retroblog.net

When a local radio station gave me tickets to see Rain, a Beatles tribute band, I really didn’t know what to say at first. I mean, I’m a life-long Beatles fan and for me to see a Beatles cover band just felt sort of blasphemous, you know what I mean? Why should I support a band that makes a living off of music that they have absolutely nothing to do with?? Come on, I’d go see Paul or Ringo in a heartbeat but these guys??? I mean, who are these guys? Yes, I understand that Rain is one of the bigger Beatles tribute acts and they even did a stint on broadway. But, I just didn’t feel the need to see some faux-Beatles group.

So, after all of my whining and huffing & puffing, I ended up realizing that I could simply just do this for my ten year old son. Yes, chalking this whole thing up to my kid’s musical education gave me a reason to go to this show.

Anyway, Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles, were scheduled for two performances at the Durham Performing Arts Center this past week. My son and I attended the tuesday night show.

Essentially the show is a live recreation of the Beatles’ musical career from ’62 to ’70. In addition to the band playing and looking like the Beatles, there are elaborate stage setups, synchronized lighting and videos. The goal is to transport the audience back to the ’60′s. They even show TV commercials from the era on the video screens to set the mood.

Honestly, the concert was better than I expected. It all sounds cheesy on paper but the whole show was actually a fun experience. The band did a great job in trying to recreate all the sounds correctly which is a tough feat since most of the audience knows these tunes backwards and forwards. And kudos to the stage and lighting designers. The visuals were very well done and took the show beyond merely just being another run of the mill Beatles tribute night. There were four stage design changes to cover the major eras – “The Ed Sullivan Show” setup, “Shea Stadium”, “Sgt. Peppers” and the “Let it Be/Rooftop” setting.

It wasn’t all perfect though. There were some lyric flubs here and there, and the synths covering the string parts on “Yesterday” and “Eleanor Rigby” were mixed way too loud during the songs. And quite frankly the mimicry including the body movements/mannerisms and the heavy accents when speaking with the audience kinda got old after a while.

A highlight for me was during the “acoustic set” when they played songs like “Girl”, “In My Life” and “I’ve Just Seen a Face”. It felt a bit more natural during this set since it didn’t rely heavily on visuals or mimicry. It felt less constrained and they even did an extended guitar jam during “I’ve Just Seen a Face” which was a nice change of pace when everything else was almost a note for note carbon copy of the records.

All in all, my son and I had a fun night singing along to a bunch of Beatles tunes. Rain did a commendable job in recreating the look and sound of the liverpool lads. Nothing earth shattering here but it’s great to be able to share the experience with your kids.

retroGrade: B

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After 23 years and over 25 million copies sold, Journey’s Greatest Hits finally gets a second volume. It’s pretty much a no-brainer to release a “sequel” to one of rock’s best selling compilations. I’m just surprised it took the record label this long to do it. Anyway, the new release is titled, what else, Journey – Greatest Hits Vol. 2.

I’m happy to report that the new release doesn’t appear to be some sort of haphazardly put-together “money-grab”. In fact, none other than the great Steve Perry was on-hand for the remastering of this release. It has been said that Perry still has approval rights for anything related to Journey’s back catalog. Even though he hasn’t been the frontman for the band since 1996, it’s the Perry fronted-era that matters most, at least in terms of sales. And so just like the first volume, volume 2 focuses on Perry related material. Nothing from 1996 onward.

Now, it’d be hard for any band to top those 16 tracks from the first compilation. There’s just no-denying the power of classics like “Don’t Stop Believin’”, “Who’s Crying Now”, “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” and “Open Arms”. So, Volume 2 is a bit of a step down in terms of actual bona-fide “hits”. But as a companion piece to the first Greatest Hits disc, it actually works. Songs like “Stone in Love”, “After the Fall”, “Escape” and “Suzanne” stand up pretty well with the previous volume. There are a couple of odd choices that I personally would have changed out though. I would have chosen “Message of Love” instead of “When I Think of You” from the album “Trial by Fire”. And maybe something like “Why Can’t This Night Go On Forever” in place of “Good Morning Girl”. But it’s nice that “Little Girl” was included since it’s on the often overlooked soundtrack album “Dream After Dream”.

