Catch more episodes of Broken Record with the Beastie Boys, System of a Down's Serj Tankian, Brandi Carlile, and more here: ruclips.net/video/LjHcHTJ8D5k/видео.html
As a producer/engineer XTC's Skylarking is perhaps my favorite work of Todd's. The production, the sound, the mix & sequencing of songs is just amazing; absolute perfection. Whatever they paid Todd for his work on that production, it wasn't enough; an amazing job.
As Andy Partridge has said, Todd is a great arranger, but not a good engineer and mixer. The sequencing and arranging on that album is excellent, much of the mix has more to do with Andy, Colin and Dave than Todd in the end. Andy and Todd notoriously bumped heads on the recording of that album, but that tension really created a great album.
I've never heard the recording you are talking about but i'm definitely going to look it up. I love Todd's music and arranging. His use of the compressor in the 70's was not good. Everything always sounded small and crushed. I think part of the problem was he always put too much information on one album. The vinyl was so quiet so it wouldn't skip that the signal to noise was horrible.
BINGO!!! “I prefer being DJ’d to”! As a 60 year old lifelong music lover, I almost never put music on I choose to listen to. And as Todd pointed out, I prefer to find something on RUclips (how I found this podcast), and follow it down a rabbit hole. The unfamiliar surprise is what I desire the most.
I have to admit that I was a Todd Rundgren groupie starting back in 1970. Huge fan. I got to meet him at the Island Dream Festival in Toronto, around 1975 I believe. We talked backstage and he let me on stage to shoot his show. He gave me his pass because he figured he was pretty recognizable. Super nice guy.
Todd is a legend in my book for, "We're An American Band," alone. My all time fave record. More cowbell not even needed. Mr. Loaf's/"You Took The Words...," one of the best sounding production/mix, ever.
A must listen - a beautiful interview with a superb interviewer and a genius -todd Rundgren. Listen because this is the true history of music and delivery from 1966 to the present - bravo
I've seen Todd several times...once, must've been in the fall of 1978, I saw the four-piece Utopia do two shows a night for two nights at a small club in Gretna, Louisiana. I sat in the front row -- front and center --- for all four shows. The second night, between the first and second shows, TR's manager, Eric Gardner, approached me and said Todd would like meet me. Could I follow him to TR's Winnebago? Well, duh! What a truly delightful fellow! He really dug it that I would sit through all the shows in roughly the same seat -- he actually knew that -- and he was tickled that I knew all the lyrics to all the tunes, yada yada yada. Made my whole trip! I was a huge fan before that; ever since then, though, I've been -- at the very least -- worshipful!
Todd Rocks ! I met him in Houston at age 16. He got me into the concert as I was too young for the bar at the Texas Oprey House. I have been a loyal fan ever since. He is an Artist a True Star !
Rungren helped bridge the rock world into the new wave, so glad he was at the helm and assisted in all of that artful creativity. Well, sometimes at the helm but you know what I mean, navigating change is an adventure.
What an amazing interview, what a shame it's not at least twice as long there was so much more that could have gone into and these two have so much in common the conversation flows very easily.
Todd didn't play a "local club down the street". The night of his induction, he performed at the Andrew J Brady Music Center in Cincinnati, OH. I was there and it was one of the best shows I've ever seen.
Yes - in reality todd played at a venue near the hall of fame of induction and offered to participate virtually- the hall made a historic mistake by turning down Todd’s creative offer - again todd was standing by his conviction while allowing the fans to hear him -a loss
Quite an insightful interview. I was too young for the Rundgen fan base and didnt understand the draw. I knew he went on to work with many artists but still didn't understand the devoted fan base. This interview helped a bit.
I listened to this again, and no longer need my first question answered. However, the last point of play lists, DJ`s etc.... I completely agree with the surprise in what the next song is. Nearly every time the technology is available, I set it to random play, I discover things that I have always had, but did not know I had, as well as discovering songs on certain albums that I bought just for a song or two...now I discover different aspects of the band that I already adore. I loaded all of my CD`s onto some solid state drives, next is about 250 pieces of vinyl. This does not replace my home listening practices of playing albums all the way through, but is really good for finding a mood, if you don`t know what that mood is.
Todd’s son, Rex, played ball for our AA baseball team “The Carolina Mudcats.” My family hosted epic bbq’s/after parties for Todd & fam on more than one occasion:) Twas a great era!
