Todd is God

It's Christmas time, there's much need to be afraid ... Merry Xmas from CTTB Idina Menzel - Holiday Wishes Seth McFarlane - Holiday for Swing She & Him - Classics McBusted - McBusted Smashing Pumpkins - Monuments to an Elegy Nicki Minaj - The Pink Print Pete got the best Mic, we need to work on sound optimising! Check out this episode!

Time Out's Music team picked their tracks of 2014 and their runner up was this. Jungle 'Busy Earnin' Riding one giant synth riff that sounds beamed in from the galaxies, London duo Jungle more than justified the hype they'd created for themselves with their slick debut album. The standout track: this mix of rude boy soul and Todd Rundgren psychedelics.

The Guardian's regular, 'band of the Week' feature picked up this guy last week. He is an artist with a distinctive sound and a fully realised aesthetic. The songs on his March 2015 debut album, No Now, are funk warped and mangled, smothered in quixotic synths. Paul Lester opines " It's not quite as radical as he probably thinks it is - anyone who has ever heard a Funkadelic or Parliament album will know that funk is no stranger to the strange and deranged, and the frenetic blipburst approach to fizzy sonics will be familiar to anyone who owns a 1973-5 Todd Rundgren album or a 2008 Max Tundra one… At its best, though - the controlled mayhem of Will to Believe, the mad maximalism of Hit Factory of Sadness, the blap-zap rat-a-tat of Let's Shoot Up and The Gospel Truth, which sounds like funk played by a swarm of bees - No Now is almost as good as Clarence Clarity thinks it is." Meanwhile Postmedia Breaking News reviews a new album/EP from Ener...

As per usual I have been tinkering and tweaking with this list constantly over the past week or so, but my top 5 are pretty solid. 1. Ryan Adams - Ryan Adams [ Give Me Something Good ] 2. Kelis - Food [ Jerk Ribs ] 3. The Hold Steady - Teeth Dreams [ Spinners ] 4. St Vincent – St Vincent [ Digital Witness ] 5. I Break Horses – Chiaroscuro [ You Burn ] 6. Royal Blood – Royal Blood [ Figure it Out ] 7. Angaleena Presley – American Middle Class [ American Middle Class ] 8. Prince & 3eyedgirl – Plectrumelectrum [ Funk & Roll ] 9. Taylor Swift – 1989 [ Shake it Off ] 10. Jenny Lewis – The Voyager [ She's Not Me ] 11. The Pretty Reckless - Going to Hell [ House on a hill ] 12. Pixies - Indie Cindy [ What Goes Boom ] 13. Deerhoof – La Isla Bonita [ Exit Only ] 14. Aphex Twin – Syro [ Minipops 67 ] 15. The Juan Maclean - In a dream [ A Simple Design ] 16. FKA Twiggs – LP1 [ Two Weeks ] 17. Foo Fighters – Sonic Highways [ I am A River ...

""Dave is a great musician, a great songwriter and has done the work, but to me, my criticism of the Foo Fighters, if I’m being a music critic, is that they just haven’t evolved and that’s sort of the recent rap on them is, you know, making the same music." Billy Corgan

It his latest music notes column, Thom Jennings (Niagra Gazette), looks at Todd and Joe Bonamassa of examples of 'cult' artists showing how you can still make a living out of the music industry "Of the two, Bonamassa is playing larger venues and commanding a higher ticket price in spite of a complete lack of any commercial singles. What Bonamassa has done is put out a massive amount of recorded material, and offer up tons of high quality live albums and DVDs and merchandise. Bonamassa has a monthly newsletter, filled with tons of content, and he interacts with his fan base consistently. Like many successful groups from the 1960s and 1970s, Bonamassa makes it fun to follow his career because there is usually something new coming out on a regular basis. Rundgren built his cult following in the 1970s much the same way, by putting out a mass of unique material in a short period of time. Even though he no longer puts out new albums very often, he has been able to offer up ...

This is very well done. Hat tipped for the skill go into this

As Santa starts packing his sleigh we have the nicest man in Rock, Rock Gods, New Country, Banjos, Indie Rock and Deerhoof Foo Fighters  – Sonic Highways  Pink Floyd  – The Endless River Angaleena Presley  – American Middle Class Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn  - Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn 2:54  – The Other I Deerhoof  – La Isla Bonita Check out this episode!

A local choir from London takes on Hodja

Just put my hand in my pocket to back this Kickstarter project to produce a full length documentary on Todd Rundgren.

