If you know what you want, I'll get it for you. If
you don't know what you want, I'll do it for you. Todd
Rundgren. Few record producers possess the musical
facility to back up such a bold promise, but in over
forty-plus years behind the glass, Todd Rundgren has
willed himself into becoming a not only a rock guitar
virtuoso, an accomplished lead vocalist, and a
serviceable drummer, vocal arranger and keyboard player,
but also a master of perhaps his greatest instrument of
all, the recording studio. Throughout his career,
Rundgren has ping-ponged between the worlds of producer
and recording artist with varying degrees of critical
and commercial success. After learning his craft as a
songwriter and arranger, with Nazz, Rundgren gained
attention for engineering recordings by The Band. His
reputation was cemented by a string of noteworthy
productions beginning in 1971 with Sparks, and
continuing with classic albums for Grand Funk, The New
York Dolls, Badfinger, Hall and Oates, Meat Loaf, Patti
Smith Group, Psychedelic Furs and XTC.All of this
alongside his own solo albums - such as,
''Something/Anything'', ''A Wizard A True Star'' and
''Hermit Of Mink Hollow'' - on which he played and sang
virtually everything, and a series of albums by his
band, Utopia. Researched and written with the
participation and cooperation of Rundgren himself,
''Todd Rundgren: Sounds Of The Studio'' is a fascinating
and authoritative trip through the land of flickering
red lights inhabited by a studio wizard - and true star
- who has rarely enjoyed a proper victory lap along the
many trails that he has blazed. It draws upon exclusive
new interviews with Robbie Robertson, Patti Smith, XTC,
Sparks, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Meat Loaf, Jim
Steinman, Cheap Trick, Grand Funk, The Psychedelic Furs,
The Tubes, Steve Hillage, all members of Rundgren's
legendary band, Utopia, and many other key Rundgren
associates. |
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