By the time The Hermit of Mink Hollow was released in April 1978, it had been two years between Rundgren's solo albums, yet it had been six years since he had delivered an album as unabashedly pop and accessible as Hermit. Once he had a … The King tribute "I Saw the Light" reached number 16, and while its follow-up (the terrific power pop classic "Couldn't I Just Tell You") stiffed, the third single, a superior re-recording of the Nazz's semi-hit "Hello, It's Me," climbed all the way to number five. Following these two curious detours, Rundgren released the arty pop album State, his first collection of original material in five years; it appeared in April 2013. In those 20 years, Rundgren may have existed largely on the fringes of pop music, but he produced a body of work that ranks as one of the most intriguing in rock & roll. On one level, that perception is true since he is undoubtedly a gifted pop songwriter, but at his core, Rundgren is a rock & roll maverick. Beyond his big ballads you'll find chunky power pop and rock.

That's certainly not what he delivered with A Wizard, a True Star, his 1973 follow-up to Something/Anything?

It was his final record for Warner and the last record he would make for a major label. The shamelessly bombastic record became an unexpected blockbuster, due in no small part to Rundgren's cinematic production. That's not to say he wasn't busy. Part of the problem was that Utopia's sound had indeed changed, but it was no longer contemporary.

Nevertheless, the resulting album, Skylarking, revitalized XTC's career and Rundgren's producing career. He followed the record with the double-live album Back to the Bars, which was split between Utopia and solo material. Prior to hitting the road in the U.S., he was one of the first Western artists to perform for the Chinese during the summer Shanghai Festival.

In 1983, after he devoted some time off to do technological work, he reconvened Utopia, which released Oblivion in 1984. He also inked a deal to host a weekly online radio program called Music Nexus for the EnterMedia network. Leave feedback. It wasn't long until Rundgren had a huge hit of his own. Their debut album, Nazz, appeared in October, supported by the single "Hello, It's Me." The following year, he released his first solo album in three years, the spiritually inclined Healing.

As he pursued his solo career, Rundgren quickly earned a reputation as a talented producer/engineer. His first production was for American Dream, but he quickly graduated to the big leagues thanks to his association with Grossman. On the strength of the Top 30 success of the ballad "Can We Still Be Friends," the record became a big hit, spending 26 weeks on the charts and peaking at number 36.

Once he had a taste of success with his 1972 masterwork Something/Anything?, Rundgren chose to abandon stardom and, with it, conventional pop music. In 1989, he finally released Nearly Human, his soul-spiked follow-up to 1985's A Cappella. Todd Rundgren is an American singer-songwriter and producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as founder of the band Utopia. In 1986, he was hired to produce the cult British pop band XTC.

Neither the management nor his bandmates gave Rundgren much encouragement to sing, nor was his new introspective direction warmly received by his colleagues. As his solo career received a shot in the arm, his production career reached a pinnacle of commercial success with Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell. As the legions of listeners who loved "Hello, It's Me" departed, Rundgren's cult following -- the fans who did consider him "a Wizard, a True Star" -- intensified. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything?

He abandoned the Runt concept before beginning his third album, deciding to record the entire record himself. Initially, the group consisted of three keyboardists (Moogy Klingman, Ralph Shuckett, and Roger Powell), a bassist (John Siegler), a percussionist (Kevin Elliman), and a drummer (John "Willie" Wilcox). That year, he also revamped Utopia, stripping away two of the keyboardists (Klingman and Shuckett), as Elliman and Siegler left. Read More. The result was Something/Anything?, a double-album set that cemented Rundgren's reputation as a near-genius producer and gifted songwriter. Nevertheless, the early '80s were a robust time for Rundgren -- his last great period of commercial success. He came back swinging in 1980, releasing two albums with Utopia: the shiny pop/rock opus Adventures in Utopia and the cutting Beatles parody Deface the Music.

He kicked off 1976 with Faithful, an album that split into original pop material and re-creations of '60s chestnuts from the Yardbirds, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and the Beach Boys. Over the course of the recording sessions, tensions grew between Rundgren and the group's main songwriter, Andy Partridge, eventually spilling over into outright hostility.

In the summer of 2001, Rundgren participated in the A Walk Down Abbey Road: A Tribute to the Beatles tour, which also included Ann Wilson (Heart), John Entwistle (the Who), and Alan Parsons (the Alan Parsons Project). Oblivion did respectably on the charts, peaking at 74, but the next year's follow-up, POV, tanked -- it reached only 161. Add image The album slowly earned an audience, with the single "We Gotta Get You a Woman" climbing into the Top 20 in early 1971.