Nick Drake died on this date in 1974 aged 26. Here's 'Time Has Told Me' http://t.co/EWLF0J94po — Billy Reeves (@TheBillyReeves) November 25, 2014

CBS covers the popularity of Spam and it's no Python joke, the Rundgren's love it

So The Columbus Dispatch and the Cleveland Plain Dealer have reviews of a recent Todd Gigs and the unpredictable grouchy Todd did not go down universally well with the reviewers -or indeed some of the commentators " He is so talented but can be patronizing. I do not bother going to see him live anymore, I don't know why he still tours, he doesn't seem to enjoy it" . I recall his shows at Ronnie Scott's a few years back and my gf certainly thought he was a bit of an arse on one of those nights. Maybe it explains why usually he doesn't talk much at his gigs and just plays the songs.

Ok, it maybe that i'm a librarian by profession, but really loved this. The Mount Desert Island High School version of Meghan Trainor's "All About The Bass" is rather splendid. and, of course, the also splendid original - certainly one of the best pop records of 2014

Will there be any controversy in our views on Prince, Cannibal Corpse, Damien Rice, Primus or Empires? Join us for the usual helping of chaos and disorder   Prince  – Art Official Age  Prince & 3rdeyegirl  -  Plectrumelctrum Cannibal Corpse  – A Skeletal Domain Primus  - Primus & The Chocolate Factory Damien Rice  – My Favourite Faded Fantasy Empires  – Orphan Check out this episode!

Chips: Luther College (6th Nove) has an article Industry review: "I'm sick of genre names" It begins: I'm sick of genre names..."Chillwave," "dreampop" and "shoegaze" are all genres that describe the same thing. The bit that made me laugh was: "I'm actually being extremely sensitive; any given song is never played the same way twice. No two sounds are exactly the same (well, unless you're Foxygen ripping off Todd Rundgren) . "

Mike Ragogna on Huffington Post  has a nice interview with Kasim Sulton, where he talks about his career and new album '3'.

The San Francisco Chronicle (16 Oct) has an interview with The Horror's front man Faris Badwan, who mentioned Todd whilst talking about his own band's album making process: "I find it quite hard to identify with bands that are good at planning things, the determinedly laconic Horrors vocalist, 28, says from London with escalating intensity. If a band can sit down before they make a record and say, We re going to make this kind of record, an album influenced by the Velvet Underground, Neil Young or Todd Rundgren we prefer not to do that. I don't know if it s better or worse."

I have also posted this on my main Information Overlord Blog. A Few years ago I heard a song on Soundcloud that I immediately adored. It was a jazzy little number played on acoustic guitar and the accompanying vocal just hit that sweet spot - you know, that spot where you just stop everything you doing and listen. Here was a woman destined to sing jazz and lounge songs. Many Soundcloud songs later, most of which repeated that initial connection I felt between style and songstress, there is a full debut album. [ Ok, so strictly speaking it's the second album as there was an acoustic album in 2012 called The Attic Sessions - four songs from which get the full band treatment on this new record] And a delightful record it is too. A collection of twelve self penned songs that take in both American and European jazz influences, and sprinkles on soupcon of latin, bossa nova, and cool blues to add additional colour. There isn't really a dud track on the whole record, and ...

William Ruof at The State Press: Arizona State University reviews Foxygen's '...And Star Power' and comments on the Todd influences: The album begins with "Side One, Part One: The Hits; What's the Hook?" full of songs that are easy going, catchy grooves. After a short intro, the album kicks into lead single, "How Can You Really?" a bouncy, organ-driven tune reminiscent of Rundgren's "I Saw the Light." …We then move into "Side One, Part Two: Star Power Suite" on which the influence of the Velvet Underground still feels heavy. "Star Power III: What Are We Good For?" sounds like it is sung by Lou Reed himself. "Star Power IV: Ooh Ooh" closes out the first side of the record with an intro straight off of Rundgren's "It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference." The song leaves an eerie feeling behind as it fades into silence.

Vitamn reports that 12 Rods are reuniting for gigs in the new year. It also passes comment of Todd's involvement with the band " recorded one album with Todd Rundgren as producer (mostly a disaster)". This was Ryan Olcott at the time (via MTV ) on working with Rundgren:   According to pop legend, Rundgren has been known to play many of the instruments on the records he produces, as well as provide backing vocals. With 12 Rods, that wasn’t the case. “It was quite the opposite with us,” said Olcott. “He didn’t play a single instrument or sing a single note. He just engineered and enjoyed. “We had a really good time in the studio,” he continued. “He was really easy going. You just have to work at his level and we have good work ethics when it comes to working in the studio.” Of course after a few years and the album bombed that had changed to: Olcott told City Pages, “We all thought Todd was under-performing. He was the last person to show up at each sessi...

