Tom Wanderer wrote: Tue Jun 29, 2021 10:41 am Todd Rundgren.

I assumed for years that he was the worst kind of winky, jokey, "intellectual", over complicated Lawyer Rock one could find. That his fans were stuck in (a depressing) time, unwilling to move on, willing to die on a hill of mediocrity, in worship of a Joe Bonamassa type of musical savior. Like he was some kind of unfunny Weird Al.

I recently listened to Something/Anything, A Wizard, A True Star and the first Nazz album. I ate my words. I don't love every song, but there is some really effective songwriting going on there. Some truly lovely songs and a unique approach. The fact that he could write, play, produce and engineer the whole bit is pretty fantastic too.

Also, he did some undeniably great work with Badfinger, The Band, Patti Smith, Psychedelic Furs, XTC, etc.

Have fun unlocking Todd's catalog. It's uneven but when it's good, it's great.

You'll eventually start to recognize his personality in his outside productions. Todd's the king of backing vocals and neat little touches like the marimba on Love My Way, motorcycle guitar on Bat Out Of Hell, the snare drum sound on Dancing Barefoot, the edits between songs on Skylarking, and the way he tape-mangles Mark Farner's solo on The Loco-Motion by Grand Funk.

I highly recommend Nazz Nazz (their second album). The opening song is about as perfect as pop music gets.



[Shaun Cassidy's Wasp is the great lost Utopia album.]

Thanks for the head's up! I love his work on Wave and Forever Now. And Skylarking. And Badfinger's Straight Up and The Band's Stage Fright. I can't bring myself to listen to Meat Loaf.

I've been enjoying the first Nazz album, I'll have to check out the second.

The Jam.

I used to love them. They were one of the first bands I ever saw, in 1980something on the Town Called Malice tour. I can't even describe why they bother me so much now, but whenever a Jam song comes up on my ipod in the car, i skip it. Maybe Style Council seemed like a cynical cash-in by an icon. Maybe I just got tired of the songs. I don't know why they have fallen to Doors-Dead level of active dislike, but there they are.

Every now and again I come across a Foo Fighters song ("Bridge Burning" most recently) that has me stop and listen and notice that there's quite original stuff going on there, stuff I'm not expecting at all. It also sounds more crunchy and punchy than the flattened sound I have associated with them. Then in the same song there can be parts I find almost unlistenable. Doubtful if I will ever come to like the band as a whole, but I will possibly appreciate them more. Dave is a hell of a screamer too.

I used to think Cheap Trick was awful, but since I've gotten into some of the melody-heavy powerpop-adjacent things of the late-70s/early-80s (like Magnum "On the Edge of the World"), I took a peek again and "Dream Police" is awesome, a perfect song. If the rest is as good I'm a fan.

For me it's mainly "smooth"/slick stuff like Sade, Steely Dan and Anita Baker which I hated when I was younger but really enjoy nowadays in spite of still appreciating more abrasive, in your face stuff (my most played album this week is the new Suffocation which is their best since the 90s and Cecil Taylor is *always* in rotation); Anitas "Rapture" might lowkey be my most played album in the past 3 years.

Bad 90s rock still doesn't work for me though; I see people my age (Im 48) getting "softer" on that stuff but for me, it's almost the opposite: even stuff I *used* to kind of like-think Jawbox, Nation of ulysses or much Amrep stuff-sounds crap to me now... the stuff I *really* liked, I still dig though, I rarely change my opinion on stuff I love. Rather, I may get tired of it but the appreciation always returns after some years/decades.

The sole exception would be trip-hop and british IDM stuff I dug for a short while in the mid-90s... I can't stand it, still love detroit techno and 90s Hip-hop though, it's the british "artsy" appropriations that tend to age badly for me...

Can't think of any example of either now.

There's ton of stuff I loved and now I rarely listen to. But it's not that "I don't like it anymore."

And stuff I didn' dig still I don't.

I used to not be into Parquet Courts, but for some reason, they've been clicking for me. I've seen them a few times, but still they didn't do it for me. One of their songs (can't remember which one) came on the other day, and I was really into it. Gonna catch up, I think.

Wow, old thread resurrected. Nice!

I see I mentioned several years ago how my opinion of Fleetwood Mac has changed.

I'll add that I think I've changed my mind on Stone Temple Pilots at least twice, with my opinion of them now being more or less positive (though they are far from being my favorite band).

The Cramps. I also need to add Poison Ivy to the Celebrity Crush thread. What the hell, Lux, too.

I finally find myself enjoying some Aphex Twin (Drukqs). I think I'm over the "guy on his computer" aspect and now hear it as someone with a microscopic understanding of rhythm. Still don't like much of that genre overall though.