Sometimes I Don't Know What to Poll: ILM Artist Poll #107 - Todd Rundgren - RESULTS

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/10/Cheap_Trick_Next_Position_Please.jpg
#8 - 138 points - 5 votes
Cheap Trick - Next Position Please (1983)

Ok, time for lunch and then some actual work ... but I think we can plan on finishing the productions up today.

I think the Maels once mentioned that Sparks never would've gotten a shot if not for Todd, apparently he was the one guy they sent their tape to who really thought they had potential. he deserves to be in the R&R HOF for that alone

The Sparks album should be more widely known, it's a somewhat dark art-rock record that's different enough from their glam and later periods to appeal to listeners who don't like those eras.

Yeah that and the follow up are great examples of “good early albums that would be considered classics if they weren’t overshadowed by what came after”...wonder if there’s a thread on that

Or perhaps they are "records that would be buried in even greater obscurity, if the artists hadn't had some commercial success later".

Steve Hillage's L is awesome; his and Todd's psych/prog fixations complemented each other very well. It seems to have been recorded at roughly the same time as Rundgren's Faithful, so I wonder how the Beatles and Donovan covers on Hillage's album might have inspired Todd's 60s covers on Faithful (or vice-versa?)

I believe Rundgren recommended to Hillage that he cover those songs.

Sorry, should there have been a first-place vote for the Sparks record?

Yes -- one first place vote for Sparks/Halfnelson.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/00/Bat_out_of_Hell.jpg
#7 - 148 points - 5 votes - 1 first place vote
Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell (1977)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8a/BadfingerStraightUp.jpg
#6 - 225 points - 8 votes
Badfinger - Straight Up (1971)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c1/Wave_-_Patti_Smith_Group.jpg
#5  - 227 points - 8 votes
Patti Smith Group - Wave (1979)

I'm a big fan of Straight Up -- and despite Joey Molland being a dick (what's new), I think Todd more or less saved that album, based on the Myers book as well as the (super depressing) Badfinger book. It sounds like George Harrison left the tapes in a mess -- and there's even some debate as to whether George plays on that famous slide solo on "Day After Day" or if it's all Ham.

L is dope

great cover of the Beatles “it’s all too much”

YES, that's the track that grabbed me from that, actually.

I also have to say: "Frederick" from Wave is such a joyous track. Todd really found a new gear for Patti with that one. From the not-quite-disco beat to her own harmony vocals (the arrangement of which is one of his superpowers), that song is just wonderful start to finish.

Indeed

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c0/Hall_Oates_War_Babies.jpg
#4 - 256 points - 8 votes - 1 first place vote
Hall & Oates - War Babies (1974)

I'm a huge stan of Remote Control (really, one of the best album covers ever) - yeah, that was me with the first-place vote. Not sure if Todd got any writing credits, but the songs would slot very well on his own albums at the time. Also really feels like a Todd album, as if he was finally finding a signature production sound. ("Signature" in that a non-musician like me can identify it.) Shame that the years-later follow-up, Love Bomb was such an unloved bomb.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f4/Forever_Now_%28The_Psychedelic_Furs_album_-_original_cover_art%29.jpg
#3 - 269 points - 8 votes - 1 first place vote
Psychedelic Furs - Forever Now (1982)

One thing I never noticed about "Love My Way" was that Flo and Eddie (Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan) of the Mothers of Invention sing on the chorus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb4JY2mr-_Y

Another example of Todd's peerless vocal arranging abilities.

That’s interesting, never knew that but I am often surprised when I read about tracks they are on.

They had been brought in to sing on some other tracks on the record, but when they overheard "Love My Way", they insisted it would be a hit and that they should sing on it.
I've only heard the first Psychedelic Furs album and a compilation, I should hear this because I do enjoy their early stuff.

“Frederick” is perfection. A gorgeous song about stepping away from fame. Sandie Shaw’s cover from 1986 is a miracle, too.

That song and "Dancing Barefoot" are my favourite Patti Smith songs, over anything on Horses.

war babies is really good, top knotch H&O album

Agree -- it also doesn't really sound like anything else in their catalogue. Plus, the fact that it doesn't have any H&O classic singles on it almost makes it more interesting to me.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/05/NewYorkDollsNewYorkDolls.jpg
#2 - 281 points - 9 votes - 1 first place vote
New York Dolls - New York Dolls (1973)

AND

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/912stHcx1wL._SS500_.jpg
#1 - 666 points - 14 votes
Paul Shaffer & the Party Boys of Rock 'N' Roll - The World's Most Dangerous Party (1993)

(cue someone saying that record is actually really good)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0a/Xtcsl2.jpg
#1 - 502 points - 14 votes - 7 first place votes
XTC - Skylarking (1986)

Interesting that I was the only first place vote for The Dolls s/t.

I like that record better than the Grand Funk Railroad album, but I feel he did more for them than the Dolls, so I ranked it higher in this list.

Full list of productions -- apologies as I didn't put the #1s in the spreadsheet but just belt-and-suspender'd counting them when putting together the results:

XTC - Skylarking 502
New York Dolls - New York Dolls 281
Psychedelic Furs - Forever Now 269
Hall & Oates - War Babies 256
Patti Smith Group - Wave 227
Badfinger - Straight Up 225
Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell 148
Cheap Trick - Next Position Please 138
Sparks/Halfnelson - Sparks/Halfnelson 119
Steve Hillage - L 110
The Band - Stage Fright 106
Grand Funk Railroad - We're An American Band 104
The Tubes - Remote Control 94
The Pursuit of Happiness - Love Junk 59
New York Dolls - Cause I Sez So 56
Laura Nyro - Mother’s Spiritual 56
Jill Sobule - Things Here Are Different 45
Todd Rundgren - A Wizard/A True Star 40
The Lords of the New Church - Killer Lords 33
Bourgeois Tagg - Yoyo 33
Utopia - Oblivion 30
The Lords Of The New Church - Is Nothing Sacred? 28
Badfinger - Ass 28
Bad Religion - The New America 28
Tom Robinson Band - TRB Two 26
Utopia - Deface the Music 24
The Pursuit of Happiness - One-Sided Story 22
Shaun Cassidy - Wasp 22

Who's up for some albums?