As for the remastered sound – there’s noticeable EQ changes on some songs that help bring out some of the low end and soften some of the harshness of the high frequencies. For example “Suzanne” always sounded a bit “bright” on the original CD with not enough bottom so this remaster corrected this and now sounds more evened out. I wouldn’t say this is the “definitive” remaster in terms of perfect audio quality but sound engineer Robert Hadley along with Steve Perry succeeded in achieving a cohesive sound over all the various tracks on this compilation.

So, if you have GH Vol. 1 and want to go a bit deeper into Journey’s catalog, Greatest Hits Vol. 2 is a great buy. As for longtime Journey fans, you probably have all these tracks in your music library but you might still want to check it out for the updated remastered sound.

retroGrade: B

Journey – Greatest Hits Vol. 2
record label: Columbia/Legacy
released: November 2011
remastered by: Robert Hadley and Steve Perry at The Mastering Lab, Ojai, CA

TrackList
1 Stone in Love
2 After the Fall
3 Chain Reaction
4 The Party’s Over (Hopelessly in Love)
5 Escape
6 Still They Ride
7 Good Morning Girl
8 Stay Awhile
9 Suzanne
10 Feeling That Way
11 Anytime
12 Walks Like a Lady
13 Little Girl
14 Just the Same Way
15 Patiently
16 When I Think of You
17 Mother, Father (Live in Houston 1981)
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The companion piece to Peter Gabriel’s recently released studio album New Blood is out in stores now. It’s a new concert DVD titled New Blood Live in London. I’ve enjoyed listening to the studio album over the last month so getting the new DVD was a natural progression for me. And I’m happy to report that the live orchestral performance captured at the Hammersmith Apollo last March is even better than the studio album. Yes, the album probably has better clarity and sonics but the excitement and vibe from the live show takes the material to a whole ‘nother level.

There’s a lot happening on stage during Gabriel’s show and the director, Blue Leach, does a great job in capturing all of that without overwhelming the viewer with fast edits. The live show features huge movable video screens displaying custom animation/visual effects for each song. On stage, along with Gabriel and his female backup singers is the massive 46 piece orchestra. The new arrangements are breathtaking and breathe new life into old familiar tunes like “Red Rain”, “In Your Eyes” and “Intruder”.

Peter Gabriel looks pretty relaxed on stage and his vocals sound amazing as does the orchestra. I’m sure the live shows were a huge undertaking but Gabriel seemed to be enjoying himself during the show especially on “Solsbury Hill” where he’s all smiles.

Notably absent from the setlist are Gabriel’s biggest hits “Sledgehammer” and “Big Time” but that’s understandable since they both relied heavily on drum machines. It’s an intriguing setlist though with lesser known songs like “Darkness”, “San Jacinto” and covers like “The Boy in the Bubble” and “The Book of Love”.

Since the orchestral tour had a limited run, the DVD/blu-ray is a must for any Peter Gabriel fan. I haven’t heard if Gabriel will continue to do any more of these types of shows so this might be the only way we’re going to be able to see these orchestra versions live.

RetroGrade: A

New Blood Live in London DVD
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Studio: Eagle Rock Entertainment
DVD Release Date: October 24, 2011
Run Time: 162 minutes

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I very much enjoyed seeing Lindsey Buckingham live at the Carolina Theatre back in October. The man’s got charisma, amazingly fast fingers and a dynamic singing voice to boot. I’m definitely going to catch him again when he comes back around here but in the mean time, I’ve got the newly released DVD of his latest tour titled Songs from the Small Machine: Live in LA to keep on-hand whenever I’m jonesin’ for some Lindsey.

The concert was filmed in April at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills which was well before the release of the new album Seeds We Sow. So the audience at the show got the special treat of hearing the new tunes before they were even released.

Even though this particular show was put on months before the full-fledged tour, it’s essentially the same exact show – the same setlist and even the same stories shared by Lindsey on stage. Yes, we all knew Lindsey was a perfectionist in the studio but he’s obviously the same way with his live shows at least in terms of mapping out all the details.

As I’ve mentioned in my previous concert review, Buckingham starts out the show alone on stage with just his acoustic guitar. The rest of the band comes in after the initial five songs. It’s always a treat to see him do his thing alone on guitar. His performances are mesmerizing. When he’s joined with the band, they get to tackle the new stuff. And I like the new album and all but honestly, the live versions are so much better than the studio versions. Lindsey just belts out the vocals with so much more passion than on the studio recordings. The album simply sound like “demos” in comparison to how they are performed live. I’d definitely recommend getting the DVD/CD combo so that you can have the live versions on CD.

