The Rock Album Survivor Reviews Thread

JGuy Grungeman · 09-15-2016, 04:04 PM

A Wizard, A True Star by Todd Rundgren

Release: 1973
Style: Art Rock, Pop Rock
Length: 56 min.
Round: Art Rock

Todd Rundgren is something I've been wanting to listen to for a long time since I loved his work on Bat Out of Hell, but I always had other priorities. Art rock never really became a priority unless I was getting through David Bowie albums. I've finally gotten around to it in an attempt to get some pop albums out of the way. “A Wizard, A True Star” is my first album of his. And so far, I am very impressed because it feels like a mixture of Bowie and Zappa.

The album starts with “International Feel,” a short but festive sci-fi experience riddled with the eccentricity of a circus. The next song, “Never Never Land,” is another short one (as most of the album consists of short pieces). A soft and elegant poem, it quickly transcends into an instrumental known as “Tic Tic Tic It Wears Off,” a robotic carnival of backing art-rock/electronic production and Rundgren's bizarre musical sense, which gets more bizarre with the vocal-heavy “You Need Your Head.” A loud, obnoxious, and fun frenzy full of unique guitar playing, like a robot programmed to party. This booze-laden robot continues to party in the hard and heavy rock experience properly named “Rock and Roll Pussy.” At this point, I marvel at the various kinds of eccentricity Rundgren can implement in one album, and so quickly. “Dogfight Giggle” is next, being nothing but a misplaced amalgam of production techniques made to sound like rats squealing in a voice box. It fits the eccentricity, but it feels pointless. The last 1-minute song in this chain, “You Don't Have to Camp Around,” is a soft and romantic piece that acts as a short intermission from the party. “Flamingo,” an electronics-riddled piece of unintentional psychedelia akin to the Main Street Electrical Parade acts as a closer to this chain before we reach a somewhat longer track. “Zen Archer” is this song. It takes the softer, romantic side of the album that we've heard and combines it with the eccentric side, almost as if this song was parodying the album as a whole. It ends with saxophones playing upon both sides of the album while high-pitched vocals back them up. “Just Another Onionhead/Da Da Dali” is somewhere in the middle between the softer and jumpier sides pretending to have meaning, but is really just another Zappa style joke. “When the **** Hits the Fan/Sunset Blvd.” comes next, starting with drums marching like a parade before the song picks up its own unique sense of eccentricity that borrows from hard rock artists but is lightly backed up by a festive piano that uses its sound that's drowned out by the other instruments to its full potential. With synthesizers acting like a video game soundtrack, “When the **** Hits the Fan/Sunset Blvd.” is easily one of the best songs on the album. This track slows down into Side A's finale, “Le Feel Internacionale” which acts as a jubilant 2 minute final-float to the parade.

Side A cuts itself off on the vid I watched to start “Sometimes I Don't Know What to Feel,” which has a similar vibe to Billy Joel's The Stranger, except a little more upbeat. It's not quite the intro I hoped for, as it's of less quality than the entire first half of the album. But it's worth it. It picks up more later in the song. Next comes “Does Anybody Love You?” which is alsdo of less quality due to its simplicity. But at this point I can only hope that the rest of the album picks up quickly, especially considering there's a ten minute song that's appropriately named “Medley” that's coming up. As the first part, Curtis Mayfield's “I'm So Proud” starts, I'm immediately impressed at the soul influence and the very soothing touch the medley takes right from the start. This soul influence continues in “Ooh Baby Baby,” which is an improvement in some areas, but worse in other ways. The Medley continues with a more upbeat and somewhat Asian sound with”La La Means I Love You.” Wonderful song. It's sweet and soft, unlike the harder and more rock-based finale to the medley, “Cool Jerk.” What is it with Todd Rundgren and such appropriate titles? Is it a hidden skill off his? The song is all Rundgren going back to his obnoxious side and bragging about himself. It ends in utter hyperactivity. At this point, I wonder if I'll get something overly eccentric, or something really soft. I get mildly eccentric. “Hungry for Love” starts out with a long grunt, a bar piano, and another very strong Zappa feel: joking, obnoxious, and musically talented. It gradually becomes more hyperactive. “I Don't Want to Tie You Down” is a complete turn around, probably the most soothing track on the album. Nothing but a clever love song that fits those cheesy love songs from the 70's and 80's that pop fans love so much. This softness ends with the heaviest track on the album, one filled to the brim with raspy guitars (although that does not stop Rundgren's overpowering style from taking over the song), “Is It My Name?” And finally, the album ends with a proper, soul-infused track called “Just My Victory.”

