Todd Rundgren Suggestions

atquinn

atquinn

New member
So I have a couple of things of his, but not enough. What 2 albums would you fans recommend. Doesn't have to be just Todd himself obviously, Nazz, Utopia, whatever is good. I'd prefer actual albums, but if there's some particularly wonderful greatest hits collection out there, that would be cool too.

-Austin

 
A Wizard, A True Star

Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren

and my personal fave

Something/Anything ('I Saw the Light' is one of my all time fave songs)

 
Runt (first album w/ the Sales brothers). Includes "We Got to Get You A Woman"...we were singing "Leroy, boy is that you..." around the college dorm before the song was a hit.

Something/Anything. It's a double album, BTW

 
"Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren" Very singer-songwriter.

"Utopia" (1982). Killer power pop album.

I also have a soft spot for "Healing", but it is an acquired taste (heavy on the synths).

-Jonathan

 
Something Anyting is a no brainer. I like Hermit of Mink Hollow best second. I also love his production and contributions to Rick Derringer's "Guitars and Women" album. Hello It's Me and I Saw the Light are two of my faves. Something Warm on the Derringer album is classic Rundgren.

 
Adventures in Utopia - 1980 (A coming of age album for me)

Most of P.O.V.- 1985

"Lysistrata" & "Only Human" from Swing to the Right - 1982

 
I've never been a big fan of solo Todd, and I can't stomach much Utopia these days..... they sound dated to me. So if I had to peel off 2 Rundgren/Utopia records, they would be:

Utopia - Deface The Music. A brilliant tribute to the Beatles. They've taken major riffs, and redone them such that the songs sound original. They span the entire Beatles career at that.

Ra - is this the earliest Utopia record? Don't matter.... it's so out there... Progressive, and experimental for sure.

 
Utopia - Oops! Wrong Planet.

Utopia - Adventures in Utopia.

Something/Anything.

A Wizard, A True Star.

Todd.

Faithful.

The Hermit of Mink Hollow.

Healing.

Nearly Human.

No World Order.

The Individualist.

 
the 3 nazz lps are favs

runt

ballad of todd rundgren

a wizard true star

todd

hermit of mink hollow

but

rhino put out a double cd retrospective a while back a best of that was excellently remastered it has all the hits and them some and is probably one of the best sounding cd's I own. get it you won't be sorry

 
Thanks for the all the suggestions! I think I'm going to stat with A Wizard a True Star because I love International Feel and take it from there. I'm getting them off eMusic, so

I don't really need to get full albums, but I think it would be better to listen to them as they were intended.

-Austin

 
The Shark said:
Something Anyting is a no brainer. I like Hermit of Mink Hollow best second. I also love his production and contributions to Rick Derringer's "Guitars and Women" album. Hello It's Me and I Saw the Light are two of my faves. Something Warm on the Derringer album is classic Rundgren.
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Exactly so. Something/Anything and Hermit of Mink Hollow should be your first two. Then I would probably suggest Back to the Bars and Nearly Human.

A Wizard, A True Star is a classic, but may be a little much for a first-timer. Better to work up to that a bit. (IMO.)

There are lots of good "best ofs" out there, as well. Probably the best one I've seen is "The Best of Todd Rundgren: Go Ahead, Ignore Me" - it's got everything the casual fan would want. But with Todd, most casual fans seem to become avid fans pretty quickly.

Rick Derringer's "Guitars and Women" is indeed one of Todd's best productions, and well worth picking up.

 
daa2202 said:
The Shark said:
Something Anyting is a no brainer. I like Hermit of Mink Hollow best second. I also love his production and contributions to Rick Derringer's "Guitars and Women" album. Hello It's Me and I Saw the Light are two of my faves. Something Warm on the Derringer album is classic Rundgren.
Click to expand...
Exactly so. Something/Anything and Hermit of Mink Hollow should be your first two. Then I would probably suggest Back to the Bars and Nearly Human.

A Wizard, A True Star is a classic, but may be a little much for a first-timer. Better to work up to that a bit. (IMO.)

...
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I actually have 2 Todd albums already, Nearly Human and Acapella (which is brilliant). I just decided it was time to check out some of his older stuff. Plus, I'm no stranger to weird "pop" music, so I'll probably be o.k. We'll, see.../emoticons/default_sad.png

-Austin

 
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