One of things you’ll notice about this concert DVD is that the director included many close-up shots of Lindsey’s guitar solos. Obviously the director understood the need for us fans to see Lindsey’s fingerpickin’ up close so kudos to the editor and director for including those shots.

The audio on the DVD stays true to the live dynamics from the show. Lindsey typically likes to contrast the quiet and loud sections of his songs so thankfully the audio engineers didn’t choose the squash the dynamic range which would have lessened the impact when Lindsey goes for the jugular on songs like “Big Love” and “Go Insane”.

Lindsey Buckingham is simply a marvel on stage. He truly puts his heart and soul into his music while performing live. I mean, just watch toward the end of “I’m So Afraid” to see Lindsey dripping with sweat!!

This DVD does a nice job in capturing all the great moments of Buckingham’s live show. And as a fan, it’s great to view the concert from different angles that we weren’t able to see while actually in attendance of one of Lindsey’s shows.

retroGrade: A

Lindsey Buckingham – Songs from the Small Machine: Live in LA
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Region: Region 1
Studio: Eagle Rock Entertainment
DVD Release Date: November 1, 2011
Run Time: 125 minutes
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“City in my head, Utopia. Heaven in my body, Utopia. Into the sky it rises now…” Man, who would have thought that we’d be able to hear Todd Rundgren sing that line live on stage in this day and age? That’s right, 70′s era prog-rock was alive and well at the Carolina Theatre this past thursday night. Todd Rundgren reunited with members of his 1974 incarnation of Utopia to relive all the bombastic and overblown musicality that 70′s prog-rock was known for. I’m pretty sure there were a good number of fans at the venue that were totally confused by all this prog and I won’t go into that particular issue here since I addressed it in a previous post. But for fans of this era of Utopia, it was a dream come true.

From the very get-go when the curtain rose to reveal Rundgren and the rest of the band in colorful psychedelic garb, it was obvious we were in for a unique treat. The band dove straight into this progfest with a faithful rendition of “Utopia Theme”. Too bad Rundgren didn’t have much of a tour budget because with the “Spinal Tap-ish” instrumental passages, it’d be a perfect spot to drop a miniature stonehenge down from the rafters.

And it couldn’t be considered a Todd show without some flubs, gaffes and senior moments. With the complexity of this type of music, it was inevitable. Things came to a crashing halt when Todd lost his place in the middle of “Utopia Theme”. He had to stop the band and start the passage over. Actually that whole song was a bit shaky. Not sure what was going on. Kevin Ellman seemed to rely heavily on John Siegler to figure out where the changes were. But once they got to “Freak Parade”, things got much tighter. I guess they weren’t quite “warmed up” at the start of the set.

I do have to note that John Siegler was rock solid all night. Loved his playing and he appeared to be the most enthusiastic out of everyone there. He was “so into it”, Siegler ended up breaking a bass string by the time they got to “the Wheel”. Todd proudly points out that he hadn’t broken a guitar string so far in the tour but “the bass player did instead”.

Todd’s other quip of the night was that we were all getting a high “note to dollar” return on our ticket purchase. With all the complex riffs and runs he had to play on the guitar all night, we were definitely getting money’s worth… well, at least in terms of notes played.

other random thoughts:
Ralph Schuckett didn’t crack a smile up until their ending bow after “Just One Victory”. I suppose without Moogy Klingman there, all the major keyboard parts landed on Shuckett’s shoulders. So, all that seriousness is understandable since he’s got so much to play. Kasim Sulton appeared to have picked up some of the slack on keys. He spent the bulk of the night behind the keyboards to support Schuckett. Even Jesse Gress helped out on keys during some parts in the set. But Moogy played a major part in the original material so his presense was definitely missed. (our thoughts are with you, Moogy!! hopefully, Klingman will be able to join the band at the three New York area gigs.) It’s a shame Jesse Gress didn’t help out on guitar. Gress is a monster on guitar and for him to be relegated to backing vocals, percussion and some keys is just so odd. I guess Rundgren wanted the challenge of playing all the guitar parts himself???

