Todd is God

Just after Christmas I heard about Sarabeth Tucek, and how Bob Dylan liked her etc, so I thought I'd check out her debut album co-produced by Ethan Johns (Kings of Leon/Ryan Adams) and Luther Russell. I was impressed. Impressed enough to take this opportunity to catch her in one of a number of small venue gigs in the uk this month. For my £6, I also got two support acts, who are also worthy of a mention. First up was Helen Boulding - a piano based singer songwriter, who actually reminded me at times of Jill Sobule. Youth produced her debut album - New Red Dress - which comes out on 11th February Next up was Tom McKean And The Emperors. Tom is a Scotish cross between Nick Cave and Tom Waits, with a fine collection of Folk tinged tunes, and is another artist who will be one to watch over the next few years. And so to Sarabeth. When she was good - Holy Smoke, Come Back Baloon, Blowing Kisses, Nobody Cares, Hot Tears, and Something for You, she was very good. BUT, she is quiet - too qu...

Billboard talks to Todd about the new album and the New Cars: On the new 'arena rock' album: Rundgren says he's got "a few" songs already written for the project, and he plans to start working in earnest on it in early February, after he finishes his current North American concert tour. "I write in a very strange way," he explains. "Things are very fragmentary for a very long time, and then they come together very quickly near the end of the process. I don't even write the lyrics to the songs until immediately before I (record) them." On the New Cars: "We couldn't get the rights to use the name the Cars, and the New Cars just confused everybody," Rundgren explains. "We didn't want to have to start all over again. And I've got my own music and my own audience; I had no reason to start trying to begin a new career with another band."

My regular reader - yes, that's you Mr Marquis - will be interested in this one from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Rundgren's voting Hillary Clinton, because Barack Obama's brand of hope "can't get us out of this mess. "I look at politics as a subset of sociology," he says. "It's about this aspect of people's behavior that involves empowerment, where people are essentially motivated by things that all human beings possess inside them, and is moderated by the social contract." In other words, if our behavior is wired to allow for the Gordon Gecko credo of "greed is good," as the 1987 film Wall Street famously illustrated, "then people will be greedy," Rundgren says. "You can see it in the chipmunk who seems about to make its head explode with the number of acorns in its mouth, and still it's trying to get another one in. "If you are on the right side of the capitalistic equation, you can talk a lo...

Sam Richards in yesterday's Guardian Guide put out a call to 'Rescue Todd Rundgren from AOR purgatory' "1973's A Wizard, A True Star: an astonishing Technicolor carnival that touched on psych rock, bubblegum pop, prog, Broadway show tunes and Philly soul. It was harmonically richer and more ambitiously deranged than The White Album and prefigured Prince's Purple Rain by a decade, but Rolling Stone called it a "campy catastrophe" and Rundgren was branded a pasticheur" Todd is God

Album of the year is never easy and this year in no exception: The Hold Steady, Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle, The Weakerthans ... but this years winner has to be: 1. Grinderman - Grinderman: Nick Cave and selected Bad Seeds create a side project for some down and dirty blues based noise. Not an easy record, but this really shouldn't be this good. Raw, funny, fuzzy, genius. The rest of my top 20, in no particular order, are: 2. The Hold Steady - Boys & Girls in America: I have to thank JR for turning me on the THS. He named it as a favourite from last year (came out in US then and in the UK this year). Pub rock wrote large, THS are an everyman band. However, make no mistake they have the songs too. 3. Bruce Springsteen - Magic: Bruce rocks again. Like many I had worried that he another great rock album in him, but this is excelllent stuff. Not really a duff track on the whole thing. 4. The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour: Like the Hold Steady, a band with a habbit of writing ca...

My gig of the year this year was pretty much a no-brainer, it has to be Prince. 1. Prince - O2 Arena: Yes, he may be a weird fucker off stage but put him on stage and the guy just has it (whatever 'it' is). This gig was at the tail end of his 21 night stint in London, and the general consensus was that the guy rocks. Yes, there are some duff songs - but this was mainly a Prince plays the 'hits' concert and some of those songs are pretty damn good. And the rest - in no particular order - were: 2. The Hold Steady - Borderline / Shepherds Bush Empire / Electric Ballroom: Yes, Ok, so I am cheating a bit here, by counting all three HS gigs as one entry. If you still haven't either got into this band or seen them live, where have you been?! Recording a new album and due back in the UK in Summer 2008. If you like bands to look like they are enjoying and love what they do on stage, I urge you to go and see them. 3. Scorpions - Apollo Hammersmith: Seriously, who would have...