Everybody dance now … Yes in the dance-tastic podcast we have the return of Aphex Twin, some Disco grooves,  Down tempo chill out Rn B ,  oh, and some doom metal   Aphex Twin  -  Syro  The Juan Mclean  – In a Dream Banks  - Goddess Death From above 1979  – The Physical World Ryan Adams  – Ryan Adams Black Moth  - Condemned to Hope Check out this episode!

The new cuddly Ryan Adams continues to provide more joy with a cover of Bryan Adam's Run to You. There was a period were Ryan used to get rather touchy about folks calling out 'Summer of 69' at gigs and the like, but now he's embraced BA with a live cover - though not, you'll note, Summer of 69. Now if someone can get Bryan to repay the favour?

Todd has mixed and contributed guitar to a track on the new Nim Vind, formerly of Vincent Black Shadow, album. The Album, Saturday Night Séance Songs is out in a couple of weeks. The Track featuring Todd is called Astronomicon.

Adult Swim’s animated series Squidbillies, has reached Season Nine, and the new season has a host of artists covering theme theme song, including Todd, according to Consequence of Sound. First up though is Neko Case.

Paul Shaffer tells The Daily Beast how he thought Todd Rundgren might cost him his job on the Tonight Show: “I really lost my temper,” he recalls, recounting how he vented at Letterman when frequent musical guest Todd Rundgren showed up at the studio too late to rehearse, and Dave (perhaps needling Paul) kept announcing that the band would play a string of completely unprepared Rundgren hits.         “Well, I couldn’t play all his songs because we hadn’t had a chance to rehearse, but Dave kept coming back to it,” Shaffer recalls. “He just kept firing it in, and I lost it and I started yelling at him on the air. I said, ‘Listen, anything you want, I give you! You want a song by the Gin Blossoms, you got it!’  Then I felt terrible afterwards. "

The welcome return of Adams to the stage and touring – following a hiatus cause by his suffering from Ménière's disease – gives us back one of the most talented songwriters of our generation. Anyone in any doubt of that fact should just check out the songs from the setlist below. Voice on top form, band tight and focussed and for those lucky enough to have been at the first night (thurs) – sadly not me -  a different set list. Kicking off with the Gimme Something Good from his excellent current album, we went through a set which drew heavily on that album, but also drew in material from Love is Hell, Ashes and Fire, Easy Tiger, and my two favourite Cardinals albums, Cold Roses and Jacksonville City Nights. Not a dud song in the set and a man on stage who looked like he's really enjoying himself. As was the case on the previous evening, Mr Depp made an appearance for the encore to play a bit of guitar -although I suspect Johnny may have ahead a few lemonades whilst...

The good folks over at Todd Rundren Arena posted this and it reminded juts how god damn awful this version by Rod is

A new three disc set and accompanying DVD of Todd's BBC performances is out soon. Disc 1 Radio One In Concert – Paris Theater, London, July 6, 1972 (solo) I Saw The Light It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference Piss Aaron Hello, It’s Me Be Nice To Me Black Maria The Old Greay Whistle Test – October 14, 1975 (with Utopia) Real Man The Seven Rays Disc 2 Hammersmith Odeon, October 9, 1975 (with Utopia) Freedom Fighters Mister Triskets Something’s Coming The Last Ride Sunset Boulevard / Le Feel Internacionale Heavy Metal Kids The Wheel Open My Eyes Sons Of 1984 Do Ya Couldn’t I Just Tell You Disc 3 Oxford Polytechnic, January 25, 1977 (with Utopia) Communion With The Sun Love Of The Common Man Sunburst Finish Jealousy Windows Singring And The Glass Guitar Utopia Theme DVD The Old Grey Whistle Test – October 14, 1975 (with Utopia) Real Man The Seven Rays The Old Grey Whistle Test – May 2, 1978 (with Utopia) Bearsville Picnic featuring Singring And The Glass Guitar The Old Grey Wh...

A track from my album of the Month from the @cttbmusic podcast below

Modern RnB, Indie retro pop and Sinead O'connor. That's the latest podcast.   Ariana Grande - My Everything Childhood - Lacuna Spider Bags - Frozen Letter Royal Blood - Royal Blood Alvvays - Alvvays Sinead O'Connor - I'm not Bossy, I'm the Boss Check out this episode!