I saw Utopia open for Kansas in the late 70s. The wind was blowing so hard it sounded like the whole sound system was going through a phase shifter. Great show!
"Rundgren's crowning achievement was producing 'Bat Out Of Hell'" is an insane statement. You shoot your own pose of authority in the foot with such a pronouncement.
@@termsofusepolice Yes, of course that's what they meant. But should something like Broken Record be prioritizing that? Is someone listening to Bat Out of Hell for the production? Not likely.
Great stuff about Todd's experience with The Band's Stage Fright engineering and mixing. I heard hints about the the challenges of that from various interviews and books about the whole ordeal. It turned out to be a great record... but it's birth came with considerable pain.
So ironic- one of the great interviews about The Band- and so few lovers of their music will land here. Final word for me seems to be in about Robbie snd what “when down on the plains of … “. Todd- ty.
Thanks for all the insight, men. Personally , i spend my life (63) looking for the enlightenment of late 60s- early 70s radio.....some online college radio has it. And I loved the raw early Grand Funk...turned my son onto too.....production ruined them, their choice.
When 'Are You Experienced?' came out I bought the album and played it, flipping it over and over probably six hours. When the first Crosby, Stills @Nash album came out we listened to it for hours. 'Wheels of Fire' same thing, listened till the grooves were worn out. Some records were more important than others.
I love Rundgren's early records, which sounds like a cliche thing to say but it just happens to be true. His humor and his studio fixations and willingness to to put a bit of process front-and-center, including a mini tutorial on drop-ins and edits and tape mangling. And he's a great songwriter / performer, so what's not to like? Here, he's still astute and on top of the changes and the whole game overall.
This is the second time I listened to this podcast, and I have ti think RR's mind was officially blown many times over. He is no longer the smartest person in THIS room. Todd made sure of that!
Another great interview Rick. I agree. I have 1,000's of songs on my phone. I carry a JBL charge 4. Use my phone only as a jukebox. Go the beach. To friends cook out. The music goes along. At night I sit outside and I love to put it on shuffle. There are nights it plays all the right tunes. Like my best friend MUSIC knew it was a long day and it would mellow me out. I used to walk around Record City like I was in musical paradise. Till my brother threatened to leave me. You are truly a great interviewer. 👍
He's not a great engineer, and his desire to be different all the time has not always helped his bank account. Not everything hits, and being so diverse can alienate people. He is my biggest influence personally, but I see him for what he is. Sometimes a transcendent singer, a great rock guitar solo player, and a great arranger.
@@Espectro101 yup, Andy was kinda mambie pambie with Todd. Like all contemporaries in the industry, there's a palpable jealousy amongst his peers. Todd would never admit or speak about it but it's pretty obvious. RRHF should have noticed Todd decades before any of the jackasses awarded before him.
I worked on the Robyn tour back around 2013. Todd has not invited me to Hawaii yet. I also worked with Thomas Dolby around 2008 working on ringtones for phones.
Enjoyed the interview! I would've been interested in hearing about working with Sparks on their Halfnelson lp. I've read about the contentiousness of XTC's Skylarking, which is unfortunate because I think they're a great band. I was a huge Todd fan until the early 80's and my tastes starting changing. AWATS and Todd are still high up there in my all-time favorites.
Great interview from two years ago on Jonsey's Jukebox. He discusses who he has produced. Talks about Sparks, XTC and others. ruclips.net/video/nBoqcQTY8zo/видео.html
Love y'all and Todd, but he didn't play a club "down the street" when they inducted him into the RRHOF. It's in Cleveland and the concert was in Cincinnati. It was a great show. =)
Anyone else think the team behind this podcast might want to re-think the intro blurb where they hail Todd's production work on Bat out of Hell as his "crowning achievement".
