell: Live with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Kasim also toured on the 2005 "Hair of the Dog" Tour and the 2006-2007 "Bat Out of Hell III" tour, and he is featured as bassist/backing vocalist on the album. In summer 2008, he will rejoin Meat Loaf for the Casa de Carne tour.
Article: CRAWDADDY
http://www.crawdaddy.com/index.php/2010/01/18/todd-rundgren-a-wizard-a-true-star/
Todd Rundgren: A Wizard, A True Star
by: Ric Hickey
Todd Rundren’s
A Wizard, A True Star
(Bearsville, 1973)
At the time of its release in 1973, Todd Rundgren’s sprawling art-pop masterpiece A Wizard, A True Star ascended no higher than number 86 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart. But in the intervening years, the record has enjoyed a cult-favorite status like few other albums of the classic rock era. Though it garnered no hit singles, the album does boast a handful of Rundgren fan favorites, like “Zen Archer” and “Just One Victory”, songs that have been staples of Todd’s ever-evolving live show for over three decades.
Unlike any other record of its time, A Wizard, A True Star blended the Beatles’ Abbey Road medley mentality with the ambition of Zappa, the unbridled energy of fusion, and of course Rundgren’s own explosive imagination. The result was a sparkling pop record that, though it enjoyed success among Reungren’s small fanbase at the time of its release, would languish in relative obscurity for several years before it began to get the recognition it deserved. A Wizard, A True Star: Was the title alone perhaps an indication of an advanced sense of self-deprecating humor that would forever be lost on the general public and well beyond the comprehension of the masses? Even in an era when Zappa’s oddities and the prog-rock freak-outs of many others were quite common, it seemed both critics and the record-buying public needed time to soak up the subtleties of A Wizard, A True Star before its greatness began to become apparent. Almost as if it took a few years to properly digest.
For sure, many variants of rock music became simpler, less demanding to the listener, and almost watered-down sounding as the ’70s wore on. Whether it was the soft rock “California sound” that first blossomed in the early ’70s or the angry punk of just a few short years later, it all aimed for a gut-level target. To his never-ending credit, Rundgren never stooped to that level. He has, throughout his career, made brainy rock music for brainy people, and his reward is a devoted cult following of hardcore fanatics that trail his every move and support his every musical whim even as he has pursued his muse down some unexpected avenues.
The album opens with an ominous synthesizer line, as “International Feel” eerily unfolds like a sonic snake turning itself inside out, only to reveal a shimmering sheath of diamond melodies. Originally from the Broadway production of Peter Pan, the placement of “Never Never Land” in the number two slot always struck me as a brilliantly far-reaching gesture. So early in the proceedings! To croon with aching sincerity this long-lost Broadway ballad full of flowery chords and sappy sentiment, as a launching pad for the maze of maniacal self-examination to follow?
This is the listener’s first clue of the rapidly dawning revelation that this album is comprised of many short little ditties that segue seamlessly and continuously throughout. Side one in particular has long since been considered both the prototype and the Gold Standard of Pop Collage, blending sparkling segments into the blindingly brilliant sum of its perfect parts. Among the stream of gems that follow is “Flamingo”, one of this writer’s favorite tunes on the record. A clever and playful instrumental, a tiny symphony for synthesizers, “Flamingo” is reminiscent of some of Zappa’s Hot Rats era stuff.
Later, we hear Rundgren’s elastic and electric voice stretch and soar in an unlikely medley of ’60s cover tunes, beginning with the soft and sentimental trilogy of “I’m So Proud”, “Ooh, Baby Baby”, and “La La Means I Love You.” (For such a goofball, apparently he can really nail a ballad when he wants to.) Rundgren shifts gears for the medley’s final segment, a crazed remake of the frenetic ’60s dance pop track “Cool Jerk.” Employing some unexpected rhythm shifts to dizzying effect, Rundgren’s frantic performance seems to skip and jump and fold over on its perky, patchwork self. Other highlights of the album include “Is It My Name?”, a climactic outburst of guitar histrionics, and the album’s anthemic closer “Just One Victory.”
Though the album was released 36 years ago, A Wizard, A True Star could well be seen as something of a career retrospective. Considered by many to be his magnum opus, it’s got all the hallmarks of Rundgren’s music: Humor of both the cerebral and cornball varieties, advanced musicianship, beautifully crafted pop songs and ballads, a couple of ironic rockers, a handful of covers, and perhaps most poignantly, some surprisingly insightful lyrics that reveal a vulnerability and yearning for truth and love and understanding. The meditative “Zen Archer”, the melancholy lamentations of “I Don’t Want to Tie You Down”, and the bittersweet “Sometimes I Don’t Know What to Feel” are all perfect examples of Todd Rundgren’s soul-searching lyrics, echoing introspection, and self-administered “rock therapy” as prayer.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Live Recording and the USB stick !!
Todd Rundgren, the legendary rock musician and record producer, who has worked with everyone from Patti Smith, Meatloaf and the New York Dolls, today announced that his February 2010 London and Amsterdam "A Wizard A True Star" concerts will be released on USB stick.
The European AWATS concerts will take place at the HMV London Hammersmith Apollo on Friday 6th February, followed by the Paradiso, Amsterdam on Sunday 8th February. Fans who attend the concerts will be able to buy the entire two hour concert on USB stick at the merchandise stand directly after the shows. The USB stick will include two hours of live performance audio, including "Todd Rundgren's Johnson"; a 45-minute set of Rundgren performing Robert Johnson songs, followed by a 75-minute set of the highly anticipated "A Wizard A True Star" album performed in it's entirety.