Albums!

*raises hand*

Ok, quickly, before we pivot to that -- a word that Skylarking ...

Like a lot of voters, Skylarking was my #1 but it also kind of reminds me that Todd's production "style" isn't really a style (nothing else in his catalogue really sounds like it) so much as an approach. He clearly goes in to these sessions with the goal of getting the record done -- you can see why he was in high demand as a producer for so long: he got records finished on time and on budget. He had a knack for getting bands on the charts who hadn't gotten there before or in a very long time -- Psych Furs, XTC, Meat Loaf, maybe even Badfinger, who didn't really have a solid record start-to-finish until Straight Up. It doesn't always work -- clearly, he couldn't get Laura Nyro to work quickly and as much as I like the Cheap Trick record he did (including "Heaven's Falling" which he wrote), the album stiffed.

But in general, Todd pushed artists to do something a little different than they had done to that point. Not only does that seem to run counter to the whole "just get the record done on time" mandate he was under, but from what I can tell, even when it created a little tension in the studio, it resulted in a better record that the artist tended to look back fondly on. And it allowed him to work with an incredibly diverse collection of talent that almost defies categorization.

Anyway, that's Todd's legacy as a producer in my book -- and yet another reason I love him, even when he's producing records by artists I don't care for.

(ABOUT Skylarking, that is ...)

Ok, onto albums!

Part 2: Albums
17 ballots

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Swing_To_The_Right.jpg
#20 - 45 points - 2 votes
Utopia - Swing to the Right (1982)

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61iMR12CloL._SX522_.jpg
#19 - 50 points - 2 votes
Utopia - Disco Jets (rec. 1976, rel. 2012)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/60/Nazz_Nazz.jpg
#18 - 64 points - 2 votes - 1 first place vote
Nazz - Nazz Nazz (1969)

Haven't heard any of these three! I'll comment later tonight.

Glad I helped #20 and #19 to chart. Politics and goofing around. Always room for a bit of both.

wow wonder who voted Nazz Nazz #1

I completely forgot about that Disco Jets album but it's pretty entertaining. definitely one of those 'way better than it looks' sorta albums

Swing to the Right is solid!

https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/5929ad0f9d034d5c69bf42d9/1:1/w_320/76185d18.jpg
#17 - 72 points - 3 votes
Todd Rundgren/Emil Nikolaisen/Hans-Peter Lindstrøm - Runddans (2015)

24 year-old Patti Smith comparing Todd Rundgren to Mozart, Smokey Robinson, Ronnie Spector, Ravel, and Crazy Horse in her August 1971 Rolling Stone review of Runt pic.twitter.com/0F7U7b4zjR

— Eric Harvey (@ericdharvey) April 4, 2021

Because they are Runts too?

The only way I remember the spelling of this Paul Myers is because of the jazz guitarist who spells it Paul Meyers. Then there is yet another Paul Myers associated with Leopold Stokowski.

In Woodstock now, but no sign of the hermit yet.

Not at the Glen Ford, I mean Glenford Dike.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZERNLvgboT4

Couldn’t I just tell you I’m a Heavy Metal Kid?

Heh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF8IoZowV4k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VL4pGazRA8

Finally watched the Tower Block Dreams doc last night. Nearly jumped out of my chair when I heard this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVE9YSBfILE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7VzCia1mjA

RnRHoF for him or The Dolls?

Wow

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E1J_YT4VgAEoxmi?format=jpg&name=large

Swing To The Right is a lot of fun, I don't know why for so long i ignored listening to the Utopia stuff, there's no major distinction between Todd solo and them. IT'S ALL TODD.

I shoulda voted for “born to synthesize”, def over “black and white” at least. the vocal processing is otherworldly and I love the weird eerie high pitched ring that permeates the whole track… plus the jolting chords at the end. hell of a track. love how he sings ‘like waves on still water’.

Yeah, I just checked: I was the lone vote for "Born to Synthesize." IIRC, it was a bit of a controversial "Todd has really gone around the bend" track on Initiation. But you nail what I love about it ... it's kind of the essence of that period for Todd: super blue-eyed soulful vocals ... over the top, almost new age-y lyrics ... and so electronic it's downright dirty as fuck in places. I love it.

the qualities NTI mentions are also in abundance w/r/t to another artist who TR is not nearly associated enuff with: which is to say, Todd is the white Stevie, or rather, Stevie is to Todd as the Clinton diaspora is to the Zappa universe…

I’ve always thought Prince … but there’s def. some overlap w/r/t both.

Wasn't Todd one of the first (if not the first) "omg dude played all the instruments on his albums!" artists? I think that's where a lot of the Prince comparisons come from.

well Stevie and Todd both got to that point at the same time… to say that Stevie isn't in the same class as Todd and Prince on this score cuz he used other musicians throughout the 70s and didn't tend to mess with bass guitar and guitar is unnecessarily pedantic…on many many many of his recordings he isgenerating every sound…

I personally rate Stevie Wonder above both Todd and Prince in just about every category, which is why I think we tend to see a lot of comparisons between Todd and Prince, but not so many between Todd and Stevie (at least I don't.)

Ralph Schuckett died about two weeks after his mention on this thread. RIP.

https://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/xtc-skylarking-705/