My thoughts are the Todd Rundgren has a similar sense of art to David Bowie, but has some of the same eccentricity as Frank Zappa. It seems hard to take him seriously when it comes to his content, but he's clearly a very skilled musician. What the album accomplishes is a unique brand of art that is clearly influenced from other art rock greats of the 60's and 70's, but is unique in the sense that you can feel that this is Todd Rundgren's persona exuding from every note and beat of the work. At least I felt that way. I honestly think this is a great triumph for Rundgren. It's probably too much for some people, but I think just about everything was pulled off well. And anything that wasn't was overcome by the power of the best moments on the album.

100/100. I've heard a lot of art rock, but not most of the albums on the list. So it's only possible this will be my top choice. I like art rock for its will to experiment while maintaining a radio-friendly presence. I'll probably keep this on.

JGuy Grungeman · 09-16-2016, 12:41 PM

Something/Anything by Todd Rundgren

Release: 1972
Style: Pop Rock, Power Pop
Length: 90 min.
Round: Power Pop

Something/Anything is a very different kind of album. Whereas the next album, “A Wizard, A True Star” was all about hyperactive fun and frolicking through the flowers...

This one seems to be more about mainstream hits and something people could easily relate to throughout the 70's as a collection of sweet love songs while still maintainin a child-like behavior at other points in the album.

Side A, named “A Bouquet of Ear-Catching Melodies,” is a short collection of mostly soul-infused love songs that probably got the ladies back in the 70's. “I Saw the Light” is a very radio-geared song, one that's a bit lovey-dovey with Neil Young style vocals and a very 70's pop/soul feel. The next song, “It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference ,” touches up farther in the generic 70's soul radio-hit aura. The difference is that it's hard to get tired of Todd Rundgren. “Wolfman Jack” is more about harmonized vocals singing their hearts out like a gospel choir to a pop rock song. Rundgren's vocals are noticably different from his high-pitched Neil Young vocals on the first track. But he's clearly having just as much fun.

“Cold Morning Light” goes back to that old love-sound we dadrockers know from our teen years, right? Or at least what we know of our mothers playing all of their favorite Ambrosia hits when we were young. “It Takes Two To Tango (This Is For The Girls)” takes a slightly stranger approach, one a little synthesized. Whereas Wizard was heavily synthesized, this album seems to use it only when necessary. And the end Side A, the guitar-ridden “Sweeter Memories” sends the listener into yet another starry, romantic night, almost cheesy. I can see why Meat Loaf got Rundgren on production. Of course, I'd like anyone who can do motorcycle guitar to produce my album.

Side B: The Cerebral Side

“Intro” is an odd introduction to the many different production/sound flaws albums may or may not have, spoken as if Rundgren was Ben Stein doing his Clear Eyes thing. This quickly ends after one minute, and enters an electronic collection of rhythms called “Breathless.” I immediately see why it's called “The Cerebral Side.” It gets gradually more “cerebral” (Rundgren's cleverly picked word for “experimental”) every ten seconds. “The Night The Carousel Burned Down” quickly ends the abundant synth-fest with a more well-paced and lyrical tune that's backed up just as many backing vocals as their were electronic riffs on the last song. “Saving Grace” begins with a very distorted, monstrous form of vocals, goes into a short and quiet drum solo, andf transcends into another soul-infused piano rock song. “Marlene” is another sweet little pop rock song. At this point, I feel that the album isn't as diverse as Wizard. Despite popular opinion, I currently think this album's actually worse than Wizard. This 90 minute double album will have to change pace really soon for me to consider it better, because I started with Wizard so I can get more used to Rundgren before playing his best. The problem behind that was I didn't expect the two albums to be so different. “Song of the Viking” (fantastic song name) does take a change of pace, one like a simplistic spoof of opera in general, and not like this.

I just googled “Viking Opera.”

And when it looks like this song's going to transcend back into it's original territory, it picks back up and goes into its own sense of goofiness. Side B ends with “I Went To The Mirror,” a track that's much slower and quieter than the rest of the album, at first. But through that slow pace, it got slower and weirder gradually throughout. The album managed to change pace for a little while, so that's good.

Side C: The Kid Gets Heavy

I'm not so sure what to expect from this side. “Black Maria” is noticeably less romantic, but balancing itself between more and less dramatic than the love songs I've been getting. It felt like a rock song. “One More Day” goes back to feeling like something Ambrosia would right. It feels like the alum takes short breaks when it wants to be diverse. The only real difference between this and other songs on the album is that it's more guitar based, even though that's not really broadcasted. “Couldn't I Just Tell You” starts with an acoustic intro, and leads the song from their during the lower parts and the very upbeat parts. “Torch Song” isn't exactly heavy, but it's very dramatic and seriousl;y piano based. Even though it's another love song, it's unique because of that and as well-composed as the rest of the album. Side C ends with a very heavy track (in comparison to the rest of the album). “Little Red Lights” starts with a very noisy and raspy guitar solo, and turns into a high-energy hard rock experience that fails to act as a worthy ending to Side C but acts as a good example of diversity that this album occasionally takes.