For further info about, and to pre-order the `Wizard' USB stick - http://www.noblepr.co.uk/Press_Releases/concert_online/toddrundgrenwizardusbstick.htm
The Rundgren "Wizard" USB concert sticks are the brainchild of Cologne-based live recording entertainment company Concert Online whose live recording concert USB stick roster includes KISS, Simply Red, Madness, Foreigner and Simple Minds.
The all-star line-up for the European AWATS gigs includes former Utopia band members Ralph Schuckett (keyboards, vocals) and Kasim Sulton (bass, vocals), plus former Cars member Greg Hawkes (keyboards, vocals), Jesse Gress (guitar, vocals), Bobby Strickland (saxophone, vocals) and Tubes drummer Prairie Prince.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
RundgrenRadio tonight 8:30
www.rundgrenradio.com
Rundgren Radio TONIGHT 8:30pm ET with special guest Clayton Call, a professional photographer, drummer, & Todd fan. Clayton witnessed live concerts of every version of Utopia & took photos at some of the most famous of the Todd/Utopia shows. Some of his shots were used for the Sanctuary CD release 1979 Old Waldorf show.
If time allows we will also be airing a 1993 interview featuring Todd on the Howard Stern show!
Rundgren Radio TONIGHT 8:30pm ET with special guest Clayton Call, a professional photographer, drummer, & Todd fan. Clayton witnessed live concerts of every version of Utopia & took photos at some of the most famous of the Todd/Utopia shows. Some of his shots were used for the Sanctuary CD release 1979 Old Waldorf show.
If time allows we will also be airing a 1993 interview featuring Todd on the Howard Stern show!
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
interviews: get ready to rock .....uk tour
Dear Michael,
The UK's Get Ready To Rock radio website is going to stream a new Todd
Rundgren "AWATS" interview on their website this weekend.
Todd recently spoke with GRTR to celebrate the forthcoming London AWATS
concert at the HMV London Hammersmith Apollo on Friday February 6th!
Check today's announcement from GRTR.
Regards,
Peter Noble
Noble PR Consultancy Ltd.
***********
Get Ready to ROCK! Radio - January 2010
http://www.getreadytorock.com/radio/
http://www.getreadytorockradio.com/todd_rundgren.htm
The UK's Get Ready To Rock radio website is going to stream a new Todd
Rundgren "AWATS" interview on their website this weekend.
Todd recently spoke with GRTR to celebrate the forthcoming London AWATS
concert at the HMV London Hammersmith Apollo on Friday February 6th!
Check today's announcement from GRTR.
Regards,
Peter Noble
Noble PR Consultancy Ltd.
***********
Get Ready to ROCK! Radio - January 2010
http://www.getreadytorock.com/radio/
http://www.getreadytorockradio.com/todd_rundgren.htm
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
RundgrenRadio 1/5/10 Moogy Klingman
Before we talk about the next show, make sure you've listened to last week's "Best of 2009" show!!! www.rundgrenradio.com. Please take a listen :-).
OK, on to this week's show, Moogy will be joining us again and he will be supplying ""more kewl never heard Todd/Utopia stuff"!! We will also be airing a recording of Moogy's John Siomos memorial speech. 8:30pm ET at www.RundgrenRadio.com.
OK, on to this week's show, Moogy will be joining us again and he will be supplying ""more kewl never heard Todd/Utopia stuff"!! We will also be airing a recording of Moogy's John Siomos memorial speech. 8:30pm ET at www.RundgrenRadio.com.
INTERVIEW: 6 PART INTERVIEW BY STEVE HARRIS JAPAN 1988
Todd Rundgren interviewer by Steve Harris on Jan. 23, 1988 in Tokyo, Japan.
UPPED ON YOUTUBE BY futsal1958
UPPED ON YOUTUBE BY futsal1958
Friday, January 1, 2010
Article: On the good ship Willner : Todd in Australia
http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/on-the-good-ship-willner/story-e6frg8qf-1225814419012&ct=ga&cd=KB647pb9kmQ&usg=AFQjCNEnnuOIA5fA2Nsf6VGhSeeBuTVTQg
On the good ship Willner
Iain Shedden From: The Australian January 02, 2010 12:00AM Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size Print Email Share Add to Digg Add to del.icio.us Add to Facebook Add to Kwoff Add to Myspace Add to Newsvine What are these?
IT'S a mouth-watering prospect, setting sail in the company of Marianne Faithfull, Todd Rundgren, Sarah Blasko and David Johansen. At worst you'd be able to get a song out of them to help pass the time. You could share a yo ho ho and a bottle of chardonnay with some of the other shipmates as well: American actor Tim Robbins, perhaps, or Little Birdy's Katy Steele or Glenn Richards from Augie March.
Those are just some of the artists who will gather on the forecourt of Sydney Opera House on January 28 to embrace tales of longing, fornication and salty air, the core ingredients that make up the poetry and motion of a traditional sea shanty.
Rogue's Gallery is the name of the show, and the man who put together this unlikely crew for what is a one-off Sydney Festival performance is American Hal Willner, producer of the star-studded and critically lauded Rogue's Gallery double album of seafaring rants from 2006. The collection of bawdy and beautiful ballads and frisky folk songs gave Bono, Sting, Bryan Ferry and Nick Cave, among many others, the opportunity to stretch their legs on material a few leagues west of their standard course (that's the last sailing metaphor, for the moment).
Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.
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Talented interpreters in Joni's place
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End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.
The stage version of Rogue's Gallery, which has proved successful in London, Gateshead, Dublin and New York in recent years, is just one of the many ensemble music shows Willner, 52, has produced during the past 20 years. Subjects ranging from American songwriter Tim Buckley to the Marquis de Sade have made it to the stage under Willner's guidance. Most famously in Australia he was behind the hugely successful all-star tribute Came So Far For Beauty: an Evening of Songs by Leonard Cohen, a highlight of the Sydney Festival in 2005.
