Wednesday, April 4, 2012

"Something/Anything?" - Todd Rundgren

A lot can and has been said about this wide-ranging 1972 double album. It has entered the Rock canon (Rolling Stone top 500 albums, etc.) and was Todd Rundgren's breakthrough album. Does it live up to the hype?

For me the answer is a definite 'yes'. I received this album last Xmas and I have already listened to it over a dozen times I'm sure. The 'something for everything' way the album is chronologically arranged (four album sides, four concepts) could have been distracting and left the album sounding very dated, but somewhat surprisingly that is not the case. The album opens with a tremendous 1-2 punch, namely the purest of pure Pop: "I Saw The Light" and "It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference". Not one of the most well known songs on the album, but one of my favorites is the theatrical "The Night The Carousel Burnt Down". The music probably adds more to the songs than the lyrics, but the song works. The big hit on the album was "Hello It's Me," which was the only song off of the album that I was familiar with. Interestingly enough it had been previously released by Rundgren's old group, Nazz. It is a memorable tale of uncertainty and longing. A song about "it's complicated" relationships years before the term came into common usage.

The musical joy that this album brought to me made me rush out and investigate his albums preceding this one. Thankfully Edsel Records has the two albums before this one ("Runt" and "Runt. The Ballad Of Todd Rundgren") both available on a double CD with extensive liner notes and extra tracks. They're not quite up to this album, but they did not disappoint.

If you're into 70's Rock, definitely check this out. Be prepared for some musical weirdness though!

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