TODD RUNDGREN

UTOPIA

THE NAZZ

important work in color

THE NAZZ: 1968: Nazz. 1969: Nazz Nazz * Nazz III. 1984: Best of Nazz.

TODD RUNDGREN/UTOPIA: 1970: Runt. 1971: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren. 1972: Something/Anything? 1973: A Wizard/A True Star. 1974: Todd * Todd Rundgren's Utopia. 1975: Initiation * Another Live. 1976: Faithful. 1977: RA * Oops? Wrong Planet. 1978: Hermit of Mink Hollow * Back to the Bars. 1980: Adventures in Utopia * Deface the Music. 1981: Healing. 1982: Swing to the Right * Utopia. 1983: Todd Rundgren Presents the Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect. 1985: A Cappella * POV. 1989: Anthology (Todd Rundgren) * Nearly Human * Anthology (Utopia). 1991: 2nd Wind. 1992: An Elpee's Worth of Productions. 1993: No World Order.


Rundgren's early band, The Nazz, were a late-60's ensemble that pleasantly mixed psychedelia and Philadelphia soul. They are captured perfectly on Rhino Records' Best of the Nazz.

After leaving The Nazz, Rundgren knocked off two promising solo albums before releasing his best record, Something/Anything?, a double album crammed full of pop ideas. The work heralded Rundgren as a boy wonder who, with a recording studio at his disposal, could be marvelously entertaining. "I Saw the Light," "It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference" and "Cold Morning Light" would have been at home on a good Carole King album. Oddities like "You Left Me Sore" and "The Night the Carousel Burned Down" revealed an amiable sense of humor and an inspired knack for stereophonic production doodling. "Couldn't I Just Tell You" was pleasantly Beatle-ish. "Black Maria" hinted at an unexplored hard rock side. Unfortunately, Something/Anything? remains Rundgren's peak and the writer on that album doesn't much resemble the dour, earnest figure at work in the 90's.

What happened? Well, the hard edge was never pursued and the Beatlesque eludes Rundgren who often seems allergic to hooks. The Runt's sense of humor has been hard to find on a long string of albums given to serious, sometimes shallow, musings on social/spiritual issues. Rundgren has racked up more grandiose failures than any other rocker. He has tackled one ambitious project after another - Broadway song styles (2^nd Wind), techno-rap experiments (No World Order), sound collages (A Wizard, A True Star), synthesizer orchestras (Utopia), the musical forgery of classic songs (Faithful), new age holistic mysticism (Healing) - work which never seems as provocative as the initial ideas. So there's a mighty long wait in between the simple love ballads and peppy rock tunes Rundgren is so good at. High ambition and jetties of hot air may have replaced the natural pop flair Rundgren once possessed, but the Todd Rundgren/Utopia anthologies are worth checking out.


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