All in all, it was a great show. Yes, it wasn’t perfect and the band was missing a major component of the 74-era Utopia sound (Moogy) but to see and hear these guys play “The Ikon”, “Freak Parade” and “Freedom Fighters” was well worth the price of admission.

highlights for me included: Todd singing the “You Don’t Have to Be Afraid” section of “the Ikon” (my favorite part of the 30-minute song). Also, “the Wheel” was a welcomed change of pace after all that PROG. and of course “Freedom Fighters”, “Freak Parade” and “Just One Victory”.

retroGrade: A
(hell yeah, I’m biased. come on, it’s Todd Rundgren, damn it! the man has gone above and beyond to bring “something completely different” for his small but loyal fan-base. the man could simply just tour his tried & true setlist endlessly but obviously he enjoys the challenge of changing things up. kudos to Todd for going the extra mile.)

Oh, and a big thanks to the Carolina Theatre for sponsoring the Todd show. It has been apparent that local concert promoters haven’t been all that interested in bringing Rundgren around here since the last Todd concert in the triangle back in 2004 at the Cat’s Cradle. Hopefully with the number of fans that showed up at this show, promoters will consider bringing him back on his next tour.

Here’s the setlist:
Utopia Theme
Freak Parade
Heavy Metal Kids
Another Life
Something’s Coming
Seven Rays
Do Ya
The Wheel
The Ikon
Freedom Fighters
Just One Victory

Utopia 2011: Todd Rundgren, Kevin Ellman, Ralph Schuckett, John Siegler, Jesse Gress, Kasim Sulton (and Moogy Klingman for 3 shows)
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This gave me a chuckle today. I just stumbled across an old concert review I posted back in 2003 over on the TR Connection, a Todd Rundgren fan site run by Roger Linder. This was during Todd’s “have gun, will travel” tour which made a stop at the Carolina Theatre in Durham. I’m a bit surprised I gave a pretty positive spin of the concert since “Todd on stage all by his lonesome” is not really my cup of tea. I personally prefer to see him with a band. I’m pretty positive even Todd himself got sick of the “solo acoustic” type gigs since he stopped doing those types of shows after 2005.

Thankfully his return to the Carolina Theatre in November will be with a full band, the 1974-era UTOPIA no less. I’ll post more about the Utopia concert later on but first here’s my original review of Rundgren’s February 8, 2003 concert as found on the TRConnection.

enjoy.

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Todd Rundgren – February 8, 2003 at the Carolina Theatre in Durham, NC

I went into the show thinking that since this was the last official stop on his winter mini tour-of-the-south that I’d have a better chance in seeing a more polished Todd show this time around (you know, Todd had the whole tour to “practice” the piano) Well, better luck next time I guess. The show was pretty much typical Todd in terms of piano flubs, forgotten lyrics and technical difficulties.

Todd started out well performing Love of the Common Man but had to stop mid-way through due to breaking THREE guitar strings. He had this “oh no not again!” look on his face since something similar to this happened the night before in charlotte. It seemed that Todd had a rough time recovering from this initial incident the rest of the night which may explain the shorter set list compared to other stops on this tour. some notable songs MIA this night: Love In Action, Black and White, Hawking, It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference and There Goes My Inspiration. I didn’t get a good read on Todd tonight. Couldn’t tell if he was glad this was the last stop on this leg of the tour and was eager to move on or if he felt this was an “off night” and decided not to push his luck by playing more than he had to. Todd wasn’t that chatty tonight which was kind of a bummer as well. The show was over by 10:30pm which was just TOO early. I was waiting for him to play on….. at least to hear him sing Hawking. But just my luck, it wasn’t meant to be this night.

Even with all the flubs and mind farts, I still enjoyed the show (yes, i know it surprised me too). There were several moments of pure bliss where Todd would sing a line so sweet and perfect, it’d take you to another place and time. Those moments really made the show for me. highlights for me include: tonight’s version of Compassion (spine tingling), the mp3-backed bossa nova set (although the abrupt way the “with a twist” instrumentals end is kinda jarring…..I wish he’d modify the tracks…), a sweet version of I Don’t Want to Tie you Down, Love of the Common Man (in the second run through of the song, Todd seems real determined to get it right this time and he definitely came through!), a solid performance of Cliche and the Wheel, and a surprisingly enjoyable version of Bang on the Ukelele Daily (personally I think I was more receptive to it tonight mainly b/c it came after the crash and burn of Hello It’s Me on piano.)

