Side one

1. "International Feel" – 2:50
2. "Never Never Land" (Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Jule Styne) – 1:34
3. "Tic Tic Tic It Wears Off" – 1:14
4. "You Need Your Head" – 1:02
5. "Rock & Roll Pussy" – 1:08
6. "Dogfight Giggle" – 1:05
7. "You Don't Have to Camp Around" – 1:03
8. "Flamingo" – 2:34
9. "Zen Archer" – 5:35
10. "Just Another Onionhead/Dada Dali" – 2:23
11. "When the Shit Hits the Fan/Sunset Blvd." – 4:02
12. "Le Feel Internacìonále" – 1:51

Side two

1. "Sometimes I Don't Know What to Feel" – 4:16
2. "Does Anybody Love You?" – 1:31
3. "Medley: I'm So Proud / Ooh Baby Baby / La La Means I Love You / Cool Jerk" (Curtis Mayfield, Al Cleveland, William "Smokey" Robinson, Renaldo "Obie" Benson, William Hart, Thom Bell, Donald Storball) – 10:34
4. "Hungry for Love" – 2:18
5. "I Don't Want to Tie You Down" – 1:56
6. "Is It My Name?" – 4:01
7. "Just One Victory" – 4:59

----
You know with all the problems I have with YouTube, I do have to thank the user (who was suspended) for uploading tracks from Todd's albums, that guy (jasonjarvis88 I believe was his name) opened me up to this guy, who I had always admired for self-handling his own music and self-producing them as well as playing most of the instruments and singing all the vocals. I decided to check this album (and others out) and I think besides from Something/Anything? and Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren, this was one of his finest.

Yes, a first listen of this is hard to get through at first if you love an album with catchy pop stuff, much like "Something/Anything?" was. The album that brought him fame had the man scared of disappointing and instead of caving into pressure to give the corporates another "I Saw the Light" or "Hello It's Me", he instead went totally left-field and decided to record this project, which seemed very late-1960s Beatles-esque in terms of every song segueing into another as the first side did.

This was the start of Todd's progressive rock period, the same period that brought out Genesis and Pink Floyd post-Syd Barrett. This project is still very unusual in terms of subject matter, which was mainly post-psychedelia. Fans of psychedelic pop/rock would enjoy this. I'm particularly fond of songs like "International Feel", "Zen Archer", "Sometimes I Don't Know What to Feel", the soul medley which included a mixture of Chicago ("I'm So Proud"), Detroit ("Ooh Baby Baby", "Cool Jerk") and Philly ("La La La Means I Love You"), "Hungry for Love", "Rock & Roll Pussy", "I Don't Wanna Tie You Down" and "Just One Victory" (a great closer) and this helps makes the album pleasant.

While this didn't generate him the same success as the previous project (which Todd obviously wasn't going for), this became a cult legend from what I heard and some electronic dance outfit, Hot Chip, redid parts of this album motivating the album's creator to perform all songs from the album in recent concert performances.

I think it's a flawed but well-produced masterpiece from an underrated rock god.

What you think about this album? Those who have it, that is.

You can see I love the album if you look at my second quote in my signature.
[Edited 5/4/10 17:09pm]

I grew to love it, as I listened to it a hell of a lot before I saw Todd performing it live in London earlier this year. One of the Top 5 gigs I've ever seen...

jjam said:

Cool. Yeah I actually dug the quirkiness of side one when I first played it, I've become intrigued by it now.

[Edited 5/4/10 19:12pm]

This is magical!

silverchild said:

One of Rock's great concept albums.
Thanks for a reminder to listen to the album from front-to-back again.
(Cool Jerk in 7/8...yeah!)

I'll use this as an excuse to go off for a moment.
(Jumps on soapbox)

It was very clear since the early Nazz recordings, that Todd Rundgren would be a King of Power-Pop (even before the term existed).
What wasn't known was that he would be ahead of the curve on so many things folks take for granted today. Sometimes too far ahead.

One of the first to realize that he could be an independent artist by using the internet. Unfortunately, his PatroNet service was shortlived. Initially designed as an outlet for Todd only, there were plans to open it up to other artists who preferred artistic freedom and had the work ethic to self promote. His concept of having one's fanbase finance their recording projects seems to be the same basis SellaBand is currently working on.

Some other firsts...

In 1978, Rundgren performed the first interactive television concert broadcast live over the Warner/QUBE system in Columbus, Ohio (the home audience chose each song in real time during the concert by voting via QUBE's two-way operating system).

Also in 1978, he delivered the first live nationally broadcast radio concert in stereo (by microwave), linking 40 cities around the country.

In 1979, Todd opened Utopia Video Studios, a multi-million-dollar, state-of-the-art facility. The first project he produced there, Gustav Holst's "The Planets", was commissioned by RCA SelectaVision as the first demonstration software for their new videodisc format.

In 1980, Rundgren directed and produced "Time Heals", the first music video to utilize compositing of live action and computer graphics, a project which became the second video ever to be played on MTV (after "Video Killed the Radio Star").

In 1981, he created the first graphics tablet driven paintbox software for personal computers, which was subsequently licensed to Apple Computer as the "Utopia Graphics Tablet System".

In 1982, Rundgren performed the first live national cablecast of a rock concert via USA Network, which was simulcast in stereo to over 120 radio stations.

Also in 1982, Todd produced the first two commercially released music videos, one of which was nominated for the first-ever Grammy awarded for "Best Short Form Video" in 1983.