Now he's travelling from his home in New York for a one-night stand in what must be an ideal location for his latest creation. "At the harbour it should be a perfect situation for this kind of show and this kind of material," he says. "We did it in the docks near Dublin [in 2008]. Outside it took on a whole different life."
The songs on Rogue's Gallery, the album, also take on a different life in their modern guise. Contemporary artists refresh and reinvent songs dating back centuries, among them plaintive odes such as A Dying Sailor to His Shipmates, Lowlands Away and Farewell Nancy, alongside the more raucous What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor?, Baltimore Whores and the completely filthy Good Ship Venus. Clearly a life on the ocean demanded an outlet for sailors' wants and needs and songs were part of the remedy. "They were making them up," says Willner, "because they were bored at sea and seeing who could come up with the most outrageous lines. Some of them survived. There also some incredibly beautiful songs, ballads. It's an amazing collection." The stage show will represent all aspects of the album's broad canvas, although no set list will be confirmed until rehearsals are under way.
Willner describes the show as "the most fun of the ones we've done ... It's just an evening of wonderful ballads and sea songs and of course the music is so very different to Leonard Cohen's [this contrast sends him into a fit of laughter].
"It's the same kind of philosophy, though," he adds. "If the purists who like this kind of music like what I'm doing then I'm not doing a good job ... which isn't really true, but there are people out there saying 'This is how it should be done'. It's all about a personal take on the song. We're taking a body of work and relating it to who we are, not doing it by the book. I do not - under any circumstances - want people not to like it, but it is what it is."
The idea of recording a collection of "pirate ballads, sea songs and chanteys", as the album is subtitled, has an amusing history. Chatting on the movie set of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, the film's director Gore Verbinski and leading man Johnny Depp hatched the plan and presented it to Willner. He didn't hesitate.
"Not at all," he says. "It had everything involved that I find appealing: It's a great idea. It was music that I am not an expert on and It's important for me to have a project where I can learn along with the audience. I was flattered to be asked to go on such a great journey."
Flattered he may have been, but Willner has become the go-to guy for large-scale musical tributes. And he gets off on doing them.
"The opportunity, when it presents itself, to have this kind of cast, which is about taking music and making it just about music again, is fantastic," he says. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the music in that setting and you know you're going to get some magical moments from that.
"You know you'll get something that is stunning and you also know you're going to get some strange ones."
Anyone who saw Came So Far For Beauty or indeed any of Willner's shows may have spotted him side of stage occasionally, looking anything from anxious to elated.
"I don't really see the shows," he says. "We're all putting it together backstage, making it happen. There are moments when I come out, for torturous reasons on the numbers that I think are dangerous and could go very wrong, or that might get crazy audience reaction ... like with the Cohen show and Antony [Hegarty, from Antony and the Johnsons] was performing and Australian audiences didn't really know him.
"So when he performed I came out to see how an audience who had never even heard of him responds to that," Willner says. He needn't have worried. Hegarty's performance was one of the highlights of the show and launched the singer's career here (Antony and the Johnsons appear in Sydney on January 31 and February 1 and at the Perth International Arts Festival on February 5 and 6, in both cities appearing with orchestras). "To see that reaction for the first time was really very magical," says Willner.
LIKE many of the Rogue's Gallery participants, Perth band Little Birdy's singer Steele has little or no grounding in the sea shanty, although some of her songs have similar themes. "On our last album Confetti I had heaps of songs that use the words sailor and sea," she says. "It's just a theme that touches something in me, I'm not sure why."
Steele, however, is no stranger to the tribute concept. She was one of the Australian artists who took part in a celebration of Paul Kelly's work in Melbourne in November.
She, too, is looking forward to the surprise aspect of Rogue's Gallery (she doesn't yet know what she's singing) and to the camaraderie that such shows inspire.
"From what I understand there will be a real family vibe about it," she says. "It's really exciting to be part of it. You're all living for the same thing, which is to create a moment. It's a one-off, so let's make the most of it."
Willner concurs. "What makes it interesting is that there is a backstage show as well," he says.
"Backstage everyone is cheering each other on. These relationships develop between people from jazz, rock, folk, classical ... all working together and bringing it back to the music and nothing else. It's about that musical collaboration and enjoying what you're doing."
Richards says he's looking forward to the collaboration, even if he isn't completely au fait with the shanty genre. The closest he has come is with his band Augie March, who dressed in sailors' outfits for a film clip to their song Heartbeat and Sails. He has been studying the Rogue's Gallery collection, however.
"I bought the record a couple of years ago and I've just started listening to it again," he says. "I've struggled a bit listening to it and deciding which song I should do, but it's probably not up to me anyway."
Like Steele, Richards has been involved in similar ensemble shows in the past, most recently in the tribute to Australian songwriter Kev Carmody, Cannot Buy My Soul, at this year's Queensland Music Festival. That show was also a highlight of the Sydney Festival in 2008.
For Rogue's Gallery he'd prefer to leap into the raucous R-rated material than trade on his reputation as balladeer. "I wouldn't mind doing Good Ship Venus, but I imagine that one's taken," he says. "I want to stay clear of what I'm expected to go for, which is the more melancholy balladry. I'd rather not do that because the other shows like this that I've done in the past couple of years ... the songs they tend to throw at me are the ones similar to what I do. There's not so much fun in that for me."
Far from being an expert, Willner admits to having had no interest at all in sea shanties and pirate songs or that kind of music when he was growing up in Philadelphia. "I didn't have a taste for Kurt Weill either but as you get older you change," he says, referencing one of the artists whose work he has paid tribute to, with an album featuring big-name contributors.
Willner made his name initially with an album tribute in 1981 to Nino Rota, the composer who worked extensively with film director Federico Fellini. The recording featured Deborah Harry, Wynton Marsalis and Bill Frisell, among others.