Overall Todd’s voice sounded great. And at times he seemed to really get into it. lowlights: in addition to the cring-worthy performance of Hello It’s Me, Todd barely made it through A Dream Goes On Forever. Afterwards Todd remarked that he couldn’t let the night end like that so he strapped on the guitar one last time to send us home with One World. I was pleasantly surprised that he sang “Chapel Hill to Tokyo!!” in the song since I live there. cool!

As for the venue: kudos to whoever booked this tour. they picked some great places for Todd to play and the Carolina Theatre is definitely one of them. pretty intimate and great sound. And I was real glad to see such a great turnout. The place was packed. A big thanks to the management of the Carolina Theatre, STAR-FM and the News and Observer for getting the word out about Todd’s show. I think it made a big difference in terms of the size of the crowd.

Another highlight of the evening came early on: the opening act (an acapella group from NC State) ended their set with a great version of Todd’s Hodja.

To sum up: even though the show wasn’t as polished as I had hoped, I still came out of the theater with a big smile on my face. Thanks Todd. Come back and visit soon!!! (actually that just might be the case since Todd announced last night that Rex will be playing with the Greensboro Bats this season which is about an hour away from Chapel Hill! cool!)

I took the kids to see Weird Al Yankovic at the Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC) this past sunday. Just want to make it clear that I went to the concert for MY KIDS. Certainly not for myself since I’m a sophisticated music blogger and all. *ahem*. …OK, who am I kidding? Weird Al and his band put on a great live show and the kids and *I* had a blast. There I said it. I enjoyed the Weird Al show, OK? Why should I feel embarrassed for admitting that? The guy is a pop culture icon. Yankovic has managed to sustain a 30 year career out of making song parodies. I mean, he’s outlasted a long, long list of bands and artists that have come and gone over the years. Plus he’s got his live shows down to a science – which includes lights, video screens, a couple cheerleaders, stormtroopers, Darth Vader and a slew of costume changes.

Yankovic’s show is a well-oiled machine that’s scripted, well-rehearsed and synchronized with the video feeds. So there’s not much spontaneity here but in the world of Weird Al, there’s no need for such things. OK, ok, fans might argue that Weird Al does alternate playing “You Make Me” with “Frank’s 2000 inch TV” from show to show and he mentions a local coffee shop during his spiel in “Craigslist” but they’d be missing the point. A Yankovic concert is more like a broadway musical than say a Phish concert where setlists differ from gig to gig.

But enough about that. All that really matters is that the kids and I enjoyed seeing Weird Al. His fans pretty much packed the DPAC which holds around 2,500. Luckily we got our tickets early and were close enough to get splashed with water during his Nirvana spoof and be able to notice his double-chin becoming unglued at the end of “Fat”.

I love all his rap parodies so I was delighted to see him do “Another Tattoo”, “Amish Paradise” and “White and Nerdy”. The Star Wars encore was another highlight of course. The “oldies” Medley hit all the right notes but I personally would have like a few more “oldies” in the setlist. Another memorable bit was during “Wanna B Ur Lovr” where Yankovic, dressed up in a tiger-striped suit, went around and air-grinded a few “lucky” women in the audience.

With all the wardrobe changes the guy has to do each night, I have to say that Al sure does work hard for his fans. Oh, and big props to his band – Steve Jay, Jon Bermuda Schwartz, Ruben Valtierra and Jim West. they can pull off any genre with ease which isn’t as easy as it looks. they sounded pretty tight.

All in all, a fun night out with my kids. I’d definitely catch Yankovic again the next time he comes through. And after seeing all the grinning faces at the end of the night, I’m pretty sure most if not all would do the same.

retroGrade: A

Weird Al Yankovic
October 9, 2011
Durham Performing Arts Center

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Rock icon Lindsey Buckingham performed at the Carolina Theatre in Durham, NC this past saturday as part of his 2011 Seeds We Sow tour. I have to admit that I wasn’t all that excited before the show since I learned that the setlist didn’t feature some of my personal favorites from “Gift of Screws” and “Out of the Cradle”. But whatever issues I had with the setlist quickly went out the window once the man took the stage. I didn’t realize what a powerful performer Buckingham is. Yes, the guy is a virtuoso on guitar but his dynamic vocal abilities really brought the house down. It was amazing to see and hear how he fully commits to songs like “Go Insane”, “Never Going Back Again” or “Big Love”. Buckingham put so much passion and emotion into those performances, you ended up wondering if the guy was gonna literally pass out on stage. How the hell he could give 110% like that, over and over again at every show is beyond me. Big props to Buckingham because I consider that a rare talent these days.