Todd and Red Peters duet on Blow Me

It seems Kate Bush's run of gigs has sparked some serious sales of the back catalogue if the UK's albums chart is anything to go by this week. 11 albums in the Top 50. 6. The Whole Story ( Rhino) 9. Hounds Of Love ( Fish People) 20. 50 Words For Snow ( Fish People) 24. The Kick Inside ( Rhino) 26. The Sensual World ( Fish People) 37. The Dreaming ( Fish People) 38. Never For Ever ( Rhino) 40. Lionheart ( Rhino) 43. Aerial ( Fish People) 44. Director's Cut ( Fish People) 49. The Red Shoes ( Fish People)

Broke Radke of the Las Vegas Weekly (27 Aug) talked to Questlove Roots founder/drummer about The Tonight Show gig and DJ-ing. "… our networking game is just on steroids right now. I can cut out the middleman and go right to the artist, and the magic of that is getting to work with our favorite artists and collaborate. That’s how the Elvis Costello record came to be, and we’re messing with Todd Rundgren right now."   Matt Stamm 's sixth studio album, Lines and Waves , garnered the review: " Not since Todd Rundgren has an artist so completely made someone else's songs his own. This is absolutely beautiful," from Audio Fuzz  Childhood (whose debut album 'Lacuna' will be reviewed on my next CTTB Music Podcast) are interviewed in The Independent (26 Aug) 8. Who were your biggest music influences?  We all have lots of different influences from different genres. In no particular order: Stereolab, Air, Shuggie Otis, The Wailers, Cocteau Twi...

(Unconfirmed)Whispers out of Esoteric say that there will be a new Todd album in Spring 2015.

Vice magazine website posts a video by Author/journalist/fisherman Michael Patrick Welch as he interviews legendary musician/performer/producer Todd Rundgren at ToddStock, Rundgren's 6-day-long 65th birthday party at Nottoway Mansion in White Castle, LA. June 2013. Amusing.

Meat maybe murder, but is listening to the new Morrissey album tasty or tasteless? Morrissey - World Peace is None of your Business 5 Seconds of Summer - 5 Seconds of Summer Yes - Heaven & Earth La Roux - Trouble in Paradise Cut/Copy - Free Your Mind Jenny Lewis - The Voyager  Check out this episode!

Can't wait for the album next month (and another chance to see him live too)

Nice.

It's not often [Ok, it's never] that i get to blog about the law AND Todd Rundgren, but yesterday I came across this legal update from Peter J. Gallagher of Porzio Bromberg & Newman PC on the US the Financial Institutions Reform, Recover, and Enforcement Act of 1989 ("FIRREA"). In it he looks at a lawsuit arising out of JPMorgan Chase Bank's efforts to foreclose on his and Michelle's home having decided the couple had defaulted on the loan for the property. Rundgren v. Washington Mutual Bank, FA, 12-15368

We worked twice as hard for this one   Chrissie Hynde - Stockholm Mastodon - Once More around the Sun Bob Mould - Beauty & Rain Bodycount - Manslaughter Sharon Van Etten - Are We There Lana Del Ray - Ultraviolence Check out this episode!

The Vancouver Sun has a Q&A with Erika Forster of Au Revoir Simone which talks about the Todd remix on their recent EP Q: Apparently there's a remix EP with contributions from David Lynch and Todd Rundgren. How did the Todd Rundgren remix come about? A: We're huge fans. We've watched a bunch of his old videos, we've DJ'd a lot of songs on DJ nights. I think it came up that our label, Instant Records, is part of a distribution company, and it just came up that he was looking to do some remix trade. It was like, Do you guys want Todd Rundgren to remix a song? And we were like, Uhm, yes, obviously. We haven't actually met him yet. Maybe we'll see him when he's on tour in New York next time. Meanwhile NUVO (Indianapolis) has an Interview with Coven lead singer Jinx Dawson by Jilly Weiss of We Are Hex, where she mentions that various members of Utopia had played with Coven over the years.

I'm really looking forward to the release next month of 20,000 Days on Earth a new film about 'the day in the life' of  Nick Cave that takes a fictionalized documentary-style approach to exploring the day. Film was co-written by Cave and directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, and looks fantastic.

My daughter's first play with a DAW and during the 7 minutes of noise and keyboard hitting we accidentally hit on a tune via a rhythmic snyth - added a badsic drum beat and some random vox, to create this 23 second masterpiece.

Considering how excited I was about the quality of records released during 2013, I have to say that overall I have felt a bit underwhelmed by the releases I've heard thus far in 2014. BUT, if I had to pick the ten that have given me something, then these would be them. The top 3 are indeed the three records I've enjoyed most, the other 7 are in no particular order. 1.  The Hold Steady – Teeth Dreams . 2. St Vincent – St Vincent. 3. The Pretty Reckless – Going to Hell. 4. Pixies – Indie Cindie. 5. The Both – The Both. 6. Kelis - Food.   7. The Amazing Snakeheads – Amphetamine Ballads . 8. I Break Horses – Chiaroscuro . 9. Baby Metal - Baby Metal. 10. Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence.

