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dermahrk
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Todd Rundgren's domineering production of Stephen Bishop

Posted about 1 year ago
Todd Rundgren is, more often than not, a great producer for other artists. But, if they don't watch it, those artists will end up sounding like..Todd Rundgren, e.g. The Tubes' "Remote Control" (still my fave of theirs).Now, don't get me wrong. I am a big Rundgren fan (ok, not compared to Bubb, but..) so this is not always a bad thing. Here's case in point. Todd apparently only produced one song of Stephen Bishop's, this little ditty called "Pass Her By". It was never commercially released, but emerged on Stephen Bishop's internet-only CD "The Demo Album 1" (there are three, and counting).If anyone thinks Stephen hasn't released any new music lately, go to StephenBishop.com and you'll see that he's released more in the last 5 years than in his entire previous career. Anyway, have a listen and you'll see what I'm talking about.
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Comments (12)

  1. nycjilly
    nycjilly says Well to me it just sounds very much like a song produced in the 80's. But what's up with his new CD being only at Target?
    Permalink posted 01/09/2008
  2. redmiller1
    redmiller1 says Tell Hall and Oates that someone took their demo track.
    Permalink posted 01/09/2008
  3. dermahrk
    dermahrk says Jilly - well, I don't know for sure but have some guesses. The record store is dying. The biggest retailers of music these days are the "box" stores - Wal-Mart, Target, etc. Recent "exclusives" only available at Wal-Mart (until some date in the future) are the latest Rolling Stones DVD and the new release by the Eagles, and the new Carrie Underwood has a DVD which is only included if bought from Target. The chain thinks that exclusivity will bring more customers into their stores and onto their websites. The artists hope to sell more product by getting this promotional boost from the big retailers. Target is apparently doing this kind of thing with several artists, not just Stephen. While Wal-Mart seems to be trying to corner the market on very popular artists, Target may be trying to skew it more towards known but less popular, and SB certainly qualifies there. And, if it stinks of the 80s, blame Todd, not SB. Although Phil Collins produced his CD "Bowling In Paris" and that was full of overproduced synths and such as well.
    Permalink posted 01/09/2008
  4. nycjilly
    nycjilly says It's a really sad trend. Music shouldn't be picked up along with your bulk toilet paper purchase! Is it at least well promoted at Target? I realize it's not going to make the front page of iTunes, but if someone is looking up his older hits and sees the new CD they might at least listen to the free preview & hopefully buy it. I'm not a fan of the Starbucks music model either, but at least it's not exclusive. As for the 80's sound, I like 80s music. But I would say blame the trends of that time rather than Todd.
    Permalink posted 01/09/2008
  5. dermahrk
    dermahrk says I have nothing against 80s music myself - owning plenty of it. Generally, I prefer guitars to synths, though. I think music consumers are being split into two groups - the larger group who only want currently popular releases, as cheap as possible and people like us, who are into a broader spectrum of music. I don't go to music stores anymore unless I'm on vacation and have time to kill. Virtually all purchases (mostly still CDs) are bought online. Even the Target and Wal-Mart CDs I want (mentioned in this post) I bought from websites - who wants to go into a store? The positive side? The rare and unusual music is easier to find with the internet, and obscure releases, once released digitally, cost almost nothing to produce or maintain so I think the out-of-print curse will slowly decline as more music becomes, and stays, available on a digital basis.
    Permalink posted 01/09/2008
  6. vannatta
    vannatta says Mark: I don't think this is necessarily signature Todd. Besides, Todd has done everything from produce tracks live to 24tk (no overdubs) to sampling his voice and (in his words) "playing a mean Emulator" (sampling keyboard) - to pre-sequencing and arranging an entire album first in a Fairlight for XTC's Skylarking (arguably their best album), using tape compression as an effect - the list goes on and on... Todd is a very modern producer in that sense, and prefers digital audio workstations today and the flexibility that gives him - faster workflow etc... he's very cutting edge. Besides, nothing sounds more like Todd than Todd singing backing vocals and playing guitar, which he's obviously doing here - and knowing him - he's probably playing everything else as well. _If you were hard pressed to try and "define" Todd's production style, it would be layered backing vocals, sometimes, sampled, detuned and flown back in to the track (and just as frequently sung all the way through) - the liberal use of keyboards as a pad, guitar lines and strumming, strong back beat with syncopation, and when the mood hits, yes a liberal use of horn arrangements - but gee - how many other Producers could we say that about? Todd is a great producer, and above all serves the material (the songs) and not the artist - so yeah, any artist "should be careful" with any producer in the studio, but any artist would be "very lucky" to be able to work with Todd... His records are as varied as his own personal output... the guy never sold out, and has been innovating, constantly, even since he forged his own path at a very early age.
    Permalink posted 01/09/2008
  7. funoka
    funoka says I love Todd Rundgren -- I've seen him several times -- including Utopia, so I really think he's great, but there are some great stories about him. Some young English band used Todd as a producer a few years ago . . . maybe Starsailor . . . anyway, the band complained that all he did was drink all their beer.
    Permalink posted 01/09/2008
  8. funoka
    funoka says Sorry, one other thing that makes me laugh when I think of Todd. Again, I love the guy, but "The New Cars?"
    Permalink posted 01/09/2008
  9. BrandNewFriend
    BrandNewFriend says great post derm interesting info and enjoyed the track just about to turn in after a few exhausting days back to work thanks x
    Permalink posted 01/09/2008
  10. The Time Machine
    The Time Machine says


    I totally spaced out on the excusive big box store deal that the Tom Petty film available on DVD was at. I thought it was one of the stores that begins with the letter B. I know that it wasn't Borders and so I walked into the brand new Barnes and Noble that opened a few weeks ago in my town to see if they had it. The store is actually one mile from my home. I walked in the store to see that they had on display a coffee table book about the film so I quickly made my way to their DVD section. Nope. Wrong chain. I guess it's Best Buy. When I have some more time today to search the net I'm sure I'll find it.

    I rarely walk into stores to purchase music anymore. It's not that I don't have time because I love browsing in a music store. It's the lack of music that I find that disturbs me when I walk into these stores so I no longer have the desire to look at 300 to 400 titles. It wouldn't be so bad if they actually stocked brand new releases. It was almost two months before the new Rilo Kiley showed up as stock at the local Borders. That album is on a major label too! I've only been in a Walmart a few times in my entire life. My brother gave me a Walmart gift card for my birthday which had me walking in the door to pick up that exclusive Eagles CD.

    Love all of Bish's demo output and believe it or not - I really dig "Bowling In Paris".

    :=)




    Permalink posted 01/09/2008
  11. dermahrk
    dermahrk says I don't think Bish is capable of making a bad record - though his second one (Bish) came too close for comfort. I bought "Bowling" on cassette, then again on CD and love a lot of the songs on it. But I feel Bish's intimacy is enhanced by his voice and guitar alone, and those are generally my favorite cuts. I think I would have liked "Bowling" a lot more if the production was simpler.
    Permalink posted 01/10/2008
  12. The Time Machine
    The Time Machine says


    "Careless" alone is a song that demonstrates what you're talking about even with his fake trombone done with his mouth that even fooled the ears of Quincy Jones!





    Permalink posted 01/10/2008

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