Music Banter - View Single Post - Trollheart Listens to Every Album on Wiki's List for 2017

Trollheart · 02-16-2018, 05:03 PM

Album title: White Knight
Artist: Todd Rundgren
Genre: Rock
Nationality: English
Release date: May 12
Position in Discography: Twenty-seventh
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No but of course I've heard of him
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Duh
Average RYM Score: 2.81
Unlike many children of the seventies, I'm not a big Rundgren fan; in fact the only album of his I experienced was through my “Love or Hate?” thread, and I didn't think much of it. I must say though, this is an impressive start. I am however always slagging off hip-hop artists about all the guests they use on their albums, so I suppose it would be disingenuous of me not to mention that here Rundgren ropes in stars such as Joe Walsh, Donald Fagen, Daryl Hall, Trent Reznor and Joe Satriani to help out – and they're only the ones I know. There are, in fact, sixteen separate guests on this album, one of whom may be his son. That's a lot of guests. Hall lends his blue-eyed soul voice to “Chance for Us”, which is very funky. Good to hear him again, been too long.

So far I'm extremely impressed. Great mixture of hard rock, soul, funk, blues, AOR on this album, with the odd shot of hip-hop too. If Rundgren is trying to show he can step outside of his comfort zone here (assuming he hasn't already done this; as I said, I'm only vaguely familiar with his legacy and not his music) then he's doing a great job. “Beginning (of the End)” is a real standout, though there has not so far been a single bad track. Great to hear Donald Fagen strut his stuff again on “Tin Foil Hat”, which, to be fair, could be a Steely Dan song; it certainly has that feel about it. Whether it was written with him in mind or not, I don't know. Okay, “Look at Me” is the first time I feel this album dips sharply in quality, but I feel it may be just a blip. And we're back up and running with “Let's Do This.” Yeah, this is one sweet album. If the rest of his stuff is like this, I may become a fan and realise why he's so highly regarded in music.

Check out more from this artist? Yes
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

Actual Rating:

02-16-2018, 05:03 PM	#1910 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Album title: White Knight Artist: Todd Rundgren Genre: Rock Nationality: English Release date: May 12 Position in Discography: Twenty-seventh Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? No but of course I've heard of him Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Duh Average RYM Score: 2.81 Unlike many children of the seventies, I'm not a big Rundgren fan; in fact the only album of his I experienced was through my “Love or Hate?” thread, and I didn't think much of it. I must say though, this is an impressive start. I am however always slagging off hip-hop artists about all the guests they use on their albums, so I suppose it would be disingenuous of me not to mention that here Rundgren ropes in stars such as Joe Walsh, Donald Fagen, Daryl Hall, Trent Reznor and Joe Satriani to help out – and they're only the ones I know. There are, in fact, sixteen separate guests on this album, one of whom may be his son. That's a lot of guests. Hall lends his blue-eyed soul voice to “Chance for Us”, which is very funky. Good to hear him again, been too long. So far I'm extremely impressed. Great mixture of hard rock, soul, funk, blues, AOR on this album, with the odd shot of hip-hop too. If Rundgren is trying to show he can step outside of his comfort zone here (assuming he hasn't already done this; as I said, I'm only vaguely familiar with his legacy and not his music) then he's doing a great job. “Beginning (of the End)” is a real standout, though there has not so far been a single bad track. Great to hear Donald Fagen strut his stuff again on “Tin Foil Hat”, which, to be fair, could be a Steely Dan song; it certainly has that feel about it. Whether it was written with him in mind or not, I don't know. Okay, “Look at Me” is the first time I feel this album dips sharply in quality, but I feel it may be just a blip. And we're back up and running with “Let's Do This.” Yeah, this is one sweet album. If the rest of his stuff is like this, I may become a fan and realise why he's so highly regarded in music. Check out more from this artist? Yes Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Actual Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018