BBC radio 6Music broadcast another fine ed of The Record Producers, with Richard Allinson and Steve Levine. This edition profiled the work of Todd Rundgren (if you're in the UK you can listen via iPlayer for limited time here)
This was a wonderful 90 minutes, including interviews with Sparks, Tom Robinson, Andy Partridge, and or course Todd himself, as well as a very close look at how the track Bat out of Hell was put together for Meatloaf.
Loved Sparks saying that whether you liked Sparks or didn't like Sparks, the man to blame for their existence is Todd, and Andy Partridge of XTC on why, despite the horror of recording Skylarking with Todd - "one bunker with two Hitlers" - he still thought he should be considered in the top echelon of producers: "not a very good engineer; his people skill are that of a Darlek, but as an arranger he's pretty god-like"
If you fancy listening to a selection of Todd tunes and have a Spotify account here is a random playlist of Todd tunes and one of some tracks off albums produced for others [If you don't have an account and would like one, the first 2 (need to be uk based) people to leave comment on this post can have an invite.]
“It’s not rock ‘n’ roll anymore anyway,’’ he said. “What we used to call rock ‘n’ roll – the original term, defined by DJ Alan Freed – meant to refer to a certain kind of music that Chuck Berry and Little Richard and Elvis [Presley] were playing, and it was distinguishable from ‘popular music’ at that time ...What you have now is a pop music hall of fame, and I don’t care if I’m in the Pop Music Hall of Fame or not’’ Todd on why he's not especially a fan of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame as told to the Plain Dealer
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