A techno style take on Todd's "Bang The Drum All Day"

Ultimate Classic Rock are reporting that Todd is one of a host of famous artists would appears on a soon to be released tribute album to the Doors. Todd joins Geoff Downes and Zoot Horn Rollo on ' Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)’

Vibe talked to Nile Rogers about his career and when it went off on a tangent Todd got mentioned too. Where would you be now had you never been in music? I’d have gone into science. In our days, we called it thermonuclear hydro-dynamics. That was my thing, in our clique at school we were trying to figure out how take nuclear energy, make it safe, and power the planet. Nile Rodgers would’ve been a nuclear scientist? You would not believe how many famous musicians were into this. My friend Reggie Lucas was in the same school, he was on Madonna’s album. He and Todd Rundgren developed the very first screensaver. My other partner, Tom Murray, he went on to invent all sorts of digital applications, way before laptops. I love science. As part of my charity, we brought in Gza from the Wu Tang to give a talk on magnetism and gravity. What went wrong Nile?! Back then, we all knew from a very young age the government weren’t going to use our research for good stuff!

Interesting  interview with Johnette Napolitano in the Dallas Observer. I always liked Concrete Blonde, esp their second album FREE.  Anyway, here she talks about her time in the Talking Heads (sort of) and TR gets mentioned in relation to The Cars. You were in the Heads with members of the Talking Heads, but that band was sued by David Byrne. I can relate to how David felt about that project. Being in that band was like being in the middle of a war. It was just brutal. I got death threats. I had to have armed security. Fans of David Byrne were just not digging it. It was a drag. That band was mismanaged from the ground up. It was a brilliant record that nobody will probably hear. What record is that? We were working on two records at that time. We had finished one record and then did another called No Talking, Just Head. It had a lot of different singers on it. What they should have done was release the other album first because we could have established an identity wit...

We have had the new album from Brent, so how about one from Adrian – his son?: Pop/Art Blog Critics has the interview In listening to Pop/Art, I would think that you were influenced by The Beatles (especially Paul McCartney), Brian Wilson, Todd Rundgren , Elton John, Tom Petty, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen. Are there others that you would like to mention or acknowledge? All of the above are definitely big influences. Probably the biggest one not mentioned is Elvis Costello, whom I'd call the greatest solo singer/songwriter. Simon and Garfunkel, Velvet Underground, U2, Ben Folds, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, The Rascals, Tom Waits, Roy Orbison, Eisley, Hanson, Rufus Wainwright, Jeff Lynne, Big Star, Elliott Smith, George Gershwin, Chuck Berry, and others have influenced and inspired me. I would consider my best friend Ricky Berger as big a musical influence on me as anyone. Speaking of Mr. Rundgren , you have a song 'Everybody Knows It Was Me,...

Mike Greenblatt, at Goldmine [ Pg. 36 Vol. 40 No. 7 ] talks to John Oats about Hall of Fame and career and of course Todd gets a mention GM: Then you go and turn around and work some hard rock with Todd Rundgren on your very next album, "War Babies" [1974]. JO: Here again, that's another trademark of our careers: We weren't afraid to experiment. If you take it in the context of the times, "Abandoned Luncheonette" wasn't really that successful. The hit on that album, "She's Gone," only went into the Top 20 or 30, I think. That album didn't really reinforce to either us or the record company that, "Hey, you guys should make 'Abandoned Luncheonette 2.'" There was no thinking on those terms. So, because of that fact, we had no reason to think that was our style or what we should be doing for the rest of our lives. So we said, "OK, we made a good record. A lot of people liked it. Let's do something differe...

Brent Bourgeois is back ... and so are ex member or Bourgeois Tagg and Mr Rundgren for Brent's new album 'Don't Look Back'. Brent has a page about Todd and the album. Todd and Kasim feature on the VERY Todd-like 'Poor me' The New Jersey Stage also talks about the new album. 

It's Summer ... well, as good as, ... so how about some music to listen to whilst in the sun. We review - Pixies - Indie Cindy Lily Allen - Sheezus Anastacia - Resurrection Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots Kelis - Food Paul Heaton - What Have we Become We're having a break during June, but should be back with you sometime in July. Check out this episode!

Unofficial Apple blog TUAW has a nice article on Esslinger's design work for Apple, and include a photo of  the 1979 tablet that ran on Todd's computer paint program "Utopia Graphics System."  

