Others had recorded one-man albums before Todd Rundgren, most notably Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney, but with Something/Anything? he captured the homemade ambience of McCartney with the visionary feel of Music of My Mind, adding an encyclopedic knowledge of pop music from Gilbert & Sullivan through Jimi Hendrix, plus the crazed zeal of a pioneer. 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.
Todd Rundgren wrote some very memorable love songs in the 70's. We're all familiar with "Hello It's Me", "Can We Still Be Friends", but this song to me brings out the best of Todd. I don't know if there is anyone out there that will aprreciate it, but it's a great tune, what do you think?
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Todd rocks on a 1973 episode of the Midnight Special... totally wild. Arrangement sounds like an impromptu jam session, with the keyboard part lifted from Steely Dan - or was it the other way around...? A must for any Todd fan.
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...of mine for many years, I had only heard _I Saw The Light_, loved it but didn't know who sang it, until my mother dropped it on me. Good ole mom.
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...of mine for many years, I had only heard _I Saw The Light_, loved it but didn't know who sang it, until my mother dropped it on me. Good ole mom.
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Todd rocks on a 1973 episode of the Midnight Special... totally wild. Arrangement sounds like an impromptu jam session, with the keyboard part lifted from Steely Dan - or was it the other way around...? A must for any Todd fan.
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Todd Rundgren wrote some very memorable love songs in the 70's. We're all familiar with "Hello It's Me", "Can We Still Be Friends", but this song to me brings out the best of Todd. I don't know if there is anyone out there that will aprreciate it, but it's a great tune, what do you think?
More >
Keep your head and everything will be coolYou didn't have to make me feel like a foolWhen I try to say I feel the way that I doI want to talk to youAnd make it loud and clearthough you don't care to hearCouldn't I just tell you the way I feelI can't keep it bottled up insideAnd could we pretend that it's no big dealAnd there's really nothing left to hideSomething sure doesn't seem right to meWh...
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Stuff about Woodstock's classic recording spot over here.
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 "Something/Anything?")