After doing the first five songs solo, Buckingham brought out the rest of the band – Brett Tuggle, Neale Heywood and Walfredo Reyes. the guys did a fantastic job recreating the new songs on stage. In fact, some of these versions are even better than their recorded counterpart. “Stars are Crazy” and “Illumination” are two that come to mind.

I also noticed that Reyes was playing a Roland electronic drum kit. I’m guessing that it was Buckingham’s decision to use electronic drums but whatever the case may be, I personally missed the hard “thwack” of a real snare on rockers like “I’m So Afraid” and “Go Your Own Way”. oh well, I guess that’s just me.

Buckingham shared a few stories in between numbers which was a nice touch. From all the years of performing live, Buckingham seems to be very at ease on stage. The way he spoke to the crowd was very natural and didn’t seemed forced. He definitely made a connection with the audience which for some other performers is a hard thing to do (i.e. Eric Clapton).

As for the newly renovated Carolina Theatre – I love seeing shows in this venue. It’s a very intimate setting with not a bad seat in the house. Oh, and with the parking deck right across the street, getting in and out of the place is never a problem. plus the folks at the theatre are always polite and friendly. a big thumbs up to the Carolina Theatre and I wish the venue much success with the upcoming lineup of shows. as a matter of fact, I’ll be coming back for the Todd Rundgren/Utopia show next month!

I do have to mention a weird thing that happened with the sound toward the end of the concert. I’m not sure if the sound team were simply testing out the limits of the new sound system or what but the overall volume got extremely loud (which resulted in a muddy, almost distorted mix) for the last few songs. It was pretty noticeable since the sound mix was pretty much perfect up until that point.

highlights of the evening included: “Stars Are Crazy” (way better than the recorded version), “Big Love” (yes, he’s played this version for years but it always packs a big whallop!), “Illumination”, “Trouble” (love the acoustic rendition), “I’m So Afraid” (love the long drawn out guitar solo)

retroGrade: A+

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The new album Sweetheart of the Sun by the Bangles is out in stores today. The new release is the follow-up to their 2003 Doll Revolution album. But for some, Sweetheart of the Sun may feel like a follow-up to Matthew Sweet’s collaboration with Susanna Hoffs (Under the Covers Vol. 1 and Vol. 2) especially since Sweet co-produced & engineered the record and all. The loose, retro vibe carried over from the Under the Covers sessions is a natural fit for a band like the Bangles since they’ve always been heavily influenced by 60′s rock.

Hoffs, Vicki Peterson and Debbi Peterson have never sounded more relaxed and comfortable than they do here. Maybe without the pressures of a major label, the band is finally free to create music for themselves and not for high-volume sales. Introspective lyrics, jangly guitars and sweet three-part harmonies, all make for a lovely listen. The girls hook you in with the tuneful opening chords of “Anna Lee” and won’t let you go until 40 minutes later with the lingering notes at the end of their Todd Rundgren cover, “Open My Eyes”.

It’s great to see this group back together again after the long hiatus but I do have to admit that I miss the presence of original bassist Michael Steele. but it is what it is. And you may not be aware of this but this year marks the 30th anniversary of the band! holy cow!

highlights include: Anna Lee, Under a Cloud, I’ll Never Be Through With You, Circles in the Sky

retroGrade: B+

The Bangles
Sweetheart of the Sun
released: September 27, 2011
label: Model Music Group
the Bangles are: Susanna Hoffs, Vicki Peterson and Debbi Peterson
produced by The Bangles and Matthew Sweet