Picking singles is the hardest thing these days, with track downloads, and I have no doubt missed some horrible pop tunes that should be on here, but this list is still pretty good. These are in no particular order, after the top 5, which have all been my favourite of the year at some point in 2007, and I still couldn't decide who should have the overall crown. 1. Cassette - The Smartest Bomb : I am probably on a the few people that actually bought this, but I love it. It is very 80s in its sound, but it just really works for me. 2. Bruce Spingsteeen - Radio Nowhere : The first signs that the Boss was back and playing some classy, catchy rock again. 3. Funeral for a Friend - Into Oblivion (Reunion) : 4. Foo Fighters - The Pretender : Let's make no mistake, when the FF are good, they are very good; and this single is true class. 5. Public Enemy - Harder than you Think : Not sure where they've sampled the horns from on this, but couple with Chuck D in full flow, thi...

Whilst I am not a huge fan of welsh rockers, FFF , I do think they are one of the better band of the ilk around these days, so felt they could be worth a punt live. Of course this being a Saturday at the Astoria, meant that the gig had to be done and dusted by 9.45pm so that G.A.Y. could take over. As a result FFF were on stage by around 8.20. First the complaints. Singer Matt Davies can hold a tune, so why have his vocals drowned in the mix so much? Also, for me anyway, the set list could have been better. speaking of the Set List, I cannot replicate it here (although I will list the songs I remembering being played, if for no other reason than the forum people on their site apparently don't want people talking about them on there as it may spoil the surprise. What a load of bollocks.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has Todd talking about the new record "It will be a concept album. Essentially, I'm going to do an arena rock record. Hopefully it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy," he says, laughing. "It's big hook, big chords, sing-along choruses and arrangements are designed to echo through an ice rink. It's a bigger challenge than it seems like. Sing-along ability is not something that is automatic. There has to be something anthemic about the music and the subject matter." They also have him comment on producing Bat, Skylarking, and We Are an American Band.

It's November which must mean it is the Weakerthans, who I believe I have only ever seen in November on each of the three occasions I have managed to catch them, but I digress. Touring with a new album (at last) to promote - 'Reunion Tour' - it was great to see that John K Samson and the boys still rock live. Licking off with a duo of ' Our Retired Explorer '/'Civil Twilight', I knew from the off this was going to be a good one. I was not disappointed. JKS is not the most chatty front man, but we did learn that a trip to a London gallery had inspired 'Night Windows'; and that 'Tournament of Hearts' was about that great sport curling (never played but it was prime time on sunday afternoons in Scotland when i was growing up). Also any man who can write lyrics such as "yes a penguin taught me French back in Antartica" (Our Retired Explorer) has my respect. Set list was base heavily around the new album and the previous record ' Re...

Retro Dan has an interview with Brent Bourgeois (Bourgeois Tagg) who has this to say on working with Todd. retroDan: Since you’re a music producer yourself, i thought it’d be interesting to hear your take on all the major producers you’ve worked with in your career- namely Todd Rundgren, Danny Kortchmar, Charlie Peacock? Brent: Todd Rundgren is much more of a musical influence than an ‘in the studio’ influence. He taught me something very important: to be really honest lyrically. His chord changes and melodic sense have obviously influenced my writing as well. As a producer in the studio, he was a disappointment. His idea of a compliment was a heavy sigh and something like, “That didn’t bother me.”

Pitchfork has an interview between Eddie Argos of Art Brut, and Craig Finn of the Hold Steady. Finn talks about the new album ( coming late Spring/Summer 2008) and touring the UK. He also mentions the excellent John K Samson of the Weakerthans ... Craig Finn : That's one of the greatest things. If someone like John Darnielle (of Mountain Goats) says "God, that's a great lyric," you feel, "Whoa!" That's a great compliment. Where it's not like some college journalist saying "this album rocks!", you know? It carries a lot of weight. Like, John Samson from the Weakerthans, another one of my favorite lyricists. Right now.

The Guardian has been compiling a 1,000 albums you should hear before you die list "it's not is the best 1000 albums of all time. Instead, it's a cross-genre, cross-era look at some great music" Todd makes it in with Something/Anything " Rundgren not only produced and arranged this double LP, he wrote it all and played every instrument on three of the four sides. I Saw the Light opened the "pop" side, followed by the "experimental", "hard rock" and "musical" sides. The third solo album from the Philly whizkid is a masterclass in eclecticism" Also this made me laugh from the Washington Post.Music editor and Post Rock blogger David Malitz in a special pre-Thanksgiving edition of 'the chat'. This is from the transcript: A statistic: Todd Rundgren is overrated by 95% of the .01% of the population who know who he is. David Malitz: I like the way your brain works. We need more statistics. Where does that "b...

