Todd Rundgren

Who has incredible guitar chops like a Joe Satriani, writes some of the most perfect pop songs, has a versatile powerful voice and produced one of the biggest albums of all time, not to mention many other albums? None other than Todd Rundgren. I've been listening a lot to him lately. As good as the material that I was aware of by him is, I've discovered even more gems with the purchase of his double-cd greatest hits, The Definitive Rock Collection. There are some truly great songs here.

What's amazing about Todd is his sheer versatility. He can write a perfect pop song like "Courage", from last year's Arena (an excellent album and one of the best albums of that year, in my humble opinion) or 1978's Top 40 hit, "Can We Still Be Friends?" (one of the greatest pop songs ever). He can go strangely experimental, his 1993 album No World Order. I haven't heard this one yet but I've read a lot about it, especially songs like "Fascist Christ" and some moments where he raps! He can write great hard rock songs like "Mercenary" from Arena (a song I can't stop playing recently) and "Love In Stereo" with his band Utopia. His 2004 album, Liars is almost a dance pop record, not far removed from later Everything But The Girl in sound! He is a record producer who has produced albums from bands like Cheap Trick and Psychedelic Furs, and the enormously successful Bat Out Of Hell by Meatloaf. He can do it all folks and do it as well as anyone. His double-cd 1972 album, Something/Anything? is considered a genuine classic album. I am not familiar with every song Todd has yet but I am working on that and I don't even like every song that I have heard but his good songs are as good as I've heard from anyone. Of the songs that I've recently become familiar with, "Compassion" is standing out. This should have been a big hit in the early '80s, a perfect pop song with a very strong contemplative hook, and a really top notch vocal performance, this song from his 1981 album, Healing, is one that I've played over and over again in the two weeks since I first heard it. Plus, I can't get it out of my head.

Many years ago, in Boston, at the music store Nuggets, I picked up Todd's 1991 album, 2nd Wind for 2 dollars. It was one of the best $2 I ever spent. "Change Myself" is another great pop song. "Who's Sorry Now" is another amazing standout in his career and the bonewrenching performance on "If I Have To Be Alone" is one of my favorite vocal performances ever. Great stuff and highly recommended!