Side D: Baby Needs a New Pair of Snakeskin Boots (A Pop Operetta)

I had absolutely no idea what to expect except for more love songs. I wasn't sure I'd get that after “Overture” started playing. Intentionally fuzzily produced at the beginning to give off a “playing on the radio” feel, the song's second half is all distorted vocals and a lot of power pop guitar. It's a lot like an intro to a Zappa album, so I ended up being impressed. It is labelled as an Overture, so I'm not sure if there's an actual story in this. “Dust in the Wind” (not the Kansas song which came out three years later) is yet another love song very much similar to the rest of them on the album, but it's more driven by saxophones, so it's still attempting to be different. The next song, “Piss Aaron,” has a somewhat country feel, so it's very unique for the album. “Hello It's Me” is... do I have to say it?

“Some Folks Is Even Whiter Than Me “ is Rundgren's attempt at being more badass than he generally is. A lot of hard vocals, plenty of jazzy sax, and a heavy beat are all proof of this. “You Left Me Sore” starts out asd a bunch of takes of the same song being messed up by one band member really quickly. After about 30 seconds of that, the actual song starts. So, have you tried turning it off and on again? And Dis D, as well as the album, ends with “Slut.” It's the hyperactivity similar to Wizard that runs this finally. There should have been a couple more songs like that on the album.

As far as my thoughts on the album go, I have to disagree with the general opinion. Too many songs sounded a bit too similar, so there's a flaw right there. But the songs were all great, somethiong enjoyable. But I think most of the songs work together individually as a consistent flow seems to be absent. This is not as good an album as Wizard. However, Something/Anything is still a great listen, and as clear five star album. Every song works very well, even if not every song added something new.

96/100. I need to listen to more in the power pop list before I can decide, but I know my top choice so far is Pinkerton.

