"...Join Me Within My Dream..."
Coming after the artistic high of
"Something/Anything?" in 1972 (a double album) and "A Wizard, A True Star"
in 1973 - March 1974's further 2LP effort "Todd" on Bearsville Records
promised so much. But despite its size (written, played, engineered and produced by TR) - the two Elpee's worth of tunes delivered precious little of them. "Todd" landed
with a huge disappointing thud - and in my mind has stayed there ever since. Here are the reissue details...
UK released 19 May 2014 (27 May in the USA) - "Todd"
by TODD RUNDGREN on Edsel EDSA 5029 (Barcode 740155502935) is a 'Casebound Book Edition' single CD Reissue
(and Remaster) of the March 1974 Double-Album originally on Bearsville Records
with an additional Three Bonus Tracks. It plays out as follows (76:41 minutes)...
1. How About A Little Fanfare? [Side 1]
2. I Think You Know
3. The Spark Of Life
4. An Elpee's Worth of Tunes
5. A Dream Goes On Forever
6. Lord Chancellor's Nightmare Song
7. Drunken Blue Rooster [Side 2]
8. The Last Ride
9. Everybody's Going To Heaven/King Kong Reggae
10. No. 1 Lowest Common Denominator [Side 3]
11. Useless Begging
12. Sidewalk Cafe
13. Izzat Love?
14. Heavy Metal Kids
15. In And Out The Chakras We Go (Formerly: Shaft Goes To Outer Space) [Side 4]
16. Don't You Ever Learn
17. Sons Of 1984
Tracks 1 to 17 are the double-album "Todd" - released March 1974 in the USA on Bearsville 2 BR 6592 and in the UK on Bearsville K 85501.
BONUS TRACKS:
18. Ooh Baby Baby [Live Broadcast On WMMR-FM, 30 June 1971]
19. A Dream Goes On Forever [Live In St. Louis, 9 November 1974]
20. Do Ya [Live In St. Louis, 9 November 1974]
The expanded booklet within has liner notes by
PAUL MYERS from his superb tome "A Wizard, A True Star – Todd Rundgren In
The Studio" and is an excellent read. Lyrics are provided – but unfortunately
the poster that accompanied the original vinyl double with a massive collage of
fan names is AWOL (probably due to licensing reasons).
Five of the 17-songs are meandering
instrumentals, two are vaudeville Gilbert & Sullivan pastiches and it ends on
a live track (“Sons Of 1984”) that should have been a studio recording. The
rest are a very mixed bag – the cod New York Dolls rock of "Heavy Metal Kids" irritates rather than pleases – but "I Think You Know" and "Do You Ever Learn" are good ballads. In truth the only real light in the tunnel is the gorgeous
"A Dream Goes On Forever" which hankers back to the glory of the 1972
double "Something/Anything?" It was an obvious choice for a lead off
7" single (March 1974 USA on Bearsville BSV 0020 and May 1974 in the UK on Bearsville K 15515) - both countries sporting the unpleasant "Heavy Metal Kids" as its flipside.
It's not all bad news though - the 3 bonus tracks are
shockingly good. First up is a 30 June 1971 Live Broadcast for WMMR-FM in the
USA – a cover of Smokey Robinson and The Miracles Motown classic "Ooh Baby
Baby". It's properly gorgeous and makes me think of Rundgren's recent sessions
with Daryl Hall on his Live From Daryl's House Internet broadcasts (and the arrangement Linda Ronstadt used when she covered it in 1978 for her "Back In The USA" album. That's followed by two more live cuts from a concert at St. Louis on 9 November 1974.
He covers "Do Ya" by The Move - an obscure rocking Jeff Lynne B-side to "California Man" on Harvest Records in 1972.
And he plays a lovely keyboard version of "A Dream Lives On Forever" –
complete with a witty intro about hit singles…
Rundgren would regain his crown with November
1974's "Todd Rundgren's Utopia" which was an entirely Prog Rock album and is
a masterpiece of the genre in my eyes – especially the astonishing 30-minute
Side 2 opus "The Ikon".
There are other releases using this Deluxe 'Casebound Book Edition' packaging – "Runt" (1970), "Something/Anything?" (1972), "A Wizard, A True Star" (1973), "Initiation" (1975) and "Hermit of Mink Hollow" (1978).
As a double-album, you'd think that 1974's "Todd" would be
ripe for reappraisal - but re-listening to it in May 2014 (in this admittedly
gorgeous Deluxe Edition Book Pack upgrade) doesn't change my mind about it.
Better to start with the aforementioned two and work towards the dream…
