![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/joe_todd_ethel.jpg\")
It was more than sixteen years ago that two of popular music\u2019s most iconoclastic artists decided to work together (sort of). Todd Rundgren and Joe Jackson teamed up for a concert tour, and instead of being backed by conventional bands, they chose to work with Ethel, a string quartet (violin, viola, two cellos). It was, to say the least, an unusual combination. Ethel is perhaps more conventional than, say, Kronos Quartet, but the sort of music they make is well outside the pop idiom.<\/p>\n
Dates on the tour were recorded, and at least one \u2013 New Brunswick, New Jersey, April 29, 2005 \u2013 was filmed as well. And now we have this belated release, featuring a complete performance on two CDs and a DVD.<\/p>\n
Disc One opens with Ethel\u2019s set. Relatively brief at around 30 minutes, the instrumental performances explore drawing room classical and (on the two-part \u201cSweet Hardwood\u201d) something closer to an Aaron Copland classical-folk hybrid. After rapturous applause, Jackson comes onstage. His set presents several of his best-loved songs (\u201cSteppin\u2019 Out, \u201cIt\u2019s Different for Girls,\u201d \u201cObvious Song,\u201d \u201cIs She Really Going Out With Him\u201d) in solo piano arrangements that are markedly different from what listeners will have heard on his albums. The solo readings are likely closer to his original demos, but these performances are far more nuanced than demos. They demonstrate his abilities as a singer and (of course) pianist, and include all sort of melodic bits that didn\u2019t figure into the rock-band versions. Most notable is his cover of The Beatles\u2019 \u201cGirl.\u201d He makes the tune his own.<\/p>\n
Disc Two begins with Rundgren\u2019s set. As is his wont, the set features hits (\u201cHello, It\u2019s Me,\u201d \u201cBang the Drum All Day\u201d) and deep album cuts that are fan favorites (\u201cLysistrada,\u201d \u201cCompassion\u201d) alongside lesser-known cuts like the stagey \u201cFree, Male and 21\u201d (a latter-day cousin of \u201cEmperor of the Highway\u201d) and \u201cAfterlife,\u201d the latter a song from his then-current Liars<\/i> album. After accompanying himself for a few songs on acoustic guitar, he switches over to piano for \u201cCompassion.\u201d The song loses its stacked-chorus backing vocals, but it\u2019s a fine performance nonetheless. He switches to ukulele for \u201cDrum,\u201d and then plugs in guitar (and hits the distortion pedal) for \u201cBlack and White.\u201d Then it\u2019s back to subtle acoustic for the last two songs. Rundgren ends with a popular set-closer, \u201cThe Wheel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Only as the evening\u2019s program nears its end do all participants convene onstage. Jackson does one tune with Ethel, then Rundgren does the same; the latter\u2019s strings-and-voice reading of \u201cPretending to Care\u201d is sublime. And when they all get in on the act, \u201cWhile My Guitar Gently Weeps\u201d is something truly special. It\u2019s so<\/em> good, in fact, that it may leave listeners (or DVD watchers) wishing all the participants had combined their talents more often for the show. \u201c\u201dBlack Maria\u201d works, too, with Rundgren on electric guitar, Jackson on piano and a stirring string backing.<\/p>\n About the package itself: Even though they had sixteen years to do it, the people putting this set together didn\u2019t see fit to include anything in the way of liner notes (other than credits). The still photos are nice enough, but the cover art \u2013 drawn from the promo posters of the event \u2013 is nothing short of dreadful. They could have come up with a catchier title, too. This unusual collection \u2013 a must-hear for fans of Rundgren and\/or Joe Jackson \u2013 deserves better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It was more than sixteen years ago that two of popular music\u2019s most iconoclastic artists decided to work together (sort of). Todd Rundgren and Joe Jackson teamed up for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21508,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,51,62,65],"tags":[4629,1166,2228],"class_list":["post-21507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-release","category-pop","category-rawk","category-review","tag-ethel","tag-joe-jackson","tag-todd-rundgren","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21507"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22247,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21507\/revisions\/22247"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}