Todd is God

Pete and Scott look back on Bowie Check out this episode!

Nice interview with Kazim in Downtown magazine: On Working with Todd: - "But it seems I’m always working with him. Comfortability? Familiarity? I’m not sure. I do know that we sing well together, I respect his talent and over the years have gotten to the point where I know what he wants and expects from another musician without having to have it spelled out…April [2016] will mark my 40th year working with Todd."

Explore New Jersey spoke to Todd ahead of his upcoming local gig. " The experience of listening to the music is what’s important. The Hall of Fame stuff really is, to my mind, just a way to kind of try to move more product."

BBC Sounds of 2016 Hinds - Leave me Alone Savages - Adore Life David Bowie - Blackstar Check out this episode!

I posted this on my other blog yesterday, but thought it deserved a place here too. “ I’m looking for backing for an unauthorized auto-biography that I am writing. Hopefully, this will sell in such huge numbers that I will be able to sue myself for an extraordinary amount of money and finance the film version in which I play everybody” – David Bowie  My relationship with the music of David Bowie began in 1975 with the re-release of Space Odity. I was seven. I’d been vaguely aware of his existence before then, but this was the moment when I said: I like this song, play it again. NOW. What a song.  The next few years gave me other little gems: Golden Years, Sound and Vision, Heroes, Boys keep Swinging. But as the seventies drew to a close I still don’t think I’d actually bought a Bowie record. My brother had a few and I’d listened to his, but I’d not bought anything myself. That changed with Ashes to Ashes (1980). Major Tom was back and he coincided with a big singl...

Last night.

San Jose Mercury News, 7th jan has an interview with Jill Sobule, ahead of a gig this Sunday at Redwood City's Club Fox on Sunday, where she shares the bill with Mr Kasim Sulton. The piece talks about Todd. Sobule's first album, 1990's "Things Here Are Different," was produced by Todd Rundgren . "I was a big fan. I hadn't met, really, any celebrities, let alone one of my icons. I hadn't been in the studio much. And Todd was really intimidating back then, in that time period. So it was really sort of semi-terrifying. "Right before then, I was just excited to play an open mic at The Bitter End in New York. That was a big deal. Or right before that, I played Josephina's Pizza in Denver, Colorado. So my eyes were overly wide open," she says, laughing. "I didn't have any expectations." The album failed to register with record buyers. The next one, produced by Joe Jackson, went unreleased. "People who you adore,...

Peter Guy at the Liverpool Echo talked to local musician Claire Wells (Liverpool Echo, January 8) http://clairewelles.bandcamp.com/ about her music and influences. What are your influences and which artists do you listen to at the moment? For this current LP, I was listening to a lot of late '70s-early '80s Sparks (their Georgio Moroder era), Julian Jumpin' Perez mixtapes circa 1986/7 and Todd Rundgren - who has been a mainstay for many years now. More recently, I've been really impressed with artists such as Julia Holter, Jenny Hval, Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never) and Susanne Sundfør. Note my preference for solo artists! I also enjoy listening to absolute crud such as Hall & Oates, Phil Collins and enigmatic '80s musician/ Wall Street trader "Lewis". Great seeing Todd mentioned but also Oneohtrix Point Never  and Susanne Sundfør who produced two of my favourite records of last year.

Erykah Badu recently recorded this interesting re-working of Todd's Hello It's Me [Based more on the Isley Bros cover]

I think Mr R being a little harsh here: “I don’t have the same kind of feelings that a lot of people do about this new generation of victim singers like Adele and Sam Smith, where it just seems like they’re abused animals,” he added. “Everything they sing about is, ‘Oh, I’m so needy, I’m so hurt.’ I don’t think the world needs more of that. The world needs more of ‘I can’t feel my face.’” [ Revue 29 Dec ]

The new year begins with this from the Scottish Daily Express... TODD RUNDGREN & UTOPIA: Live At The Old Waldorf **** (Esoteric)  Another entry to the Rundgren Archive Series, this is a first official release for an August 1978 concert in San Francisco, where Rundgren mixed songs from his cosmic prog rock band Utopia and the more soft-rock material from his solo career. So while they can ramp it upon the more outlandish tracks like The Seven Rays, Abandon City and Gangrene, Rundgren likes to tone it down a bit when he offers Can We Still Be Friends and Couldn't I Just Tell You.

Awards and a look back at 2015, including our all important album of the year.  Check out this episode!

The one where we ditch the ho ho ho's and instead talk about: Kiss, Pet Shop Boys, Fishbone, NIN, Spirit and David Bowie (and not a little drummer boy in sight). Check out this episode!

Dave Gahan & Soulsavers - Angels & Ghosts Little Mix - Get Weird Oneohtrix Point Never - Garden of Delete Derrhunter - Fading Frontier Anna Von Hausswolff - The Miraculous Grimes - Art Angels Check out this episode!

So, there I was watching the (rather patchy) A Very Murray Christmas on Nextflix last night when mid programme Jason Schwartzman and Rashida Jones (playing a couple who are meant to be getting married) launch into a duet of 'I Saw the Light'. Made me smile. The presence of Paul Shaffer and David Johansen (both artists produced by Todd) made this even funnier.

Davey Lane Spoke, guitarist with Aussie band  You am I was asked the following question in an interview (21 Nov) published in Townsvilleeye WHAT SONG ARE YOU JEALOUS OF? WHAT SONG DO YOU WISH YOU HAD WRITTEN? " One of my favourite songs of all time is a song called International Feel by Todd Rundgren and that's on his album A Wizard, A True Star. It's a pretty short song but just in terms of the song itself and the production. I've talked about it with the guys from Tame Impala because they're all big Todd Rundgren fans too and if there's anything that's a template for what I've set out to achieve it probably would start with that song."

Chvrches - Every Open Eye John Grant - Grey Tickles, Black Pressure New Order - Music Complete Deafheaven - New Bermuda Janet Jackson - Unbreakable Taylor Swift/Ryan Adams - 1989 Check out this episode!

This list of 50 Classic Albums of Nashville's Post-Dylan Era, Part I (1966-72) from the Nashville Scene has two mentions of  Todd: Dennis Linde, Linde Manor (Intrepid/Mercury, 1970) Today, the Texas-born Linde is probably best known for writing such hits as "Burning Love," definitively recorded by Elvis Presley. But Linde, who died in 2006, was Nashville's equivalent to Todd Rundgren — an experimental pop musician. Produced by Jerry Kennedy and Billy Swan at Wayne Moss' Cinderella Studios, Linde Manor features horn arrangements by Bergen White. DJ Shadow sampled the title track on his 1996 trip-hop classic Endtroducing. Great Speckled Bird, Great Speckled Bird (Ampex, 1970) Moderately famous as Todd Rundgren's first production credit, Great Speckled Bird was a Nashville version of the kind of folk-rock Fairport Convention was making at the same time. "Rio Grande" was about a cocaine bust, while "Smiling Wine" was straight cou...

S. Victor Aaron over at Something Else cast thoughts back to Arena, correctly describing it as ' unabashed, hook-filled fun.'

It's autumn or fall but the music is still coming. This month we cast our ears over The Libertines - Anthems for a Doomed Youth Craig Finn - Faith in the Future David Gilmour - Rattle that Lock Keith Richards - Crosseyed Heart Dam Funk - Invite the Light Duran Duran - Paper Gods Check out this episode!