Fiona Shepherd in the Scotsman, while giving the Glasgow gig a three out of five star rating commented "Rundgren may be ahead of the game with his hardware, but his music is stuck in a time when rock dinosaurs and bass solos stalked the Earth"
Peter Aspden in the Financial Times meanwhile felt of the London Gig: "There were times during the show's first half hour when his attitude towards his devoted audience seemed to border on contempt: no chat, no smiles, no oldies, just a blitz of material mostly from the latest (very good) album, Liars, played at a pitch and volume that were anything but soothing to the unconverted. It struck me, and much of the restless audience, as perverse. When you have such gems - mostly unknown to today's wider rock audience - as "I Saw the Light" and "Hello It's Me" in your back catalogue, why not hook the crowd in early? Rundgren finally conceded the latter number as an encore, and the delirious reaction showed what an opportunity he had missed". He finishes by saying "It is surprising how few people know of Rundgren's work today, and a further irony that this sharp, subtle songwriter's most widely regarded achievement is as producer of Meat Loaf's clamorousBat Out of Hell album. But perhaps he has to shoulder some of the blame for that" Hmm...
Simon Price in Sunday's Independent, who seems to have enjoyed things a bit more went with "As he chops out the soul licks on his guitar with frightening ease and sings in a sweet falsetto which seems incongruous coming from a man of his towering stature, I can suddenly see just why Prince reveres him so highly"
John L Walters in Saturday's Guardian did not seem overly impressed, and seems to have put most of the fault in his two satr review with the band. " Former Tubes drummer Prairie Prince may rock, but he rarely rolls, and he can't swing. This is the show's tragic flaw, exemplified by a dire version of Green Onions. Rundgren's solo album material - even at his most rocky - has a melodic grace and lightness of touch that this band can't deliver. (Their backing vocals, however, are terrific.)"
The Times too, were not kind. Stephen Dalton said "On record, Liars sounds pristine, its rhythms fluid and weightless. On stage, however, Rundgren's studio perfectionism proved impossible to replicate, and many of the new tracks suffered from a graceless delivery. Despite decades of forward-thinking eclecticism, the veteran innovator's heart is clearly still firmly grounded in 1970s progressive rock. This dazzling musical future still feels decidedly dated" He goes on " fter a muscular jam through the classic Booker T and the MGs instrumental Green Onions, tracks such as Soul Brother and Sweet sounded as flaccid as a cruise-ship covers band." and accused Todd of being "unable or unwilling to deliver the simple joys of pop music -visceral, melodic, emotionally engaging"
Thankfully Andy Coleman in the Birmingham Evening Mail gets to the point in his review of the Birmingham gig: "The enthusiastic audience loved it" - We sure did.
No comments:
Post a Comment