TRACK LISTING
1 Anna Lee (Sweetheart of the Sun) 3:30
2 Under a Cloud 4:07
3 Ball N Chain 3:51
4 I’ll Never Be Through with You 3:40
5 Mesmerized 3:46
6 Circles in the Sky 4:04
7 Sweet and Tender Romance 2:11
8 Lay Yourself Down 3:23
9 One of Two 3:39
10 What a Life 3:22
11 Through Your Eyes 3:50
12 Open My Eyes 3:00

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Todd Rundgren’s follow-up CD to his tribute to Robert Johnson is out this week, titled reProduction. And surprise, surprise, it’s ANOTHER album of covers!! That’s TWO cover albums in a row! wow. this is definitely unusual for Todd. Apparently at this stage in the game, securing proper funding for the recording & distribution of new material is getting difficult for legacy artists like Rundgren. As Rundgren explained in recent interviews, his Robert Johnson tribute album was required by Hi Fi Records in order to get his 2008 album, Arena released. Similarly, reProduction is a result from his participation in Gigatone’s “My Record Fantasy Camp” which allowed fans (willing to shell out the big bucks) to record with Rundgren in a studio.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting a whole lot from this CD of remakes but after playing it the last couple weeks, I have to say that it’s a fun listen. but first there are a number of strikes against the new record that fans might have to overlook:
1) like I mentioned earlier, it’s yet another covers album!! the market is currently inundated with them including recent ones by Duncan Sheik, Mickey Thomas (also by the same record label- Gigatone), Kim Wilde, Andrea Corr, etc..
2) the front cover design is just plain bad. blech.
3) it’s on the Gigatone label which just reeks of cheese! their releases include the likes of Dwight Twilley, Mickey Dolenz (of the Monkees!!) and Mickey Thomas (from Starship)
4) and finally, these covers aren’t just straight ahead carbon-copy covers. First of all, these songs are from artists that Rundgren produced in the past, which is fine and dandy. But here’s the twist! Todd took up the challenge of performing them in a techno/dance/pop style. yeah, that’s right, a total novelty record!!

Long time fans should get the joke. Rundgren has always included novelty songs on his albums i.e. “Emperor of the Highway”, “An Elpee’s Worth of Tunes” and “Onomatopoeia”. Hell, he even released a full-on Beatles spoof with his band Utopia titled “Deface the Music” which essentially sabotaged the band’s popularity back in early eighties but that’s a whole ‘nother can ‘o worms so don’t get me started on that.

Anyway, if you can get past all those hurdles, Rundgren’s new interpretations aren’t all that bad. The new arrangements and sound palette aren’t that far removed from what Rundgren did on his 2004 Liars album. You can definitely hear synth patches that he’s regularly used in the past so the album is not a total *180* that some might think. And after the last two guitar-based albums (Arena, TR’s Johnson), it’s nice to hear his signature Todd chord/tone-clusters that he usually does on keyboard-centric songs. So if you can recall Rundgren techno-flavored tracks like “Truth” or “Wondering” (both from the album Liars) or even something like “Chant” (from 1983′s Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect), you can get a sense of what the new album sounds like.

Overall, reProduction is full of addictive ear candy. Todd built interesting arrangements around easily digestible hooks. Just take a listen to the Daft Punk-esque chorus of “Tell Me Your Dreams”. It’ll definitely linger around in your head a long while after the CD’s done playing. Also, Rundgren sings enthusiastically all throughout the record. As a matter of fact, I can picture him laughing his ass off while constructing these songs on his little MacBook. shit, an artist having a blast making a record?? hell, I’m all for that!

and yes, there’s liberal use of the autotune/melodyne vocal effects here but it’s all good since it’s simply part of the genre Todd is spoofing here.

The only misstep that I’d like to mention is “I Can’t Take it”. Todd’s remake is pretty much a sped-up version of the original but with a clunky drum machine. Not a complete makeover like some of the other tracks. Since it’s more of a power pop flavored arrangement, Rundgren should have overdubbed live drums (perhaps he ran out of time during his Record Fantasy Camp sessions at the Track Shack back in January) instead of leaving in the canned drums. It just sounds stilted and awkward as is. Definitely a missed opportunity.

RetroGrade: B

personal favorites include: “Nothing to Lose”, “Walk Like a Man” (love Rundgren’s vocals on this one), “Personality Crisis” (sounds like Rundgren’s take on Lady Gaga), “Tell Me Your Dreams” and “Out of My Mind” (even catchier than the original).
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