The San Diego Union-Tribune has a brief item on the new album from Adam Traub's  The Burning of Rome. Made with indie-rock legend Paul Leary (ex Butthole Surfers) at the helm, the piece says: The result is The Burning of Rome’s most varied and accomplished work to date. At its best, “Ox” is a left-field, neo-art-rock opus, minus the prog-fueled pomp and sonic overkill. Its songs draw from pop, punk, psychedelia and early ’70s glam, along with the music of Todd Rundgren in his creative prime and early Queen at its least ostentatious. “I love Todd Rundgren, and so does Paul,” said Traub. Here is the first single off said album - I Like it.

Josh Rotter at Download.com has interviewed Todd. Mostly a rehash of stuff he has said many times before, but has an interesting comment on his recent forays into EDM based remixes for other people and his approach to doing so "When I get involved, it's often to focus on the lyrics or see if there's a lyrical idea. But if you're going to do justice to an EDM song, you have to transcend the limitations of lyrics and build something from it." Speaking of remixes, I'd missed this one.  Au Revoir Simone released a remix EP,  Brightness/Contrast , back in February featuring  Move in Spectrums  tracks reworked by  David Lynch   , Etienne Daho  and  Todd Rundgren. [Later can be streamed if in USA http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2014/05/au_revoir_simon_13.html ]

Spring has sprug and we have some music to go with it: This month we cast a critical eye at: The Hold Steady - Teeth Dreams Hurrah for the Riff Raff - Small Town Heroes Liars - Mess Baby Metal - Baby Metal The Amazing Snakeheads - Amphetamine Ballads EMA - The Future's Void Check out this episode!

So Nirvana, Kiss, Peter Gabriel, Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam), Linda Ronstadt, Hall & Oats all added into the Hall of Fame. Todd got a mention too, from Mr Hall, who noted the band were the first Philadelphia band that has ever gone into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He then went on to name-check a long list of deserving Philly acts, including Todd, the Stylistics, the Delfonics, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, and Chubby Checker. I'm guessing the 'induction process' politics and Mr R's comments about the HoF are why he is unlikely to be inducted whilst alive. Anyway, this is an excuse for a bit of Yusuf

The new The Hold Steady album is now out and its a really good record. Probably their most 'polished' sounding record. The lead single is also one of the album's highlights for me. Here's Spinners ... Also here is a great piece in The Vulture where Tad and Craig pick their favourite The Hold Steady songs from each of their albums.

“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

OK. I give in. The 'meme' of the week it is: The theme tune of your life is the song that was UK Chart/ Billboard #1 on day born, 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th or 21st birthday.  Given that I was born at end of year I already knew this could be bad as I was looking at a long of Xmas number ones, but how bad could it be when you kick off with The Scaffold – Lily the pink in '68 Have always loved this tune. How bad can it get?  How about this bad:  12th birthday: St Winifred's School Choir -There's no one quite like Grandma 14th Birthday: Renee and Renato – Save your Love 16th Band Aid 18th Jackie Wilson – Reet Petite [Thank Christ a decent tune at last]  21st, soddin Band Aid (II) AGAIN.  The UK having clearly failed me, I set sail for the US of A and found things much more to my liking ... O = Marvin Gaye – I Heard it Through the Grapevine 12 = John Lennon – (Just Like) Starting Over 14 = Hall & Oats – Maneater 16 = Madonna – Like a Virgin 18 ...

Hello listeners. Apologises for the delay in gettin podcast three out, but at last it is here: This time around its the following in our reviewing sights: Elbow - The Take off and Landing of Everything Drive by Truckers - English Oceans Pharell Williams - GIRL Kylie - Kiss me Once Real Estate - Atlas Blood Red Shoes - Blood Red Shoes   Check out this episode!

Not very often I mention books on here, but then again don't read a great deal of music books, but I want to mention two. The first one I haven't read yet, but is written by the friend of a friend of mine - Daryl Easlea Without Frontiers: The Life & Music of Peter Gabriel I've read the first few pages and it looks good [Todd mentioned 5 times] Daryl has previously written books on Sparks, Chic and Beyonce. Read the Chic one and it was very good. The second book is one that EVERY pop music fan should read.  Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop Written by Bob Stanley (from the band Saint Etienne) it is a chronological trip through the history of 'the pop single' in the UK/US, and is a pure delight from start to finish. If you have access to a streaming music service such as Spotify etc you'll also find yourself checking out LOTS of stuff you didn't know or had somehow forgotten about. Brilliant.

Like me, you must have often sat down and pondered just why no one had ever thought to blend Japanese Jpop with Heavy Metal. Well, my friends, wonder no more. This will be the best AND/OR worst thing you heard this week. I have to admit, I kind of like it. Truely bonkers.