He followed that with a succession of equally well-received ensemble tributes to Weill, jazz legend Thelonius Monk and songwriter Harold Arlen, whose classics include Stormy Weather and Over the Rainbow. Since then Willner's work has expanded into film, television and theatre. Following the Rogue's Gallery performance, he'll switch attention to a Neil Young stage tribute taking place in Vancouver next month.
His taste in music, he says, knows no bounds. "I had rock 'n' roll roots that I let go for 10 years and then went back to them," he says. "Now I'm listening to everything."
What he might be listening to in the months ahead is a second volume of Rogue's Gallery recordings. There was a surplus from the first batch and more have been added. Among the contributors this time are Tom Waits, The Pogues' Shane MacGowan and Keith Richards.
Willner is even considering taking the stage version on the road, although the logistics of making that work could prove a headache. Gathering a famous cast for just one performance is difficult enough.
"It's in my fantasy, when the second volume comes out, to take this on the road worldwide and change the cast every two weeks," he says. "I guess it is ambitious, but it seems natural to me. I think it would be spectacular and a lot of fun."
And does he ever worry that a show might not work?
"A lot of projects I've done [where] the chance of failure was big, and that's okay," he says. "If you're not taking the chance of failing how good can it get? It's always a risk. Every time I do one I vow never to do it again ... but thank God I'm working."
On the good ship Willner
Iain Shedden From: The Australian January 02, 2010 12:00AM Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size Print Email Share Add to Digg Add to del.icio.us Add to Facebook Add to Kwoff Add to Myspace Add to Newsvine What are these?
IT'S a mouth-watering prospect, setting sail in the company of Marianne Faithfull, Todd Rundgren, Sarah Blasko and David Johansen. At worst you'd be able to get a song out of them to help pass the time. You could share a yo ho ho and a bottle of chardonnay with some of the other shipmates as well: American actor Tim Robbins, perhaps, or Little Birdy's Katy Steele or Glenn Richards from Augie March.
Those are just some of the artists who will gather on the forecourt of Sydney Opera House on January 28 to embrace tales of longing, fornication and salty air, the core ingredients that make up the poetry and motion of a traditional sea shanty.
Rogue's Gallery is the name of the show, and the man who put together this unlikely crew for what is a one-off Sydney Festival performance is American Hal Willner, producer of the star-studded and critically lauded Rogue's Gallery double album of seafaring rants from 2006. The collection of bawdy and beautiful ballads and frisky folk songs gave Bono, Sting, Bryan Ferry and Nick Cave, among many others, the opportunity to stretch their legs on material a few leagues west of their standard course (that's the last sailing metaphor, for the moment).
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The stage version of Rogue's Gallery, which has proved successful in London, Gateshead, Dublin and New York in recent years, is just one of the many ensemble music shows Willner, 52, has produced during the past 20 years. Subjects ranging from American songwriter Tim Buckley to the Marquis de Sade have made it to the stage under Willner's guidance. Most famously in Australia he was behind the hugely successful all-star tribute Came So Far For Beauty: an Evening of Songs by Leonard Cohen, a highlight of the Sydney Festival in 2005.
Now he's travelling from his home in New York for a one-night stand in what must be an ideal location for his latest creation. "At the harbour it should be a perfect situation for this kind of show and this kind of material," he says. "We did it in the docks near Dublin [in 2008]. Outside it took on a whole different life."
The songs on Rogue's Gallery, the album, also take on a different life in their modern guise. Contemporary artists refresh and reinvent songs dating back centuries, among them plaintive odes such as A Dying Sailor to His Shipmates, Lowlands Away and Farewell Nancy, alongside the more raucous What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor?, Baltimore Whores and the completely filthy Good Ship Venus. Clearly a life on the ocean demanded an outlet for sailors' wants and needs and songs were part of the remedy. "They were making them up," says Willner, "because they were bored at sea and seeing who could come up with the most outrageous lines. Some of them survived. There also some incredibly beautiful songs, ballads. It's an amazing collection." The stage show will represent all aspects of the album's broad canvas, although no set list will be confirmed until rehearsals are under way.
Willner describes the show as "the most fun of the ones we've done ... It's just an evening of wonderful ballads and sea songs and of course the music is so very different to Leonard Cohen's [this contrast sends him into a fit of laughter].
"It's the same kind of philosophy, though," he adds. "If the purists who like this kind of music like what I'm doing then I'm not doing a good job ... which isn't really true, but there are people out there saying 'This is how it should be done'. It's all about a personal take on the song. We're taking a body of work and relating it to who we are, not doing it by the book. I do not - under any circumstances - want people not to like it, but it is what it is."
The idea of recording a collection of "pirate ballads, sea songs and chanteys", as the album is subtitled, has an amusing history. Chatting on the movie set of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, the film's director Gore Verbinski and leading man Johnny Depp hatched the plan and presented it to Willner. He didn't hesitate.
"Not at all," he says. "It had everything involved that I find appealing: It's a great idea. It was music that I am not an expert on and It's important for me to have a project where I can learn along with the audience. I was flattered to be asked to go on such a great journey."
Flattered he may have been, but Willner has become the go-to guy for large-scale musical tributes. And he gets off on doing them.
"The opportunity, when it presents itself, to have this kind of cast, which is about taking music and making it just about music again, is fantastic," he says. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the music in that setting and you know you're going to get some magical moments from that.
"You know you'll get something that is stunning and you also know you're going to get some strange ones."
Anyone who saw Came So Far For Beauty or indeed any of Willner's shows may have spotted him side of stage occasionally, looking anything from anxious to elated.
"I don't really see the shows," he says. "We're all putting it together backstage, making it happen. There are moments when I come out, for torturous reasons on the numbers that I think are dangerous and could go very wrong, or that might get crazy audience reaction ... like with the Cohen show and Antony [Hegarty, from Antony and the Johnsons] was performing and Australian audiences didn't really know him.
