173 - Todd Rundgren - Something/Anything?

XTC is one of my favorite bands and I'm somewhat connected to the online fandom for XTC. When talking about artists/bands similar to our boys from Swindon, Todd Rundgren frequently comes up as an artist whom XTC fans should also like (same has been said by my fellow Jellyfish fans). With the handful of Todd's songs that I've known, I have agreed. For several decades, Something/Anything? was praised as a great album I should have. But for some reason, I never have given the album a listen. The time has finally come for me to see if my impressions fit the hype I've heard.

Quick primer: Something/Anything? is a double album that is split into four parts. The first side is a collection of radio-ready singles. The second side is Todd getting geeky – from an intro discussing several studio/production mistakes one can find on vinyl (in particular) through experimental instrumentals and odder pop songs. The third side is kinda rocking with more guitar influence. This is all wrapped up in a pseudo-pop opera on the last side. The last side is the only part of the album featuring other performers, the first ¾ of the album was completely written and performed by Todd, alone in a studio doing overdubs.

As one can expect from most double-albums, there are some songs that probably could have been cut out of this. But there are some phenomenal gems on here such as “Couldn't I Just Tell You” which sounds as the basic template of what a power pop song sounds like. This is an album that wants to be accepted, warts and all, into your heart on its own terms but is polite enough to break down the sections to a side of an album so the original listeners could just hear sides 1 and 3 or constantly repeatedly listen to the mini-opera on side 4.

Carole King is a very obvious influence in his songwriting. It's not a nod here and there, Something/Anything? contains several songs that sound as if they could have been created by Carole. But what makes the album so interesting is how diverse this one guy stretches his musical tastes in a single collection of songs. For me, I did find the album a pleasant listen that I may pull up from time to time. Even after a dozen or so listens over the past week or so and despite the love others with similar musical tastes have for Something/Anything?, I haven't felt the pull to own this album.

Songs I Knew I Liked: “I Saw the Light” and “Hello, It's Me”

Songs I Now Like: “The Night the Carousel Burned Down” and “Couldn't I Just Tell You”

Songs I Don't Want to Ever Hear Again: “I Went to the Mirror,” “Overture: My Roots” (while I appreciate the old recordings' role in the mini-opera, it isn't a track I would listen to if not intent on hearing the album through from beginning to end), and “Some Folks Is Even Whiter Than Me” (which sounds like Todd trying to make a Frank Zappa song).

172 - Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells a Story

Rod Stewart's singing on Every Picture Tells a Story sounds an awful lot like a male Tina Turner with a dash of Mick Jagger. His singing projects an energy wrapped up in that rasp that propels the rockers and keeps the ballads from being boring. The musicians are utterly fantastic throughout the whole album.

This is a very well done collection of songs that deftly blends rock, folk, and a bit of country. It is rock with soul – a presentation of music that is meant to be felt as well as heard. That said, Every Picture Tells a Story isn't really my cup of tea.


Songs I Knew I Liked: “Maggie May”

Songs I Now Like: “Tomorrow is a Long Time” and “Mandolin Wind”

Songs I Don't Want to Ever Hear Again: None

171 - The Byrds - The Notorious Byrd Brothers

This is a bit of a mixed bag of late 60's folk/rock and psychedelia which records The Byrds in transition. While their subsequent albums focused on a folk/country sound, The Notorious Byrd Brothers finds the band experimenting in several directions...and not just in the direction of their next sound. This starts with the swinging, horn-blaring “Artificial Energy” - a song about being on speed. “Goin Back” is an ethereal song that is a fog of vocal harmonies and a jangly 12-string. Moog synths are present in several tracks (most obviously in “Dolphin's Smile” and “Space Odyssey”) as it was the hip, new technology that intrigued the band some. Finally, “Space Odyssey” clearly was written completely sober...uh, yeah.

It is the reverb-soaked harmonies that are consistent with each song. The listener can just bathe in the vocals here.

Most of the songs are less than three minutes long, so the album speeds by in about half an hour. This made me the songs I didn't care for easier to bear with my repeated listens but there were several songs that I kinda wished had been stretched out more. Along with that, the use of cross-fading and segues into adjacent songs helped to sew the album together when there is a shift in sound.

Songs I Knew I Liked: None

Songs I Now Like: “Draft Morning,” “Get to You,” and “Tribal Gathering”

Songs I Don't Want to Ever Hear Again: “Space Odyssey”