Diane had a night off so we decided to go out and catch some live music. Wasn't a great deal of choice so we decided to head to one of my favourite venues The Borderline to check out Swedish alt country band Baskery . Made up of three sisters, they have been going for six years or so and describe their sound as 'killbilly'. Didn't really know what to expect. Venue was only about a quarter to a third full, so like us the knowledge of the band didn't seem great to London's masses.  On the evidence of this gig, this is a shame as Greta, Stella and Sunniva Bondesso are a delightful and engaging trio who know put on a show.   Great songs, great harmonies, great musicianship left us scratching our heads to figure out why they were not already HUGE. They have recently relocated to Nashville and even with the local competition that will bring I'd be surprised if these girls didn't make their mark (just need a good support slot on someone's tour). They ...

It seems An Unpredictable Evening with Todd Rundgren is just that ...

So, we are already into month three of 2014, so has any album yet staked a claim to be an early contender for album of the year? I'm still waiting for an album to really make me sit up and take notice, but the closest so far is the latest album from St Vincent - St Vincent .  It is a eclectic and inventive album that reminds me of listening to Prince at his best, and you can also hear the influence of Talking Heads/Art of Noise I have a feeling this will have the staying power to be in the mix come the end of the year, as it is a record that gives up more on each listen.

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David Pack latest album  "David Pack's Napa Crossroads" apparently features Todd among others (Alan Parsons, Ray Manzarek.) For those who don't remember Pack, he used to lead the band Ambrosia. )

The Guardian's regular New Band of the Day feature featured a guy called Ted Zed last week. He is a young British guy trying to make adventurous pop. He sounds quite interesting - oh, and he's a HUGE todd fan.

February Blues? or name Carole? - if so, we recorded a podcast on your birthday esp for you - Country, Death Metal and Grime/Dub you say? We got 'em. New albums from  @thedavidcrosby   @ rosannec ash   @BehemothBand  @WTofficial  @KatyB  @Ibreakhorses Check out this episode!

So pleased to see the wondeful Roddy Hart and the Lonesome Fire get their US TV debut. Great band, great record and Roddy's a lovely bloke too

Ok, so this isn't anything to do with music at all, but I don't think it is possible for this clip of Dallas sportscaster Dale Hansen to be over posted/promoted. Without a doubt one of the best moments of broadcasting from any country for a long time. All hail Dale.

Pitchfork have news of Runddans to new collaborative album coming our way this summer. It is the result of a link up between Todd and Norwegian DJ and producer Lindstrøm and felow Norwegian Emil Nikolaisen of alt-rock band Serena-Maneesh. Sounds like they will be doing some of the European festivals this summer too.

Pitchfork has a great piece celebrating Ten years of The Hold Steady, including the obvious tensions between Tad Kubler and Craig Finn. A great read and really looking forward to Teeth Dreams coming out nexy month. Also, I love the cover of Kiss's Hard Luck Woman off the Recent Covers EP

Jason Isbell – Southeastern The 4th solo record from the ex Drive by Trucker. It is a beautiful record. Songs about cancer, sex abuse and other little ditties. It passed me by during 2013 but its appearance on many of the top 50 albums of year lists (often in the top 20) drew it to my attention. Well worth checking out. Dum Dum Girls – Too True Think this is the 3rd album from Dee Dee Penny and the girls. This sort of sub Blondie pop-rock always appeals to me. Short and sweet songs, album done in 30 minutes. Doesn't outstay its welcome. Hailstorm - The Strange Case Of... Think this album came out either early 2013 or late 2012. It's not perfect but has just enough fun metal with strong riffs to make it worthwhile. Lizzy Hale is an engaging front woman too.

Been a fan of Ingrid Michaelson for quite a while as she knows how to write clever catchy pop tunes. Her latest continues that trend. You may want to hate this but after a couple of listens resistance is futile. You will find yourself humming it. The sly dig at the old Robert Palmer videos is also as nice touch. Official Music Video for Ingrid's Single "Girls Chase Boys" from the upcoming album "Lights Out"

It seems I missed the Blog's 10th Birthday last month. I started this blog back on the 18th Jan 2004. I started off with a moan about Patronet and news of a new album - Liars. So, let's have some Todd to celebrate

Bizarre promo for Todd Uploaded by RundgrenRadio to YouTube This is from a 1972 movie called "Intersection" that to our knowledge was never released. It's about a 20 minute movie and this is the only part Todd is in and it's just a video.