Utterly brilliant! However, I would loved to have heard whatever it was that got edited out ( in regard to Bat Out Of Hell, even though Todd has told the story before, but the depth he was sharing with Rick was fabulous) which someone decided was necessary, just after the comment about “I should collaborate with Ian Hunter”. Then there was an abrupt subject change. Whatever got edited out there would have been great to hear. Regardless, this was wonderful. Rick was a relatively frequent client at the recording studio at which I was chief-engineer and eventual equity partner (Royaltone) and he was always exceptionally pleasant and extremely kind but, far, far more taciturn and quiet than we have come to know of him in recent years through wonderful contexts such as this one. He’s such a beautiful interviewer for other record makers! We humans seem to have lost soooo much as a species - in this bizarre ride that is thus far the 21st Century - and a species that is/are desperately in need of big ideas and new modes of interacting with each other. For those of us who caught even the tail end of popular rock, rock/pop, melody-centric, often lyrically sophisticated music during those years Todd appropriately describes as a fleeting anomaly when the commerce side of ‘the biz’ conflated the physical product with the service, many of us know how fortunate we were to be there absorbing so much extraordinary work that helped us (for better and for worse) to see the world through different lenses, to think about our place in the world (if we felt like we even had one...) and to form a younger person’s world view. Much of it (not all of it, as there was still plenty of unabashed mediocrity, inauthentic pastiche and stuff that simply just failed to resonate...) was magic emanating from the speakers. Sadly, I can’t see a future in which music will ever occupy the time of critical and key importance in our lives, and far more worthy of concern, in the lives of...well, “kids”. That is unfortunate as once upon a time l, music enable us to identify those with whom we had done commonality, and sometimes even drew us together to achieve noble and worthy things that shaped and changed society (certainly in the West) for the better. It is a privilege to hear two bright, switched-on thinkers, who defined their humanity (and still do) by music, discussing this ineffably important period, and the unique and cherished contributions that Todd made, and continues to make. More like this please; superb work.
Was hoping Rick would ask Todd about who came up with the idea of getting Yankee announcer, Phil Rizzuto, to narrate the seduction scene in Meatloaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights" as if it were a baseball broadcast. The album has not necessarily aged well but I always thought that was a pretty creative idea. I'm guessing it might have been Todd's.
Meatloaf came up with the idea. Him and Jim Steinman listened to games in the summer and chose lyrics for Phil from all the calls he made that would relate to the song.
@@thetruthissweet2847 Thanks....apparently Phil's priest didn't care for it much (lol)...But that it is Todd's voice on the intro to "You Took the Words Right Out of my Mouth? Yes?
FYI and wish Todd had said it - Jesse Winchester RIP 2011 was a spell-binder & a heart-breaker - his lyrics & delivery are riveting - his charming authentic vocal style was stolen by Lyle Lovett
It depends on how you define "crowning achievement". If sales and impact are the criteria, then Bat Out of Hell selling 43 million copies world wide is a crowning achievment. If art is your criteria, I would say many of his solo projects are better artistic achievements. He considers his most important work to be in production. His list of production credits is astounding. He also pioneered the union of video and music, and that too could also be considered a "crowning achievement". Todd has been one of the most important american artists in the post jazz era.
Catch more episodes of Broken Record with the Beastie Boys, System of a Down's Serj Tankian, Brandi Carlile, and more here: ruclips.net/video/LjHcHTJ8D5k/видео.html
The diversity of content and professionalism of Rubin here as an interviewer is refreshing.Broken Record Podcast keep the good shows coming !
Can you kindly tell me what software was used to "show" the audio in this video?
It's obnoxious how SHORT these are. Everyone is loving it. Keep interviewing UNTIL Y'ALL ARE TIRED.
Hey ToddR
and RixkR -
REN (Aussie)
darkness?
Thomas Dolby,
The The, Adrian!
8o's memories;
TomTomClub!
🎉
As a producer/engineer XTC's Skylarking is perhaps my favorite work of Todd's. The production, the sound, the mix & sequencing of songs is just amazing; absolute perfection. Whatever they paid Todd for his work on that production, it wasn't enough; an amazing job.
I believe it was a flat 150k
Pppppppppppppppppoopjj pop poopugpptitypyhtt try to do try to take her there y
As Andy Partridge has said, Todd is a great arranger, but not a good engineer and mixer. The sequencing and arranging on that album is excellent, much of the mix has more to do with Andy, Colin and Dave than Todd in the end. Andy and Todd notoriously bumped heads on the recording of that album, but that tension really created a great album.
Yes, love that album and love the cohesion between the songs. Meat Loaf? That was a commercial success but not as much of an artistic statement.
I've never heard the recording you are talking about but i'm definitely going to look it up. I love Todd's music and arranging. His use of the compressor in the 70's was not good. Everything always sounded small and crushed. I think part of the problem was he always put too much information on one album. The vinyl was so quiet so it wouldn't skip that the signal to noise was horrible.