09-15-2016, 04:04 PM	#231 (permalink)
JGuy Grungeman Primo Celebate Sexiness Join Date: Apr 2014 Posts: 2,662	A Wizard, A True Star by Todd Rundgren Release: 1973 Style: Art Rock, Pop Rock Length: 56 min. Round: Art Rock Todd Rundgren is something I've been wanting to listen to for a long time since I loved his work on Bat Out of Hell, but I always had other priorities. Art rock never really became a priority unless I was getting through David Bowie albums. I've finally gotten around to it in an attempt to get some pop albums out of the way. “A Wizard, A True Star” is my first album of his. And so far, I am very impressed because it feels like a mixture of Bowie and Zappa. The album starts with “International Feel,” a short but festive sci-fi experience riddled with the eccentricity of a circus. The next song, “Never Never Land,” is another short one (as most of the album consists of short pieces). A soft and elegant poem, it quickly transcends into an instrumental known as “Tic Tic Tic It Wears Off,” a robotic carnival of backing art-rock/electronic production and Rundgren's bizarre musical sense, which gets more bizarre with the vocal-heavy “You Need Your Head.” A loud, obnoxious, and fun frenzy full of unique guitar playing, like a robot programmed to party. This booze-laden robot continues to party in the hard and heavy rock experience properly named “Rock and Roll Pussy.” At this point, I marvel at the various kinds of eccentricity Rundgren can implement in one album, and so quickly. “Dogfight Giggle” is next, being nothing but a misplaced amalgam of production techniques made to sound like rats squealing in a voice box. It fits the eccentricity, but it feels pointless. The last 1-minute song in this chain, “You Don't Have to Camp Around,” is a soft and romantic piece that acts as a short intermission from the party. “Flamingo,” an electronics-riddled piece of unintentional psychedelia akin to the Main Street Electrical Parade acts as a closer to this chain before we reach a somewhat longer track. “Zen Archer” is this song. It takes the softer, romantic side of the album that we've heard and combines it with the eccentric side, almost as if this song was parodying the album as a whole. It ends with saxophones playing upon both sides of the album while high-pitched vocals back them up. “Just Another Onionhead/Da Da Dali” is somewhere in the middle between the softer and jumpier sides pretending to have meaning, but is really just another Zappa style joke. “When the ** Hits the Fan/Sunset Blvd.” comes next, starting with drums marching like a parade before the song picks up its own unique sense of eccentricity that borrows from hard rock artists but is lightly backed up by a festive piano that uses its sound that's drowned out by the other instruments to its full potential. With synthesizers acting like a video game soundtrack, “When the ** Hits the Fan/Sunset Blvd.” is easily one of the best songs on the album. This track slows down into Side A's finale, “Le Feel Internacionale” which acts as a jubilant 2 minute final-float to the parade. Side A cuts itself off on the vid I watched to start “Sometimes I Don't Know What to Feel,” which has a similar vibe to Billy Joel's The Stranger, except a little more upbeat. It's not quite the intro I hoped for, as it's of less quality than the entire first half of the album. But it's worth it. It picks up more later in the song. Next comes “Does Anybody Love You?” which is alsdo of less quality due to its simplicity. But at this point I can only hope that the rest of the album picks up quickly, especially considering there's a ten minute song that's appropriately named “Medley” that's coming up. As the first part, Curtis Mayfield's “I'm So Proud” starts, I'm immediately impressed at the soul influence and the very soothing touch the medley takes right from the start. This soul influence continues in “Ooh Baby Baby,” which is an improvement in some areas, but worse in other ways. The Medley continues with a more upbeat and somewhat Asian sound with”La La Means I Love You.” Wonderful song. It's sweet and soft, unlike the harder and more rock-based finale to the medley, “Cool Jerk.” What is it with Todd Rundgren and such appropriate titles? Is it a hidden skill off his? The song is all Rundgren going back to his obnoxious side and bragging about himself. It ends in utter hyperactivity. At this point, I wonder if I'll get something overly eccentric, or something really soft. I get mildly eccentric. “Hungry for Love” starts out with a long grunt, a bar piano, and another very strong Zappa feel: joking, obnoxious, and musically talented. It gradually becomes more hyperactive. “I Don't Want to Tie You Down” is a complete turn around, probably the most soothing track on the album. Nothing but a clever love song that fits those cheesy love songs from the 70's and 80's that pop fans love so much. This softness ends with the heaviest track on the album, one filled to the brim with raspy guitars (although that does not stop Rundgren's overpowering style from taking over the song), “Is It My Name?” And finally, the album ends with a proper, soul-infused track called “Just My Victory.” My thoughts are the Todd Rundgren has a similar sense of art to David Bowie, but has some of the same eccentricity as Frank Zappa. It seems hard to take him seriously when it comes to his content, but he's clearly a very skilled musician. What the album accomplishes is a unique brand of art that is clearly influenced from other art rock greats of the 60's and 70's, but is unique in the sense that you can feel that this is Todd Rundgren's persona exuding from every note and beat of the work. At least I felt that way. I honestly think this is a great triumph for Rundgren. It's probably too much for some people, but I think just about everything was pulled off well. And anything that wasn't was overcome by the power of the best moments on the album. 100/100. I've heard a lot of art rock, but not most of the albums on the list. So it's only possible this will be my top choice. I like art rock for its will to experiment while maintaining a radio-friendly presence. I'll probably keep this on. __________________ I'm a pretty nice troll if you ask me.

