Here We Discuss Todd Rundgren's Bizarro "Healing"

i saw him do a wizard a true star all the way through last year in sf and it was uhh really amazing. tons of costume changes, tight playing. also saw the same lineup play around the time Arena came out; they were super tight as well. played stuff from throughout his catalog.

been listening to this album a LOT lately, there indeed is something very "off" and alien about the whole thing, and quite frankly I think Todd's the first person to use drum machines this way. some of the distorted sounds remind me of IDM in a way. and the entire second side is totally ace. what other records are like this?

great album. the flutey part of drifty "healing 2" has been going through my head lately. beautiful stuff.

the more I hear this the more I swear this is one of the most unique sounding albums ever made. there's such an alien vibe to everything on it. I don't know how he got some of these sounds. it's like he built all his electronic gear by himself.

I mean the 8 minutes of "Shine" is just....what da fuck

Yeah it's a very unique album sonically, especially his use of drum machines (frogbs, you were otm about this a few years ago). A few of the tracks on The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect explore this vibe too (thinking "Influenza" and "Don't Hurt Yourself" and "Chant" in particular). But Healing is really special, definitely the best of Todd's one-man-band albums. The entire side 2 "Healing" suite is one of my favorite pieces of music--about as serene and spiritually affecting as rock-adjacent music gets. Sandro Perri's "In Another Life" from a couple years ago a achieves a similar zen-to-infinity effect

Actually just listened to those Tortured Artist Effect tracks I mentioned, and the drum machines and synths sound way more run-of-the-mill compared to Healing than I remembered

yeah all those sounds going off on “healing part 2” O_O

I've listened to this a few times, including this morning. I'm a Todd fan but don't know what to make of it; I think his spiritual aims are sincere, but I'm not won over. The textures are unusual for the era but the songs aren't compelling, except for "Time Heals", which I enjoy but is kind of Todd-by-numbers. I actually like some of the Utopia stuff from this era, I'll keep listening.

i am listening to this for the first time on spotify and i really enjoy it thus far (at healing part 1) and i possibly enjoy it more than any other todd rundgren album ive heard (all the 70s ones)

xp yeah that's what makes this so odd, of his 30-some odd albums this is the only one that seems completely sincere. even the requisite novelty tune ("Golden Goose") is more bizarre than fun.

one of the things that always gets me is that booming, slowed-down bass drum sound on "Flesh"...it sounds like an old PC game glitching out

I love “time heals and “tiny demons” both very very much

‘Healing’ pt 3 is one of favourite tracks...nobody does gorgeous warm euphoria like Todd

I mean the 8 minutes of "Shine" is just....what da fuck

This got a 40th anniversary RSD reissue. I already have the original LP, but it looked pretty and I was able to win an eBay auction at $9.99 for it, so here it is:

https://i.imgur.com/9Xve3TZ.png

don't think it was remastered at all, but this pressing sounds a lot better than the one I have. though that's mostly because it's clean. the bass really pops on it which is good because pretty much everything Todd touches is a tad treble-heavy. anyway I think Side 2 of this might be my single favorite side of any Todd record, even including AWATS. I love that Todd is actually playing the synth bit the whole time. it's such an electronic and futuristic sound (at least it was then) that hearing human touches like randomly double-tapping the triangle are kinda endearing. also I may be 100% wrong on this but it almost sounds like it could've been a big influence on Underworld? I swear some of the same sounds are there. (think Part 2 & "Most 'Ospitable")

Saw the movie “worst person in the world” and one of the most memorable music/scene moments was set to “Healing pt. 1”. I was surprised to discover it was a Todd Rundgren song. What a cool track. I seriously need to explore his discography beyond the mid-70s.

"Tiny Demons" appeared in a early episode of Miami Vice.

#OneThread