Let us know what you think of the Last.fm website. As he attempted to leave Bearsville, Rundgren found himself in further record company difficulties when Network folded. We don’t have any upcoming events for this artist right now. Utopia Video Studios' first project was a version of Gustav Holst's The Planets, a demonstration disc for video disc by RCA SelectaVision. in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings as solo artist, and during the s…

During the '70s, his records were underground favorites, and his albums continued to chart until 1991, nearly 20 years after his commercial peak. Stewkey took control of the Nazz, erased Rundgren's vocals from the album sitting in the vaults, and replaced them with his own. Given that Rundgren had been releasing records at such a rapid rate throughout the '70s, it comes as a shock to note that neither he nor Utopia released an album during 1979.

The flagship of Rhino's Todd Rundgren reissue series was Anthology (1968-1985), a double-disc set that traced the rock & roll maverick's career from the Nazz through his decade-and-a-half with Bearsville Records.

Around the same time, Rundgren formed a band called Runt.

Kurland and his associate, Michael Friedman, had the Nazz sign with SGC Records -- an offshoot of Atlantic Records and Columbia-Screen Gems -- in the summer of 1968. Todd Rundgren Songs Videos Pictures Artist Radio . His modest success was enough to convince Grossman to sign Rundgren to a long-term contract with Bearsville. In reality, Runt was little more than a front for his burgeoning solo career. After completing a groundbreaking solo tour in 1982, which alternated acoustic sets with sets featuring taped backings and video backdrops, he released The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect.

Clearly, Guardian was attempting to capitalize on the lounge fad of the mid-'90s, but Rundgren took the bait, supporting the resulting record, With a Twist, with a full-fledged tour. Rundgren spent the next few years working on computers, as well producing. He began a course through uncharted musical territory, becoming a pioneer not only in electronic music and prog rock, but in music video, computer software, and Internet music delivery as well. After a brief sojourn where he fronted the New Cars, Rundgren returned to the solo arena with Arena in 2008.

He released up to two albums a year either as a solo artist or with his band Utopia, while producing acclaimed, successful records for artists as diverse as Badfinger, Meat Loaf, Grand Funk Railroad, the New York Dolls, and XTC.

Plays a mix of your favorite pop rock classic hits from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90's and 00s. Liars, a politics-heavy concept record, was issued on Sanctuary in spring 2004. Connect your Spotify account to your Last.fm account and scrobble everything you listen to, from any Spotify app on any device or platform. Runt -- either Runt's first album or Rundgren's first solo album, depending on your point of view -- was released on Ampex Records in the fall of 1970. Todd Rundgren's best-known songs -- the Carole King pastiche "I Saw the Light," the ballads "Hello, It's Me" and "Can We Still Be Friends," and the goofy novelty "Bang on the Drum All Day" -- suggest that he is a talented pop craftsman, but nothing more than that.

Less than two years later, he returned with his 25th studio album, Global, a typically anachronistic fusion of classic rock, soul, and contemporary dance music. Cleopatra released White Knight in May of 2017 and by the fall, Rundgren was touring again with Ringo Starr.

These two productions set the stage for Rundgren to take the production seat that George Harrison left vacant; the result was Badfinger's Straight Up, which gave him a huge hit with "Baby Blue." Also, more often than not, the singles from each record do not offer an accurate indication of what the remainder of the album sounds like. Not only was it released as a conventional CD, it was also released as an interactive CD-ROM through Philips and Electronic Arts. Such an approach severely curtailed his mass appeal, but it helped him cultivate a ferociously dedicated cult audience.

He also released "Time Heals," the first music video to combine computer graphics and live action; it would later be the second video played on MTV.

Todd Rundgren & L Shankar) - Single. And so Utopia was born. Kasim Sulton joined as the new bassist. Another Live proved to be the culmination of the synth experiments and, in some ways, the stretch of willfully difficult records Rundgren made during the mid-'70s. During this time, he also worked as a DJ on the acclaimed syndicated radio program The Difference with Todd. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything?

Staying on the charts for 11 weeks, it was Rundgren's last album to come close to a mainstream hit, thanks to the radio single "The Want of a Nail." Rundgren played the role to the hilt, dyeing his hair in a rainbow of colors and turning in extravagant concert performances.

Hailed in the rock press as some sort of masterpiece upon its early 1972 release, it also won Rundgren a wide audience.

He would later state that he had mastered pop songcraft and had no interest to simply repeat himself through endless recyclings of "I Saw the Light" or "Hello, It's Me." Over the next few years, he spent some time touring, playing some of his classic albums in their entirety -- separate tours consisted of A Wizard, a True Star, Todd, and Healing -- and in 2011, and releasing two albums: a collection of Robert Johnson covers called Todd Rundgren's Johnson and (Re)Production, where he offered electronic reworkings of songs he'd produced for other artists.