Great interview on backstreets.com with Steven Van Zandt ahead of Bruce Springsteen and E Street band's South Africa gigs - the first time Bruce has played there. It is a great interview and very revelaing when he talks about Paul Simon And he says, “What are you doing defending this guy Mandela?! He’s obviously a communist. My friend Henry Kissinger told me about where all of the money’s coming from,” and all of this. I was, like, all due respect, Paul… But he had that attitude, and he knowingly and consciously violated the boycott to publicize his record....Yeah, and he actually had the nerve to say, “Well, I paid everybody double-scale.” Remember that one? Oh, that’s nice... no arrogance in that statement, huh?

Robin Zander tell Roger Hillis of the Daily Times that Todd might produce a few tracks ion the next Cheap Trick record: "Actually, I was just talking to Todd Rundgren, and he may do a few tracks. I've been talking to Julian Raymond, too," Zander said. "What I'd like to do is have a bunch of the producers we've worked with in the past produce a couple songs each. We've worked with so many incredible producers, like Roy Thomas Baker and George Martin. Unfortunately, George has retired from doing studio work, but we've also done stuff with Geoff Emerick. We've also talked about possibly doing a 'guests' record where we invite some of our musician friends like Dave Grohl to play with us." The Wire has a review of the new album from Zanois - "Selfie" which mentioned Todd: "Prog-pop is unjustly overlooked and it's a shame. Zanois may be the genre's only practitioners in New Hampshire, and despite a lack of att...

Kate McGarry's latest record (with Keith Ganz) features a cover of Todd Rundgren's 'Pretending to Care' featuring Gian Slater and Theo Bleckmann on vocals.

A new year begins and Pete and Scott are stiil talking about albums from 2013 ... until Bruce Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City Placebo - Loud like Love Bruce Springsteen - High Hopes BBC Sound of 2014: Sam Smith, Ella Eyre, Banks, Sampha, George Ezra.  Check out this episode!

I may be the only person to point this out, but London artist Sampha ( co-wrote and sang on half of producer SBTRKT ’s acclaimed debut album in 2012) has a sound on his recent DUAL Ep that is very reminiscent musically and production-wise/arrangement-wise of early 70s Todd Rundgren. Here is an example of what I'm talking about -   I like this EP a lot.

Todd and the members of Ringo's All Star B and on the importance of music education in schools. As part of support for Todd's new Spirit of Harmony charity project to help schools access musical instruments and teaching again.

Google introduces Music Timeline. Fun, althougfh not sure what the popularity based on. Here is the graph for Todd

A guy called Gavin Bond has created a mini-documentary about Todd , a man who Bond describes as “criminally underrated.” Hopefully it will be made available elsewhere/online soon.

Have started the year with two music memoirs / autobiographies: -  Horace Panter's - Ska'd for Life and Neil Young's - Waging Heavy Peace Panter's book tells of how he became the bass player in The Specials . It is very good on the UK music scene in the late 70s and early 80s, and on the little niggles that can cause bands to split up. Here's the masterful, Ghost Town Young's book is an odd beast. It is almost compulsivley digressive and thus, at times, infuriating. The structure being more a 'stream of consciousness, what shall I write today'. This makes it engaging and infuriating in equal measure. But there are enough heartfelt nuggets and insights within its pages to make it all worthwhile in the end. It is also strangley compelling. From the album Landing on Water   - his first after he settled the case brought against by Geffen Records for submitting albums that were non-commercial and 'musically uncharacteristic' - Here is ...

American Songwriter has an interview with Jonatha Brooke formerly of The Story, about her new album, My Mother Has Four Noses, and about other things such as: What do you consider to be the perfect song, and why? (With the caveat that this changes pretty frequently….) Today? “Pretending to Care” by Todd Rundgren. It rips my heart out every time. The a cappella arrangement is crazy and powerful. I love how his voice is on the edge in the chorus. All the things I crave are there.   [I have to say I agree. Beautiful song]

Yes, an excuse to waffle about some of the records that came out in 2013. Best and wost gigs and albums, best song, and more.  Check out this episode!

2013 was the best year for new music in a long time. The general quality of records released was at a level not seen for many a year, so much so that just picking 20 albums proved quite difficult, and picking a top 5 almost imposssible (and the order of my top 3 changes depending on what time of day you ask me). This year I discoverd the music of John Grant, Kacey Musgraves, Brandy Clark, Speedy Ortiz, Chvrches and Laura Mvula, and saw the return of two greats after a long absesne - Bowie and Sabbath. The Bowie album was, of course, the most unexpected. It is still amazing (considering the world we live in) that he managed to keep not only the album a secret but also the fact that he was even MAKING an album secret. That, when it arrived, it was also very good was a bonus. It is the album I have listened to most in 2013 - which is why it eventually won out over Musgraves and Grant. It plays like a best of album, taking as it does elements of 70s, 80s and 90s bowie in its arrang...