I love to hear Todd talk.. he's a musical well rounded miracle.
Interviews like this is why I am just enamoured with Todd. He's just a genius.
Ive seen him and saw his name for credit on some stuff. I to did not realize his genius or the fact that he's from Philly. I wonder if he knows Fran?
Psychedelic Furs ‘Forever Now’. Thanks Todd for producing that one. 👍
BINGO!!! “I prefer being DJ’d to”!
As a 60 year old lifelong music lover, I almost never put music on I choose to listen to. And as Todd pointed out, I prefer to find something on RUclips (how I found this podcast), and follow it down a rabbit hole. The unfamiliar surprise is what I desire the most.
One of the most relaxed and detailed interviews of Todd I've ever heard -- and that's a long list. Thank you!
I have to admit that I was a Todd Rundgren groupie starting back in 1970. Huge fan. I got to meet him at the Island Dream Festival in Toronto, around 1975 I believe. We talked backstage and he let me on stage to shoot his show. He gave me his pass because he figured he was pretty recognizable. Super nice guy.
Fancy seeing you here, Former Network Executive!
😀
@@markkavanagh7377 I get around.
Yes I’ve been listening to Todd for 50 years
I absolutely love todd rundgren his music is powerful
Todd is a legend in my book for, "We're An American Band," alone. My all time fave record. More cowbell not even needed. Mr. Loaf's/"You Took The Words...," one of the best sounding production/mix, ever.
Rick does a great job in asking the questions and facilitating the flow of this great interview.
Humourous, knowledgeable and speaks very well. I could listen to him all day . He has a voice that says listen to me. Hello it's me😊
A must listen - a beautiful interview with a superb interviewer and a genius -todd Rundgren. Listen because this is the true history of music and delivery from 1966 to the present - bravo
Todd Rundgren is always a great interview - I've listened to a bunch of his interviews. He's always informative and entertaining.
What a fantastic interview... Todd Rundgren is legend!
Todd is God!
That went by really quickly...I'm ready for part 2 and 3 and 4....you guys just scratched the surface.
Always enjoy hearing Todd. Interesting, intelligent and has worked with so many artists that gives insight into the 60s and 70s rock world.
I saw TR at The Forum in London in 1994 - excellent - and met him afterwards. What a genius, what a star and what a gent.
I've seen Todd several times...once, must've been in the fall of 1978, I saw the four-piece Utopia do two shows a night for two nights at a small club in Gretna, Louisiana. I sat in the front row -- front and center --- for all four shows. The second night, between the first and second shows, TR's manager, Eric Gardner, approached me and said Todd would like meet me. Could I follow him to TR's Winnebago? Well, duh! What a truly delightful fellow! He really dug it that I would sit through all the shows in roughly the same seat -- he actually knew that -- and he was tickled that I knew all the lyrics to all the tunes, yada yada yada. Made my whole trip! I was a huge fan before that; ever since then, though, I've been -- at the very least -- worshipful!
Todd Rocks ! I met him in Houston at age 16. He got me into the concert as I was too young for the bar at the Texas Oprey House. I have been a loyal fan ever since. He is an Artist a True Star !
Try to understand the elementary...
Only you know what year you were 16...none of us do
I was there too!
@@AMEER-114- Back to the Bars tour, from the location and venue, so 1978. Todd played (I think) four nights in Houston that time around.
He
does,
too...
My recom-
mendation?
NCL's the best.
This should be heard by any student of music production. This is a history lesson. Mr Rundren is a genius
Rungren helped bridge the rock world into the new wave, so glad he was at the helm and assisted in all of that artful creativity. Well, sometimes at the helm but you know what I mean, navigating change is an adventure.
What an amazing interview, what a shame it's not at least twice as long there was so much more that could have gone into and these two have so much in common the conversation flows very easily.
Todd didn't play a "local club down the street". The night of his induction, he performed at the Andrew J Brady Music Center in Cincinnati, OH. I was there and it was one of the best shows I've ever seen.
Came to say the same, it was an awesome show that night.
What an eloquent way to nicely flip the bird to the R&R Hall of Fame.