"So when he performed I came out to see how an audience who had never even heard of him responds to that," Willner says. He needn't have worried. Hegarty's performance was one of the highlights of the show and launched the singer's career here (Antony and the Johnsons appear in Sydney on January 31 and February 1 and at the Perth International Arts Festival on February 5 and 6, in both cities appearing with orchestras). "To see that reaction for the first time was really very magical," says Willner.
LIKE many of the Rogue's Gallery participants, Perth band Little Birdy's singer Steele has little or no grounding in the sea shanty, although some of her songs have similar themes. "On our last album Confetti I had heaps of songs that use the words sailor and sea," she says. "It's just a theme that touches something in me, I'm not sure why."
Steele, however, is no stranger to the tribute concept. She was one of the Australian artists who took part in a celebration of Paul Kelly's work in Melbourne in November.
She, too, is looking forward to the surprise aspect of Rogue's Gallery (she doesn't yet know what she's singing) and to the camaraderie that such shows inspire.
"From what I understand there will be a real family vibe about it," she says. "It's really exciting to be part of it. You're all living for the same thing, which is to create a moment. It's a one-off, so let's make the most of it."
Willner concurs. "What makes it interesting is that there is a backstage show as well," he says.
"Backstage everyone is cheering each other on. These relationships develop between people from jazz, rock, folk, classical ... all working together and bringing it back to the music and nothing else. It's about that musical collaboration and enjoying what you're doing."
Richards says he's looking forward to the collaboration, even if he isn't completely au fait with the shanty genre. The closest he has come is with his band Augie March, who dressed in sailors' outfits for a film clip to their song Heartbeat and Sails. He has been studying the Rogue's Gallery collection, however.
"I bought the record a couple of years ago and I've just started listening to it again," he says. "I've struggled a bit listening to it and deciding which song I should do, but it's probably not up to me anyway."
Like Steele, Richards has been involved in similar ensemble shows in the past, most recently in the tribute to Australian songwriter Kev Carmody, Cannot Buy My Soul, at this year's Queensland Music Festival. That show was also a highlight of the Sydney Festival in 2008.
For Rogue's Gallery he'd prefer to leap into the raucous R-rated material than trade on his reputation as balladeer. "I wouldn't mind doing Good Ship Venus, but I imagine that one's taken," he says. "I want to stay clear of what I'm expected to go for, which is the more melancholy balladry. I'd rather not do that because the other shows like this that I've done in the past couple of years ... the songs they tend to throw at me are the ones similar to what I do. There's not so much fun in that for me."
Far from being an expert, Willner admits to having had no interest at all in sea shanties and pirate songs or that kind of music when he was growing up in Philadelphia. "I didn't have a taste for Kurt Weill either but as you get older you change," he says, referencing one of the artists whose work he has paid tribute to, with an album featuring big-name contributors.
Willner made his name initially with an album tribute in 1981 to Nino Rota, the composer who worked extensively with film director Federico Fellini. The recording featured Deborah Harry, Wynton Marsalis and Bill Frisell, among others.
He followed that with a succession of equally well-received ensemble tributes to Weill, jazz legend Thelonius Monk and songwriter Harold Arlen, whose classics include Stormy Weather and Over the Rainbow. Since then Willner's work has expanded into film, television and theatre. Following the Rogue's Gallery performance, he'll switch attention to a Neil Young stage tribute taking place in Vancouver next month.
His taste in music, he says, knows no bounds. "I had rock 'n' roll roots that I let go for 10 years and then went back to them," he says. "Now I'm listening to everything."
What he might be listening to in the months ahead is a second volume of Rogue's Gallery recordings. There was a surplus from the first batch and more have been added. Among the contributors this time are Tom Waits, The Pogues' Shane MacGowan and Keith Richards.
Willner is even considering taking the stage version on the road, although the logistics of making that work could prove a headache. Gathering a famous cast for just one performance is difficult enough.
"It's in my fantasy, when the second volume comes out, to take this on the road worldwide and change the cast every two weeks," he says. "I guess it is ambitious, but it seems natural to me. I think it would be spectacular and a lot of fun."
And does he ever worry that a show might not work?
"A lot of projects I've done [where] the chance of failure was big, and that's okay," he says. "If you're not taking the chance of failing how good can it get? It's always a risk. Every time I do one I vow never to do it again ... but thank God I'm working."
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Rundgren Radio tonight 12/29/09: BEST OF SHOW
GO TO WWW.RUNDGRENRADIO.COM TONIGHT AT 8:30 TO HEAR A SPECIAL "BEST OF" SHOW.
THIS SHOW IS COMPRISED BY THE FANS. WE WERE ASKED TO CHOOSE A PAST SHOW AND TAKE OUR FAVORITE PARTS OF THAT SHOW AND SEND IT IN FOR BROADCAST.
THIS SHOW IS COMPRISED BY THE FANS. WE WERE ASKED TO CHOOSE A PAST SHOW AND TAKE OUR FAVORITE PARTS OF THAT SHOW AND SEND IT IN FOR BROADCAST.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
INTERVIEW: Todd interviews himself 1974
“Todd Rundgren Interviews Himself” (1974)
December 25, 2009 at 9:32 am (Music, Reviews & Articles, Todd Rundgren)
Todd Rundgren wrote this for Record magazine, March 1974, around the time that his double album Todd was released…
With the success of “Hello It’s Me” as well as his productions with Grand Funk, the New York Dolls and others, Todd Rundgren has become one of the most important figures on today’s pop scene. Recently Todd took time out to discuss his forthcoming album, Todd, and his plans for the future, with our New York correspondent Alan Betrock.