In 1993, he established a new musical genre when he composed, produced and performed the world's first interactive audio-only CD-ROM project, "No World Order", which was licensed to both Philips Interactive Media and Electronic Arts, and was released simultaneously with his record company's release of the traditional non-interactive, linear version of the album.

In November 1995, Rundgren continued his long history of multimedia 'firsts' with the release of "The Individualist". Described by Rundgren as a 'multimedia album', the title was available exclusively as an Enhanced CD (one of the first in the category) via a distribution arrangement with Navarre.

http://trconnection.com/trbio.html

...All these contributions and this guy still isn't in the RRHOF?
(some serious b.s., even though the RRHOF has turned into some serious b.s.)

Being that he's not your typical brain-dead music celebrity (much like Zappa), he also gave an enlightened Senate testimony on a digital music delivery system in 2006.
http://prince.org/msg/8/246930


(Jumps off of soapbox)


Music for adventurous listeners


tA

Tribal Records

...I Don't Want To Tie You Down




...Todd talks AWATS



Music for adventurous listeners


tA

Tribal Records
[Edited 5/5/10 16:58pm]

Todd is definitely a guy who thinks ahead of everyone.

Probably my favorite Todd song right now. The soulful melodies in that song are amazing.

Timmy84 said:

He's always got at least one of these great Soul/Pop gems on almost every album.
If you haven't already heard Nearly Human, I think you'd dig it.




Music for adventurous listeners


tA

Tribal Records

theAudience said:

I'm gonna check that one out too.

...

A Wizard/A True Star is one Todd album that took me a while to fully appreciate. I got around the same time as Something/Anything, so I mistakenly thought it was gonna have the same feel...I love it now, of course, it was just alot murkier than the Todd stuff I was listening to at the time so it took longer..BTW, Just One Victory is one of my all-time favorite Rundgren pieces!!!




...

paligap said:

Saw him perform it with...



...Utopia in 1977 during their RA Tour


Very similar to the above except it was the full blown stage show...



...Sphinx, pyramid, & motorcycle drums!




Music for adventurous listeners


tA

Tribal Records

I'll read all the responses later on, but I just wanted to quick say that seeing this whole album performed last year from start to finish was one EXCELLENT concert-going experience! Dude puts on a show, and seeing it performed live made me appreciate it even more. His dedicated fanbase is kinda scary, but still a very good show!

This was the first Todd Rundgren album I ever owned. It blew me away with headphones on! If I loved this record, how could I not love everything else he recorded? An undererrated genius for sure. After this one, he made his living off producing others which allowed him to make great musical experiments throughout his career.

silverchild said:

This was one of my favorite parts of the show. Old sistah in front of me (with a big hat and a Corona) had her hands in the air. "Sang it! Saaaaang it!"

theAudience said:

This song.... So brilliant, and amazing lyrically. He knows that a song doesn't need to go on and on to get its point through. It's that ability to make you want more by giving you less (and still feel satisfied somehow).

theAudience said:

Exactly the point he makes here.

What if I didn’t think about how long the song went on? If I only got through a minute of it and thought, ‘Okay, I sort of expressed that idea.’ I felt no obligation to write a bridge, another verse or anything else like that. That’s enough of it. We’ll move on to something else. By the same token, I didn’t think a song had to be restricted to a certain length. If it was going to go on for 7 or 8 minutes, fine. That’s what it’s supposed to do.

I love listening to him talk about music and making music. He really knows everything about it. Kinda fascinating to hear him talk about the length of a record, the depth of the vinyl grooves and how it affects sound quality.

Ok because I respect and hold highly some orgers musical tastes around here,
I decided to check out some TR. I've never really listened to any of his albums for whatever reason. But I just got Something/Anything and from there I will check out AWATS.
This also stems from listening to Cheap Trick's underated and overlooked album Next Position Please from 1983 produced by TR. Didn't like back in the day but now I'm really understanding it and really diggin' it.
Also my new fave Lewis Taylor seems to be really influenced by TR. At least on The Lost Album. So thanks to everyone on this thread.

Bfunkthe1 said:

I can virtually guarantee that your fist reaction will be Stick with it...start to finish.

^

I've heard bits and pieces already and you're right.
That's why I'm listening to Something/Anything first. Gotta ease into it.

Bfunkthe1 said:

Well be prepared for AWATS because the first half is heavy in terms of the eccentricity. But listen to it constantly, first listens are not always good indicators, so listen it to two, three, four or five times.
[Edited 5/7/10 12:17pm]

^
Will do. But I gotta get through Something/Anything first.
So do you guys agree that Lewis Taylor was influenced by TR? I hear it on The Lost Album for sure.

Bfunkthe1 said:

Hey who wouldn't be influenced by Todd? Lots are from what I heard over the years.

Bfunkthe1 said:

Definitely --Especially Lewis's Leader Of The Band - IMO, Todd would've been proud to have written that!!! Definitely sounds like a Rundgren Tribute--even down to the guitar at the end!






...





...

^
Exactly P! That's the song I was thinking of when I asked the question.When I first I heard it I was thinking this sounds very influenced by Todd Rundgren or a tribute of sorts.

Lewis is a major fan of Todd. As is Prince. He just won't admit it!

Mong said:

Prince won't admit it? Can't see LT not acknowledging Todd as an influence.
Btw, I'm finding LT Cds are getting really hard to find. Glad I found them all. Used of course and on the net but whatever.

Mong said:

We know he won't but Todd's influence BURNS through Prince!

Todd is a big Marvin fan as well.