09-16-2016, 12:41 PM	#232 (permalink)
JGuy Grungeman Primo Celebate Sexiness Join Date: Apr 2014 Posts: 2,662	Something/Anything by Todd Rundgren Release: 1972 Style: Pop Rock, Power Pop Length: 90 min. Round: Power Pop Something/Anything is a very different kind of album. Whereas the next album, “A Wizard, A True Star” was all about hyperactive fun and frolicking through the flowers... This one seems to be more about mainstream hits and something people could easily relate to throughout the 70's as a collection of sweet love songs while still maintainin a child-like behavior at other points in the album. Side A, named “A Bouquet of Ear-Catching Melodies,” is a short collection of mostly soul-infused love songs that probably got the ladies back in the 70's. “I Saw the Light” is a very radio-geared song, one that's a bit lovey-dovey with Neil Young style vocals and a very 70's pop/soul feel. The next song, “It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference ,” touches up farther in the generic 70's soul radio-hit aura. The difference is that it's hard to get tired of Todd Rundgren. “Wolfman Jack” is more about harmonized vocals singing their hearts out like a gospel choir to a pop rock song. Rundgren's vocals are noticably different from his high-pitched Neil Young vocals on the first track. But he's clearly having just as much fun. “Cold Morning Light” goes back to that old love-sound we dadrockers know from our teen years, right? Or at least what we know of our mothers playing all of their favorite Ambrosia hits when we were young. “It Takes Two To Tango (This Is For The Girls)” takes a slightly stranger approach, one a little synthesized. Whereas Wizard was heavily synthesized, this album seems to use it only when necessary. And the end Side A, the guitar-ridden “Sweeter Memories” sends the listener into yet another starry, romantic night, almost cheesy. I can see why Meat Loaf got Rundgren on production. Of course, I'd like anyone who can do motorcycle guitar to produce my album. Side B: The Cerebral Side “Intro” is an odd introduction to the many different production/sound flaws albums may or may not have, spoken as if Rundgren was Ben Stein doing his Clear Eyes thing. This quickly ends after one minute, and enters an electronic collection of rhythms called “Breathless.” I immediately see why it's called “The Cerebral Side.” It gets gradually more “cerebral” (Rundgren's cleverly picked word for “experimental”) every ten seconds. “The Night The Carousel Burned Down” quickly ends the abundant synth-fest with a more well-paced and lyrical tune that's backed up just as many backing vocals as their were electronic riffs on the last song. “Saving Grace” begins with a very distorted, monstrous form of vocals, goes into a short and quiet drum solo, andf transcends into another soul-infused piano rock song. “Marlene” is another sweet little pop rock song. At this point, I feel that the album isn't as diverse as Wizard. Despite popular opinion, I currently think this album's actually worse than Wizard. This 90 minute double album will have to change pace really soon for me to consider it better, because I started with Wizard so I can get more used to Rundgren before playing his best. The problem behind that was I didn't expect the two albums to be so different. “Song of the Viking” (fantastic song name) does take a change of pace, one like a simplistic spoof of opera in general, and not like this. I just googled “Viking Opera.” And when it looks like this song's going to transcend back into it's original territory, it picks back up and goes into its own sense of goofiness. Side B ends with “I Went To The Mirror,” a track that's much slower and quieter than the rest of the album, at first. But through that slow pace, it got slower and weirder gradually throughout. The album managed to change pace for a little while, so that's good. Side C: The Kid Gets Heavy I'm not so sure what to expect from this side. “Black Maria” is noticeably less romantic, but balancing itself between more and less dramatic than the love songs I've been getting. It felt like a rock song. “One More Day” goes back to feeling like something Ambrosia would right. It feels like the alum takes short breaks when it wants to be diverse. The only real difference between this and other songs on the album is that it's more guitar based, even though that's not really broadcasted. “Couldn't I Just Tell You” starts with an acoustic intro, and leads the song from their during the lower parts and the very upbeat parts. “Torch Song” isn't exactly heavy, but it's very dramatic and seriousl;y piano based. Even though it's another love song, it's unique because of that and as well-composed as the rest of the album. Side C ends with a very heavy track (in comparison to the rest of the album). “Little Red Lights” starts with a very noisy and raspy guitar solo, and turns into a high-energy hard rock experience that fails to act as a worthy ending to Side C but acts as a good example of diversity that this album occasionally takes. Side D: Baby Needs a New Pair of Snakeskin Boots (A Pop Operetta) I had absolutely no idea what to expect except for more love songs. I wasn't sure I'd get that after “Overture” started playing. Intentionally fuzzily produced at the beginning to give off a “playing on the radio” feel, the song's second half is all distorted vocals and a lot of power pop guitar. It's a lot like an intro to a Zappa album, so I ended up being impressed. It is labelled as an Overture, so I'm not sure if there's an actual story in this. “Dust in the Wind” (not the Kansas song which came out three years later) is yet another love song very much similar to the rest of them on the album, but it's more driven by saxophones, so it's still attempting to be different. The next song, “Piss Aaron,” has a somewhat country feel, so it's very unique for the album. “Hello It's Me” is... do I have to say it? “Some Folks Is Even Whiter Than Me “ is Rundgren's attempt at being more badass than he generally is. A lot of hard vocals, plenty of jazzy sax, and a heavy beat are all proof of this. “You Left Me Sore” starts out asd a bunch of takes of the same song being messed up by one band member really quickly. After about 30 seconds of that, the actual song starts. So, have you tried turning it off and on again? And Dis D, as well as the album, ends with “Slut.” It's the hyperactivity similar to Wizard that runs this finally. There should have been a couple more songs like that on the album. As far as my thoughts on the album go, I have to disagree with the general opinion. Too many songs sounded a bit too similar, so there's a flaw right there. But the songs were all great, somethiong enjoyable. But I think most of the songs work together individually as a consistent flow seems to be absent. This is not as good an album as Wizard. However, Something/Anything is still a great listen, and as clear five star album. Every song works very well, even if not every song added something new. 96/100. I need to listen to more in the power pop list before I can decide, but I know my top choice so far is Pinkerton. __________________ I'm a pretty nice troll if you ask me. Last edited by JGuy Grungeman; 09-16-2016 at 12:57 PM.