Todd was recorded mostly during July; actually July & August, 1973, and it was my usual hodgepodge approach to performance in the album. I did a lot of the tracks solely myself, and I guess on about half of them, there was a drummer, bassist, keyboardist etc… various combinations of personnel. There wasn’t any set backup band. I had some songs left over from my last album, but not any leftover tracks. If I don’t use a track on a particular album, it usually doesn’t have any relevance by the time the next LP comes around. I usually don’t have a specific concept that is fully realized when I start the album. It gets more realized as the record happens. I thought Todd was going to be a single album, but it just turned out to be too long, so I had to put it on two records. This was all decided before the plastic shortage. I don’t think. I’m going to have to compromise because of the energy shortage, but if I had known that there was going to be this shortage when I made the record, I would have made definite attempts not to exceed a single album’s worth of material.
I only once did an album by myself (Something/Anything), or at least a major part of it was myself. It was the only album where I had the attitude that I had to do it all. It was only because I was experimenting, not because I was establishing myself as a solo virtuoso artist. On this new album, it was just a case of hearing certain things, and if I couldn’t perform it, I’d get someone else to do it. You can only have so much technique, and I always hear things that exceed my technique.
The success of “Hello It’s Me” doesn’t bother me, but having to perform the song does bother me. Having to do anything bothers me when it’s not something I feel naturally inspired to do. I’m not really into singles; I don’t record records specifically to be singles. I may do it for somebody else, but I don’t do it for myself. If I do things that sound like singles, it’s just that that’s the way I think it should sound.
It probably seems to most people that I’m into ballads more, but I think that’s only because of the success of “Hello It’s Me.” And people also want to limit things. I don’t do what I consider to be a whole lot of ballads. I did one album that had a bunch of ballads on it, and that was the only one like that. There are some songs that people may think of as ballads that are not ballads to me — they’re pieces of music that have different ideas. Todd has the least number of ballads, I think, of all the albums I’ve done. It also has more guitar playing. It varies… I do what I feel inspired to do. If I don’t feel like playing that much rock ‘n roll, I don’t need another outlet — another band to play rock and roll. Being a producer in certain terms is just a job.
I’m starting to produce Grand Funk’s new album now. I went out to Flint and they played me some new material. We just make records together. For some reason they find me necessary to the production of their records, so we make ‘em together. With the Dolls, it wasn’t just my producing. They had spent so long trying to get a recording situation together, and had so many people involved, it was like the whole of NYC was producing the Dolls. Everyone had to get in and have their hands on the knobs, and I don’t particularly dig that. The band was the most laid back, of all the people involved. I don’t look back at that album at all. Just like Bobby Zimmerman said: “Don’t Look Back.”
“Heavy Metal Kids” is, in certain terms, a takeoff of the NY scene. It’s always a satire. I mean how serious can you get? I wouldn’t die for any of it. I still like to present it the way I want to present it — the alternative would not be to die — it would be not to do it at all — rather than change it. It’s mostly all satire, I guess – it’s only as serious as you can get about it. But people are always looking for something — a clear cut thing — when I make the music, I’m trying to be open to influences at the time it’s being made — not just straight musical influences, but all kinds — social, emotional, cosmic and things like that — and this is all supposed to be reflected in the music. If people walk around all day and make judgment after judgment, it gets to be a drag after awhile. Sometimes you just like to wander around and not make any judgments — just let it exist.
The kind of music that I do is supposed to be the kind of music that other people aren’t doing — because I don’t feel any need to do it otherwise. As soon as somebody or something becomes popular, like let’s say “space-rock” was becoming the big thing, there’s all of a sudden loads of bands coming up to me saying “well, man, last week we were into glitter rock, and now we’re into space rock.” Whatever is hip or the happening formula, they just change into that. Some people can recognize it after it happens; my whole thing is trying to discover it before it happens. Just because I like to hear different things — if no one else is doing something new, I have to come up with them myself.
I’m definitely lagged out now, being that Todd was recorded, and reflects where I was last July. I don’t know what the impact of the music will be now. It’s still probably a year or two ahead of where most people are at — at least.
The reason why I do any particular song in any particular way is just because there’s a whole idea. And what you try to do as effectively as possible is render that idea musically so that someone listening can understand that idea — some music is done so vaguely that the interpretation of it is left completely up to the person listening — but sometimes you’re trying to say something specifically in the most effective way possible. In doing that, you try to use recognizable styles — essences of recognizable performances. For instance, Jimi Hendrix. “Number One Lowest Common Denominator” is just about sex, and it seemed to me one of the most obvious musical inferences you could make along those lines, was to recreate in certain terms that Jimi Hendrix sound. Because to me that influence represented, from a guitar player’s point of view, that central attitude most effectively. I don’t listen to a song and then sit down and copy it. The guitar playing was obviously influenced — the whole thing really — the phasing, the trippy effects; in certain terms the song is a satire too. It’s really a pretty funny song as far as I’m concerned.
The last song on the album (“Sons of 1984″) was recorded live in Central Park and Griffith Park. We went in and taught the audience the lyrics and they sang it. I guess I was a little surprised that it really worked out. I thought the problems would be hideous. The microphones were hung out over the audience, and in Griffith Park, they were actually hanging out of trees. It was fed into a remote 16-track machine. It was a funny experiment. We were considering doing. a whole record that way, as part of our touring show. Teach the audience a song, then record it, and you have a whole album’s worth of these songs from different cities, with the audience singing on them. It would be really strange. But as it is now, on “Sons of 1984,” we have Central Park on one side, and Griffith Park on the other.
I’ve been offered a lot of production work, most of which I don’t want to do. Either because it’s with somebody that doesn’t need me, or with somebody I just don’t want to work with. But I am considering a couple of things.
