Comments on: The Perennial Joys of “Godd” Rundgren

By: Rock's Back Pages: Writers Blogs

Rock's Back Pages: Writers Blogs — Sat, 02 May 2009 22:16:34 +0000

[...] and was reminded of this long-intended mission by reading Barney Hoskyns’ RBP blog entitled “The Perennial Joys of “Godd” Rundgren, wherein he writ, “I think I’m more loyal to Todd than to any other single artist; I just keep [...]

By: Barney Hoskyns

Barney Hoskyns — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 16:47:14 +0000

Cliche and Fidelity would almost certainly make mine… I also have a strangely soft spot for “Love is the Answer” (the acceptable “We Are the World”, anyone??)

By: Rob Steen

Rob Steen — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 08:06:00 +0000

Thanks for the dedication, Hoskynso! And I can only echo Barney’s thanks to you, Paul, for Go Ahead Ignore Me – not so much because it’s a family charabanc staple – I don’t have a charabanc, for one thing – but because of the number of friends I have pointed in its direction as the definitive Tood primer, lacking only “Intro/Prana” and “Healing Pt III” in the How-Could-He-Leave-THAT-Out? stakes.

Like you Barneyo, I turn to Todd more often than anyone, and for a wide variety of reasons. No other musician suits so many differing moods, nor hits so many spots with such unerring musical and emotional accuracy, nor chronicles (and anticipates) the history of popular music over the past half-century (and more). In Liars, moreover, he managed to create my favourite album of the Noughties (ahead of Rickie Lee’s Evening Of My Best Day, Fleet Foxes and June and the Exit Wounds’ A Little More Haven Hamilton, Please (the greatest record Todd never made): an all-too rare case of an artist re-peaking in their late middle-age.

So, in the spirit of the post, here are my Ten Most Cherished Toddities (order utterly random):

Hello It’s Me
I Don’t Want To Tie You Down
A Dream Goes On Forever
Real Man
Intro/Prana
Cliche
Fade Away
Influenza
Fidelity
The Wondering

Love n peace

By: Barney Hoskyns

Barney Hoskyns — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 19:17:18 +0000

Let’s not conjecture. And hey, I love “Utopia” too, don’t get me wrong. What I SHOULD have mentioned, of course, is that your GO AHEAD! IGNORE ME! comp is an everpresent in the family charabanc… maybe it was putting that ballad/white soul/pop-heavy anthology together that eventually pushed you towards the pomp ‘n’ glory!

By: Paul Lester

Paul Lester — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:31:09 +0000

No arguments from me there, Barney – Todd is the Goddlike one. And that run from Runt to Hermit, from 1970-1978, is surely the most flawless of all the great solo artists, including Bowie, Prince and Stevie. Actually, if you start at 1968 and include Nazz and Utopia – and auteur side-projects like Hall & Oates’ War Babies – you’re surely talking about the greatest and most varied oeuvre of any single musician before or since. Always love the ballads and the white soul and the pop, but I’m more and more drawn to the brainiac prog-metal-whatever that was the first Utopia album from ’74. I believe Mark David Chapman was a bit of a fan of that one as well. Not sure what means…