{"id":25847,"date":"2023-08-22T05:30:55","date_gmt":"2023-08-22T09:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=25847"},"modified":"2023-08-22T09:33:55","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T13:33:55","slug":"take-five-5-todd-rundgren-production-credits-you-should-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2023\/08\/22\/take-five-5-todd-rundgren-production-credits-you-should-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Five: 5 Todd Rundgren Production Credits You Should Know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Todd Rundgren is one of music\u2019s renaissance men. He\u2019s a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist with more than 20 studio albums to his name; that doesn\u2019t even count the three albums he made with Nazz in the 1960s and nearly a dozen albums with Utopia. And from early in his adventurous career, Rundgren has moved beyond the confines of his role as recording artist: he developed an early version of Mac Paint software, launched a video production studio before music videos were commonplace, and started a direct-to-fans online model in the 1990s.<\/p>\n<p>Along with all of that, Rundgren has flourished as a producer, lending his studio expertise to the creative works of other artists. His production of XTC, Meat Loaf, The Tubes and Badfinger rank among his most well-known studio credits, but there are many others that have benefited from his distinctive approach. Here are notable tracks from five of his production credits.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cIs it a Star\u201d from <em>War Babies<\/em> by Hall and Oates (1974)<\/strong><br \/>\nDaryl Hall and John Oates began their musical partnership around 1970; the duo truly took off with 1980\u2019s <em>Voices<\/em> LP, kicking off a five-album streak of platinum-selling releases. From six years earlier, <em>War Babies<\/em> is a departure from the soul-flavored material of earlier (and later) Hall &amp; Oates releases. The record was produced by Todd Rundgren and featured members of his band Utopia. The exemplary \u201cIs it a Star\u201d captures that soul vibe, blending it with a \u201cprog\u201d edge. And while<em> War Babies<\/em> wasn\u2019t a hit, among those who know it, the album ranks among their favorite Hall &amp; Oates release.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vFs0UXg-bu0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cDancing Barefoot\u201d from Wave by The Patti Smith Group (1979)<\/strong><br \/>\nPoet-singer-songwriter Patti Smith was a longtime friend of Rundgren\u2019s by the time of <em>Wave<\/em>, her fourth album. With a more commercially-oriented character than its predecessors, <em>Wave<\/em> didn\u2019t find great favor among Smith\u2019s fan base. But viewed from the perspective of the general listening public, it represented her most accessible offering to date. A highlight of the record is this track, featuring lyrics that equate love and addiction.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZKIWYddocpA\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cLove My Way\u201d from <em>Forever Now<\/em> by The Psychedelic Furs (1982)<\/strong><br \/>\nThe Psychedelic Furs came on the music scene in 1977, combing a punk\/goth sensibility with a haunting and vaguely sinister musical style. Richard Butler\u2019s distinctive vocals reminded some of David Bowie, and the band found mainstream success when a re-recorded version of their 1981 song \u201cPretty in Pink\u201d was used in the film of the same name. But with production by Rundgren, the group\u2019s third LP, 1982\u2019s <em>Forever Now<\/em> was the beginning of the band\u2019s journey out of the underground. Featuring backing vocals from Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman of the Turtles, \u201cLove My Way\u201d is a standout track on an outstanding record.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LGD9i718kBU\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cHeaven\u2019s Falling\u201d from <em>Next Position Please<\/em> by Cheap Trick (1983)<\/strong><br \/>\nTodd Rundgren\u2019s musical history is deeply entwined with the finest rock band out of Rockford, Illinois; members of his early band Nazz would play in Sick Man of Europe and Fuse, both of which featured future Cheap Trick members. Todd produced the band\u2019s seventh album, and even contributed a song of his own. \u201cHeaven\u2019s Falling\u201d features an arrangement that suggests it would have made a good song for the powerpop-era Utopia to record; Cheap Trick\u2019s version soars as well, thanks in no small part to Robin Zander\u2019s arresting vocal work.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0loGhxoLUBw\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cShe\u2019s So Young\u201d from <em>Love Junk<\/em> by The Pursuit of Happiness (1988)<\/strong><br \/>\nThough they never achieved large-scale commercial recognition, this Toronto-based band led by Moe Berg produced some of the most finely-crafted music of the late \u201880s. This track hints at the character of the \u201890s alternative rock to come, and features scintillating backing vocals by the band\u2019s female singer, Leslie Stanwyck. Despite its sharp hooks, indelible melody and crystalline production by Rundgren, \u201cShe\u2019s So Young\u201d didn\u2019t chart in the U.S. It did, however, soar to the #4 spot on the Canadian singles chart.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dM5TAQgY5rI\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>NOTE:<\/strong> if you want to know MORE about Todd&#8217;s production work,<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2010\/09\/29\/book-review-a-wizard-a-true-star-todd-rundgren-in-the-studio\/\"> this book by Paul Myers<\/a> is an invaluable resource, and a great read besides.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Todd Rundgren is one of music\u2019s renaissance men. He\u2019s a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist with more than 20 studio albums to his name; that doesn\u2019t even count the three albums [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10142,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2228],"class_list":["post-25847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","tag-todd-rundgren","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25847","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=25847"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25869,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25847\/revisions\/25869"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}