Describing my new album is really a hard thing to do. It’s really impossible to render an accurate idea of where the album is at musically and lyrically just by trying to describe isolated moments of it. The only difference about this album I guess, from the others I’ve made, is in terms of lyrics. My lyrical attitude is a lot more unified, and different from what I used to write about. In the past, I usually wrote about boy-girl relationships, which at this point doesn’t interest me. I have very little to say about that — that might disappoint a few people, but they have all those old songs to listen to, if they want. The whole record (Todd) is about states of consciousness. The Wizard album marked a beginning of new forms of communication — basing my musical ideas on responses other than just purely physical or material. In the Wizard album I was just discovering a different language. In the new album, it is more of a discourse in this new language — telling what I’ve discovered with this new attitude — that is, out of directing my attention to things other than material – to other states on consciousness. It’s very hard to describe even that aspect of it. It’s more apparent if you listen to the record, than if I try to describe it — or use terms like “cosmic” or “astral.” It all has very little relevance in a conversational context.
Right now I’m working on an album with Utopia, which expresses other ideas. It’s a separate group that I’m a member of, where we do music written by all the members of the band — M. Frog; Moogy Klingman; John Siegler; Kevin Ellman; Ralph Shuckett; and me — six in all. The first original concept of Utopia seemed to be a little too far out for everybody, and we took it out on the road for about two weeks to mixed reaction, so we just decided it was a waste of energy. I had a lot of things to do at the time, and was having a change of attitude, so I decided to take it off the road for awhile. Now we’ve toured very successfully, with a change of personnel and show concept, and we’re touring again in March. I do a solo set first, which sometimes involves the use of pre-recorded tapes. Some people don’t get used to it too easily, but to me it’s like television — it’s really like a big TV show – then in the second half I come out with the whole band.
One of the things about the musical direction I’m moving in is to experience fewer and fewer limitations in terms of who you are and what you have to do. Things are becoming less and less stylized in any one direction. I also recorded a type of eclectic music in the past, but at the same time I was still writing within the “song style” — songs 3 – 4 minutes long, six on a side, etc. I was very involved in perfecting that style, and I just got fed up with that. Then I did the Wizard album where the song ideas ranged from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. A further refinement of that idea is represented in Todd, and the refinement is that I’m breaking down all these barriers — removing the six spirals – just saying there are no limitations as to what is sung about or what the music sounds like, or how long it is… or whether it is even music at all.
Todd Rundgren
December 25, 2009 at 9:32 am (Music, Reviews & Articles, Todd Rundgren)
Todd Rundgren wrote this for Record magazine, March 1974, around the time that his double album Todd was released…
With the success of “Hello It’s Me” as well as his productions with Grand Funk, the New York Dolls and others, Todd Rundgren has become one of the most important figures on today’s pop scene. Recently Todd took time out to discuss his forthcoming album, Todd, and his plans for the future, with our New York correspondent Alan Betrock.
Todd was recorded mostly during July; actually July & August, 1973, and it was my usual hodgepodge approach to performance in the album. I did a lot of the tracks solely myself, and I guess on about half of them, there was a drummer, bassist, keyboardist etc… various combinations of personnel. There wasn’t any set backup band. I had some songs left over from my last album, but not any leftover tracks. If I don’t use a track on a particular album, it usually doesn’t have any relevance by the time the next LP comes around. I usually don’t have a specific concept that is fully realized when I start the album. It gets more realized as the record happens. I thought Todd was going to be a single album, but it just turned out to be too long, so I had to put it on two records. This was all decided before the plastic shortage. I don’t think. I’m going to have to compromise because of the energy shortage, but if I had known that there was going to be this shortage when I made the record, I would have made definite attempts not to exceed a single album’s worth of material.
I only once did an album by myself (Something/Anything), or at least a major part of it was myself. It was the only album where I had the attitude that I had to do it all. It was only because I was experimenting, not because I was establishing myself as a solo virtuoso artist. On this new album, it was just a case of hearing certain things, and if I couldn’t perform it, I’d get someone else to do it. You can only have so much technique, and I always hear things that exceed my technique.
The success of “Hello It’s Me” doesn’t bother me, but having to perform the song does bother me. Having to do anything bothers me when it’s not something I feel naturally inspired to do. I’m not really into singles; I don’t record records specifically to be singles. I may do it for somebody else, but I don’t do it for myself. If I do things that sound like singles, it’s just that that’s the way I think it should sound.
It probably seems to most people that I’m into ballads more, but I think that’s only because of the success of “Hello It’s Me.” And people also want to limit things. I don’t do what I consider to be a whole lot of ballads. I did one album that had a bunch of ballads on it, and that was the only one like that. There are some songs that people may think of as ballads that are not ballads to me — they’re pieces of music that have different ideas. Todd has the least number of ballads, I think, of all the albums I’ve done. It also has more guitar playing. It varies… I do what I feel inspired to do. If I don’t feel like playing that much rock ‘n roll, I don’t need another outlet — another band to play rock and roll. Being a producer in certain terms is just a job.
I’m starting to produce Grand Funk’s new album now. I went out to Flint and they played me some new material. We just make records together. For some reason they find me necessary to the production of their records, so we make ‘em together. With the Dolls, it wasn’t just my producing. They had spent so long trying to get a recording situation together, and had so many people involved, it was like the whole of NYC was producing the Dolls. Everyone had to get in and have their hands on the knobs, and I don’t particularly dig that. The band was the most laid back, of all the people involved. I don’t look back at that album at all. Just like Bobby Zimmerman said: “Don’t Look Back.”