Yes - in reality todd played at a venue near the hall of fame of induction and offered to participate virtually- the hall made a historic mistake by turning down Todd’s creative offer - again todd was standing by his conviction while allowing the fans to hear him -a loss
I was there and it's one of the best Todd shows I've ever seen
Quite an insightful interview. I was too young for the Rundgen fan base and didnt understand the draw. I knew he went on to work with many artists but still didn't understand the devoted fan base. This interview helped a bit.
Love Todd. He amazes me.
Very enjoyable to listen to Todd. Great voice and story-teller.
Awesome interview. Amazing to hear Todd in a good mood. :)
I’ve spent many hours around him - he’s almost always in a good mood. The grouchy guy is urban legend.
I listened to this again, and no longer need my first question answered. However, the last point of play lists, DJ`s etc.... I completely agree with the surprise in what the next song is. Nearly every time the technology is available, I set it to random play, I discover things that I have always had, but did not know I had, as well as discovering songs on certain albums that I bought just for a song or two...now I discover different aspects of the band that I already adore. I loaded all of my CD`s onto some solid state drives, next is about 250 pieces of vinyl. This does not replace my home listening practices of playing albums all the way through, but is really good for finding a mood, if you don`t know what that mood is.
Todd Rundgren: Maestro of a genius caliber.
Two studio wizards, just chopping it up, talking shop. Ao awesome. Absolutely love Todd and love Utopia.
Todd the musical genius, I’ve listened to him for 50 years now.
Fascinating to hear his account of producing the Band’s “Stagefright” !!!
So great to hear more depth of discussion with TR than the usual from the more (understandably) non-musician fan channels.
Imagine telling a company "put this on my tab" -- and "this" is Bat Out of Hell! Great interview -- I had all of Todd's records in the 70s.
Great interview! Really enjoyed. Really loved the insights about The Band. Happy New Year from Tokyo :-)
Fantastic interview! Thanks.
My favorite musician/producer/tech/etc. Nobody has done combined what he has the last 54 years.
Absolutely a great interview.
awesome Rundgren interview ....the best
Todd’s son, Rex, played ball for our AA baseball team “The Carolina Mudcats.” My family hosted epic bbq’s/after parties for Todd & fam on more than one occasion:) Twas a great era!
Carolina? North or South?
@@ST-xg3gy They're based outside of Raleigh.
@@ST-xg3gy
Which is to say North...
So interesting.......I always learn something new re music when Todd talks.
Fantastic interview
I saw Utopia open for Kansas in the late 70s. The wind was blowing so hard it sounded like the whole sound system was going through a phase shifter. Great show!
I love this man "hope im around" "i saw the light" "zen archer" to name a few he's easily my top 3 artist of all time
Wow, I never saw this! Todd , say no more!
"Rundgren's crowning achievement was producing 'Bat Out Of Hell'" is an insane statement. You shoot your own pose of authority in the foot with such a pronouncement.
indeed - it was a remarkable accomplishment, for sure, but practically a footnote in TR's rich history.
They probably just meant commercially. Album sales are often the go-to metric for the artistically challenged.
@@termsofusepolice Yes, of course that's what they meant. But should something like Broken Record be prioritizing that? Is someone listening to Bat Out of Hell for the production? Not likely.
Moreover, it was as much Jim Steinman's "production" as Rundgren's.
He meant biggest selling record. Of course not his greatest “achievement”.
One of the few artists who can "talk shop" and still be interesting.
Fascinating, thoughtful guy.
Love Todd AND Rick : )
Great stuff about Todd's experience with The Band's Stage Fright engineering and mixing. I heard hints about the the challenges of that from various interviews and books about the whole ordeal. It turned out to be a great record... but it's birth came with considerable pain.
Badfinger said he was difficult to work with.
So ironic- one of the great interviews about The Band- and so few lovers of their music will land here. Final word for me seems to be in about Robbie snd what “when down on the plains of … “. Todd- ty.
Yes! Great cherry-pick on Todd's extensive career(s), very cool! Thanks! 🍒👍👍🎶☮️😎
I agree with the observation about today's music. It is exciting. There's a lot of creativity and few inhibitions. Good stuff, lots of good stuff.
Love this conversation, Love Todd Rundgren even more now, he's beyond omgosh even Rick imo oops?!!
you know, id love to hear Todd do a song by song retrospective on Hermit of Mink Hollow.
He should play the whole album first half of a concert.
So would I! Including where the belch came from.
Thanks for all the insight, men.
Personally , i spend my life (63) looking for the enlightenment of late 60s- early 70s radio.....some online college radio has it.
