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Early in his career Todd Rundgren formed the garage rock group The Nazz with his friend Carson Van Osten. Rundgren stayed with the band for the release of three albums between 1968 and 1971, but he was ultimately unhappy with the direction the band was going in and left to pursue a solo career.
Todd Rundgren’s first solo album was “Runt” which he released in 1970. The album spawned a top 20 hit in the US with the song "We Gotta Get You a Woman" which was released in 1970. While Todd Rundgren’s production abilities were noted from the album and he won a lot of opportunities to produce other artists’ records, the album itself failed to do that well in the US and Rundgren decided to change styles for the release of his next album.
1972 album “Something/Anything?” was a hit compared to “Runt” and peaked at number 29 on the US Billboard charts. The album was fully produced by Rundgren who provided everything from the lyrics, to the instrumentals to the production itself. The album contained two hit singles, “I Saw the Light” and “Hello It’s Me”, which were both top 20 hits in the US.
With the exception of 1978’s “Hermit of Mink Hollow”, which charted at number 36 in the US, Todd Rundgren’s subsequent albums failed to live up to the success of “Something/Anything?”. Nonetheless, Rundgren’s extensive and impressive production abilities have allowed him to continue putting out work and exploring sounds and ideas up to the present day. Greatly respected for his production skills, Todd Rundgren has worked on numerous albums for artists such as Meat Loaf, Patti Smith and Shaun Cassidy, amongst others.
There are no rules for a Todd Rundgren show except one: he does not do requests. As such, throw away expectation. Shows have ranged from epic, pyramid-leaping, gonzo prog rock to acoustic-only solo of his most accessible ballads. The arena days are gone. More often, he can be found at venues not to exceed 2,000.
He's also become more or less a fixture in Ringo Starr's All-Star tours.—a pricey but enjoyable peek into his live energy. The casual listener would likely prefer his BEST OF show which captures the radio-friendly tunes and exposes his wit. But his music is so eclectic, reactions to shows are as broad as his range. If you are lucky, he will bring out some lead guitar, or do one of his albums live verbatim.
Pay attention to show reviews, and don't be disappointed if he doesn't do HELLO, IT'S ME. Rundgren's productions have put his stamp on modern recording, most notably Meat Loaf's BAT OUT OF HELL. He took on the project because he thought Jim Steinman was making fun of Bruce Springsteen. What a card! Recommending listening is 1978’s BACK TO THE BARS. He’s been miles since, but that LP is the essence of what makes him great.
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