“Heavy Metal Kids” is, in certain terms, a takeoff of the NY scene. It’s always a satire. I mean how serious can you get? I wouldn’t die for any of it. I still like to present it the way I want to present it — the alternative would not be to die — it would be not to do it at all — rather than change it. It’s mostly all satire, I guess – it’s only as serious as you can get about it. But people are always looking for something — a clear cut thing — when I make the music, I’m trying to be open to influences at the time it’s being made — not just straight musical influences, but all kinds — social, emotional, cosmic and things like that — and this is all supposed to be reflected in the music. If people walk around all day and make judgment after judgment, it gets to be a drag after awhile. Sometimes you just like to wander around and not make any judgments — just let it exist.
The kind of music that I do is supposed to be the kind of music that other people aren’t doing — because I don’t feel any need to do it otherwise. As soon as somebody or something becomes popular, like let’s say “space-rock” was becoming the big thing, there’s all of a sudden loads of bands coming up to me saying “well, man, last week we were into glitter rock, and now we’re into space rock.” Whatever is hip or the happening formula, they just change into that. Some people can recognize it after it happens; my whole thing is trying to discover it before it happens. Just because I like to hear different things — if no one else is doing something new, I have to come up with them myself.
I’m definitely lagged out now, being that Todd was recorded, and reflects where I was last July. I don’t know what the impact of the music will be now. It’s still probably a year or two ahead of where most people are at — at least.
The reason why I do any particular song in any particular way is just because there’s a whole idea. And what you try to do as effectively as possible is render that idea musically so that someone listening can understand that idea — some music is done so vaguely that the interpretation of it is left completely up to the person listening — but sometimes you’re trying to say something specifically in the most effective way possible. In doing that, you try to use recognizable styles — essences of recognizable performances. For instance, Jimi Hendrix. “Number One Lowest Common Denominator” is just about sex, and it seemed to me one of the most obvious musical inferences you could make along those lines, was to recreate in certain terms that Jimi Hendrix sound. Because to me that influence represented, from a guitar player’s point of view, that central attitude most effectively. I don’t listen to a song and then sit down and copy it. The guitar playing was obviously influenced — the whole thing really — the phasing, the trippy effects; in certain terms the song is a satire too. It’s really a pretty funny song as far as I’m concerned.
The last song on the album (“Sons of 1984″) was recorded live in Central Park and Griffith Park. We went in and taught the audience the lyrics and they sang it. I guess I was a little surprised that it really worked out. I thought the problems would be hideous. The microphones were hung out over the audience, and in Griffith Park, they were actually hanging out of trees. It was fed into a remote 16-track machine. It was a funny experiment. We were considering doing. a whole record that way, as part of our touring show. Teach the audience a song, then record it, and you have a whole album’s worth of these songs from different cities, with the audience singing on them. It would be really strange. But as it is now, on “Sons of 1984,” we have Central Park on one side, and Griffith Park on the other.
I’ve been offered a lot of production work, most of which I don’t want to do. Either because it’s with somebody that doesn’t need me, or with somebody I just don’t want to work with. But I am considering a couple of things.
Describing my new album is really a hard thing to do. It’s really impossible to render an accurate idea of where the album is at musically and lyrically just by trying to describe isolated moments of it. The only difference about this album I guess, from the others I’ve made, is in terms of lyrics. My lyrical attitude is a lot more unified, and different from what I used to write about. In the past, I usually wrote about boy-girl relationships, which at this point doesn’t interest me. I have very little to say about that — that might disappoint a few people, but they have all those old songs to listen to, if they want. The whole record (Todd) is about states of consciousness. The Wizard album marked a beginning of new forms of communication — basing my musical ideas on responses other than just purely physical or material. In the Wizard album I was just discovering a different language. In the new album, it is more of a discourse in this new language — telling what I’ve discovered with this new attitude — that is, out of directing my attention to things other than material – to other states on consciousness. It’s very hard to describe even that aspect of it. It’s more apparent if you listen to the record, than if I try to describe it — or use terms like “cosmic” or “astral.” It all has very little relevance in a conversational context.
Right now I’m working on an album with Utopia, which expresses other ideas. It’s a separate group that I’m a member of, where we do music written by all the members of the band — M. Frog; Moogy Klingman; John Siegler; Kevin Ellman; Ralph Shuckett; and me — six in all. The first original concept of Utopia seemed to be a little too far out for everybody, and we took it out on the road for about two weeks to mixed reaction, so we just decided it was a waste of energy. I had a lot of things to do at the time, and was having a change of attitude, so I decided to take it off the road for awhile. Now we’ve toured very successfully, with a change of personnel and show concept, and we’re touring again in March. I do a solo set first, which sometimes involves the use of pre-recorded tapes. Some people don’t get used to it too easily, but to me it’s like television — it’s really like a big TV show – then in the second half I come out with the whole band.
One of the things about the musical direction I’m moving in is to experience fewer and fewer limitations in terms of who you are and what you have to do. Things are becoming less and less stylized in any one direction. I also recorded a type of eclectic music in the past, but at the same time I was still writing within the “song style” — songs 3 – 4 minutes long, six on a side, etc. I was very involved in perfecting that style, and I just got fed up with that. Then I did the Wizard album where the song ideas ranged from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. A further refinement of that idea is represented in Todd, and the refinement is that I’m breaking down all these barriers — removing the six spirals – just saying there are no limitations as to what is sung about or what the music sounds like, or how long it is… or whether it is even music at all.
Todd Rundgren
Video:Todd Rundgren AWATS concert at the Majestic Ventura Theater 12/5/09
hi lights from Todd Rundgren AWATS concert at the Majestic Ventura Theater 12/5/09
upped by drucatti99
upped by drucatti99
Thursday, December 24, 2009
RundgrenRadio this coming tuesday BEST OF SHOW
"Best of 2009" show this Tuesday night 12/29/09! We will be playing clips chosen by listeners of some of the best moments during the RR shows this year.
WWW.RUNDGRENRADIO.COM
WWW.RUNDGRENRADIO.COM
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