And I loved the raw early Grand Funk...turned my son onto too.....production ruined them, their choice.
When 'Are You Experienced?' came out I bought the album and played it, flipping it over and over probably six hours. When the first Crosby, Stills @Nash album came out we listened to it for hours. 'Wheels of Fire' same thing, listened till the grooves were worn out. Some records were more important than others.
FAR to short!!! More please.
I thought that was a picture of Brahms next to Todd Rundgren in the thumbnail.
I love Rundgren's early records, which sounds like a cliche thing to say but it just happens to be true. His humor and his studio fixations and willingness to to put a bit of process front-and-center, including a mini tutorial on drop-ins and edits and tape mangling. And he's a great songwriter / performer, so what's not to like? Here, he's still astute and on top of the changes and the whole game overall.
Legend Rundgren and Rubin :)
This is the second time I listened to this podcast, and I have ti think RR's mind was officially blown many times over. He is no longer the smartest person in THIS room. Todd made sure of that!
thanks, Rick!
Brilliant! TODD is GODD!
Thomas Dolby and Todd yeeessssss
Lockjaw’s Coming ❤Skylarking❤🙏🏻🙇Open My Eyes, AWATS
Creative King and can 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻shred on the geeeetar 👏🏻👏🏻
Another great interview Rick. I agree. I have 1,000's of songs on my phone. I carry a JBL charge 4. Use my phone only as a jukebox. Go the beach. To friends cook out. The music goes along. At night I sit outside and I love to put it on shuffle. There are nights it plays all the right tunes. Like my best friend MUSIC knew it was a long day and it would mellow me out. I used to walk around Record City like I was in musical paradise. Till my brother threatened to leave me. You are truly a great interviewer. 👍
Todd- A Wizard a True Star (AWATS)
Great album!
When the 💩 hits the fan 😆
Todd is an engineer of sound. He knows what the human ear needs
He's not a great engineer, and his desire to be different all the time has not always helped his bank account. Not everything hits, and being so diverse can alienate people. He is my biggest influence personally, but I see him for what he is. Sometimes a transcendent singer, a great rock guitar solo player, and a great arranger.
Great interview!
This interview was great but WAY too short. It could easily be 3-4 times as long... Todd's own huge catalog was barely touched upon.
Aww man! Totally agree,Todd could have gone on for hours. It was just getting interesting. Even Todd sounded surprised when it was over.
Skylarking alone is an episode.
@@Espectro101 yup, Andy was kinda mambie pambie with Todd. Like all contemporaries in the industry, there's a palpable jealousy amongst his peers. Todd would never admit or speak about it but it's pretty obvious. RRHF should have noticed Todd decades before any of the jackasses awarded before him.
@@ledaswan5990 Right? Todd was just getting into it. Maybe Broken Record will bring him back for more.
I worked on the Robyn tour back around 2013. Todd has not invited me to Hawaii yet. I also worked with Thomas Dolby around 2008 working on ringtones for phones.
Fabulous
Just great
Enjoyed the interview! I would've been interested in hearing about working with Sparks on their Halfnelson lp. I've read about the contentiousness of XTC's Skylarking, which is unfortunate because I think they're a great band. I was a huge Todd fan until the early 80's and my tastes starting changing. AWATS and Todd are still high up there in my all-time favorites.
Great interview from two years ago on Jonsey's Jukebox. He discusses who he has produced. Talks about Sparks, XTC and others.
ruclips.net/video/nBoqcQTY8zo/видео.html
Gold, Jerry!
perfect damn timing for me!!!!
Love y'all and Todd, but he didn't play a club "down the street" when they inducted him into the RRHOF. It's in Cleveland and the concert was in Cincinnati. It was a great show. =)
Anyone else think the team behind this podcast might want to re-think the intro blurb where they hail Todd's production work on Bat out of Hell as his "crowning achievement".
Wow, what a smart guy!
Interesting as always
Utterly brilliant!
However, I would loved to have heard whatever it was that got edited out ( in regard to Bat Out Of Hell, even though Todd has told the story before, but the depth he was sharing with Rick was fabulous) which someone decided was necessary, just after the comment about “I should collaborate with Ian Hunter”.
Then there was an abrupt subject change. Whatever got edited out there would have been great to hear.
Regardless, this was wonderful.