After the amount of times I have missed Mr Adams on his recent visits to these shores, it was great to be able to catch him (and the Cardinals) at last. Being sat down in the Circle was not ideal, but hey, what can you do. So, was it worth the wait? I'd have to say a resounding yes. I have been getting well into this years release, 'Easy Tiger', of late so was in the mood. Adams is not exactly the most chatty person on stage - and my girlfriend did complain that he didn't do enough to 'work' his audience - but that's fine when the music is so good you can let it speak for itself. Another ove which put the focus on the music was the very low lighting chosen by the band - who were performing almost in darkness - in the shadows, one might say for the majority of the set. Again, this didn't bother me, and indeed it made for some quite cool lighting effects late on. So, what did they play? Well a 2 hour set with a 30 min encore: Peaceful Valley Beautiful Sort...

I thought it was time to give over a few lines to two "giants" of music past and present, who both returned from the wilderness (if not the tabloids in one of the cases) this past couple of weeks. I speak, of course, of The Eagles and Britney Spears. Let's start with Brit. Obviously, all has not been well in the land on Brit over the past few years - marrying K-Fed kind of gave that away. So, partied, she had the kids, she partied, she went out minus underwear, she shaved off all her hair, she lost custody of the kids blah blah blah. So, all eyes were on her when news of a musical comeback hit the headlines. Her performance of her debut single of the new opus at the MTV awards, failed to remove thoughts that she was still out of it; although most admitted 'Gimme More' was actually ok, for what it was. The album too has gotten a surprisingly warm reception. Is it deserved??? Well, I'll admit this isn't the car crash I thought it might be, but it is still a...

Wednesday night, so it must be heavy metal. Having been reasonably impressed with McQueen 's debut album , I thought it was worth parting with £6.50 to catch them live. I must admit I wasn't expecting much, but I was presently surprised to find that McQueen manage to be quite entertaining live (although a bit less of the rock cliche speak by lead vocalist Leah wouldn't go a miss). Anyway, The Line went Dead, Running out of Things to Say, Love for Sale, Neurotic etc all sounded really rather good. The next record should tell us whether or not the band will ever headline bigger venues. Due to standing in a bar drinking Pete and I missed the first of the support acts but arrived in time to catch Fresh Fabrik , a hungarian hard rock band. They seemed like a nice enough bunch, but can't say I left wanting to rush out and buy any of their music.

I have almost gone to see Ray Davies play on a number of occasions, but never quite made it, so when this opportunity came along I jumped at the chance - and I am glad I did. For just about 100 minutes, in a set comprise mainly of Kinks songs - with a few of his better solo numbers thrown in - it was a complete joy. Davies is, without a doubt, one of the best songwriters the UK has produced and in one truly golden period wrote or co-wrote a batch of timeless classics, all of which made the set tonight: Tired Of Waiting, All Day And All Of The Night, Good Times Gone, Sunny Afternoon, Dedicated Follower Of Fashion, Days, Waterloo Sunset, You Really Got Me, Lola ... every one of them, songs that most songwriters would have killed to have written. Things were made even better by the fact that Ray really seemed to be having a good time, and looked like - even at 64 - he still fancied himself a rockstar. For me it all kicked off brilliantly with I'm Not Like Everybody Else from the Ki...

Retroblog ( a personal favourite blog find of 2007) has an interesting interview with Moe Berg , talking about life after The Pursuit of Happiness, life in general, and of course working with Todd. "In terms of a Todd mix tape, I wouldn’t even know what to pick. “Drunken Blue Rooster” would be the first song and “Fade Away” would be the last. In between, it would depend on the day". What would you put in between? what 10 tracks would fit in between these 2? Still with Todd, he gets a mention in this interview with Dominique Leone in the san fransisco bay guardian's blog, and in Compuerworld's famous geek list

Apparently London singer/songwriter Jack Penate (who happens to be from Blackheath, a mere 5 minutes walk from where I live) turned down an offer to have Todd (of whom he is a fan) produce his debut album "Matinee" opting instead for Jim Abbiss (who also happens to be a Todd fan), who has helmed sets by Arctic Monkeys and Editors. You can buy Jack's album on eMusic