Rick was a relatively frequent client at the recording studio at which I was chief-engineer and eventual equity partner (Royaltone) and he was always exceptionally pleasant and extremely kind but, far, far more taciturn and quiet than we have come to know of him in recent years through wonderful contexts such as this one. He’s such a beautiful interviewer for other record makers!
We humans seem to have lost soooo much as a species - in this bizarre ride that is thus far the 21st Century - and a species that is/are desperately in need of big ideas and new modes of interacting with each other. For those of us who caught even the tail end of popular rock, rock/pop, melody-centric, often lyrically sophisticated music during those years Todd appropriately describes as a fleeting anomaly when the commerce side of ‘the biz’ conflated the physical product with the service, many of us know how fortunate we were to be there absorbing so much extraordinary work that helped us (for better and for worse) to see the world through different lenses, to think about our place in the world (if we felt like we even had one...) and to form a younger person’s world view.
Much of it (not all of it, as there was still plenty of unabashed mediocrity, inauthentic pastiche and stuff that simply just failed to resonate...) was magic emanating from the speakers.
Sadly, I can’t see a future in which music will ever occupy the time of critical and key importance in our lives, and far more worthy of concern, in the lives of...well, “kids”. That is unfortunate as once upon a time l, music enable us to identify those with whom we had done commonality, and sometimes even drew us together to achieve noble and worthy things that shaped and changed society (certainly in the West) for the better.
It is a privilege to hear two bright, switched-on thinkers, who defined their humanity (and still do) by music, discussing this ineffably important period, and the unique and cherished contributions that Todd made, and continues to make.
More like this please; superb work.
Dissertation.
All kidding aside I's love ro hear a TR produced Rick Springfield album
How do you get your artists to open like a flower?
And he also producced Hall & Oates War Babies album. Fantastic album thst never had much success.
The Title of this should be called “Why Todd is Brilliant “, etc.
Love Todd
Was hoping Rick would ask Todd about who came up with the idea of getting Yankee announcer, Phil Rizzuto, to narrate the seduction scene in Meatloaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights" as if it were a baseball broadcast. The album has not necessarily aged well but I always thought that was a pretty creative idea. I'm guessing it might have been Todd's.
Meatloaf came up with the idea. Him and Jim Steinman listened to games in the summer and chose lyrics for Phil from all the calls he made that would relate to the song.
@@thetruthissweet2847 Thanks....apparently Phil's priest didn't care for it much (lol)...But that it is Todd's voice on the intro to "You Took the Words Right Out of my Mouth? Yes?
@@thetruthissweet2847 I would guess its almost entirely Steinmans idea = Meatloaf had a habit of claiming part of the creation process at times
@@johnberman7347 the spoke intro sounds like Steinman
@@danteshydratshirt2360 I saw the Meatloaf docu from a couple years ago. He gave Todd a lot of credit. No Steinman, no Meatloaf.
Todd Rundgren and Donald Fagen : geniuses recognize one another.
Todd is God great interview
FYI and wish Todd had said it - Jesse Winchester RIP 2011 was a spell-binder & a heart-breaker - his lyrics & delivery are riveting - his charming authentic vocal style was stolen by Lyle Lovett
Rick , love you man - would you consider adding video to future interviews ?
The stories !
Todd! You never call 😮 Hey Ringo!
Wow.
Does anyone feel more intelligent after listening to a Todd interview?
Todd Rundgren walks into a room, "Hello it's me."
After being asked by Pete Townsend, "who are you, who who who who?"
@@morbidmanmusic touche! Those would work really well in reverse, your comment first followed by mine lol
The Tubes ♫
"Rundgren’s crowning achievement though was producing Meat Loaf’s album "Bat Out Of Hell"... ??? No. Please, try again.
Agreed.
I think his crowning achievement is Wizard following Something/Anything
I kind of agree but DAMN I love Bat Out of Hell
@@stevenpagano Or Todd after that. A trio of classic albums. Hermit of Mink Hollow is awesome too.
It depends on how you define "crowning achievement". If sales and impact are the criteria, then Bat Out of Hell selling 43 million copies world wide is a crowning achievment. If art is your criteria, I would say many of his solo projects are better artistic achievements. He considers his most important work to be in production. His list of production credits is astounding. He also pioneered the union of video and music, and that too could also be considered a "crowning achievement". Todd has been one of the most important american artists in the post jazz era.