Todd Rundgren/Utopia Albums Ranked From Worst to Best
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- Опубликовано: 4 ноя 2018
- Todd Rundgren, one of the first artists that hooked me on music and one of my favorite artists to this day, has been nominated by the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame for the first time in his 20th year of eligibility. This ranking includes all of his solo and Utopia studio albums.
You can participate in the Hall of Fame voting at www.rockhall.com/fanvote
And for the newbs, check out The Listography Guide to Todd Rundgren playlist on Spotify: open.spotify.com/user/zznpyaaj...
"Someone knows who you are. Someone, watches over you. Someone knows how you feel, and someone feels the same. So you never have to be afraid." DUDE if you were a kid and listened to this in your room, it saved your life.
Todd helped me at 15 - 16 with some very personal issues. Saved my life? Maybe. Will always love him, for real.
It's hard to beat "Nearly Human". Todd has always been one of the best songwriters of all time.
A couple of weaker songs towards the end but it is a really good album. He excels at tone color.
The Hermit of Mink Hollow...
After a long time away 'LIARS' brought me back to Todd. 'AFTERLIFE' has become a song that I go to again and again and encapsulates his unique style of writing and delivery.
Over the past 20 or so years, LIARS is THE standout TR album, which isn't too hard considering the EDM, covers, blues and collaboration efforts. IMHO, it's a return to form and I put it in my personal top three or four favorites among all of the TR and Utopia recordings. Seeing it on this list at 26 out of 35 is just so wrong.
It's so good - that record symbolizes summer 2004 to me as I was listening to it to death along with Proto-Kaw's "Before became After" record that came out at the same time. I'd listen to those back to back to back to back over and over again.
Born 1969 Grew Up with his Music. I Love HELLO IT'S ME. I hope Rundgren never Stops Writing music!
🙂👍🏼🇺🇸
Thanks. Really good job going over his extensive discography. I love Ra, Swing to the Right, Oops Wrong Planet and Adventures in Utopia and would list them higher. Definitely want to hear more of his stuff!
I really enjoyed hearing this list, the half hour just flew by! But, I put Healing as the greatest Rundgren album ever made. I think Adventures in Utopia as the finest Utopia record.
You are 100% correct about Healing!!!
Good choices and agree
I really enjoyed your comments on all the albums .The only disagreement I have is I think the self titled Utopia album should be ranked much higher...Had the Network record label not gone under It could have been a hit record..And the band never sounded better live than at that time. A very tight power pop quartet without all the prog tunes.
I agree 100%. Great album!
SO true....local stations played "Libertine" a bit but several of those songs were more than hit worthy...almost like their last hurrah...after that i think they realized there is no accounting for taste with the listening public.
he not only produced bat out of hell he played on it
I think that A Wizard/A True Star was absolutely a masterpiece that presaged so many musical ideas that would come to the fore 20 to 30 years later. Electronica. Punk. Grunge. Rundgren pushed the envelope of the rock genre and did something completely original.
That album is the equivalent of Vincent Van Gogh painting Starry Night. Few understood its genius at the time.
Few still understand it now. -Jason
@@TastesLikeMusic My best friend in high school was a guy like you. He could happily spend four hours in a record store flipping through the stacks, knew all the session players and other albums they had played on, and listened to just about everything.
He also had an uncommonly good memory. He was the star of his high school brain game team, and was a starter on the Purdue college bowl team. He's the kind of guy you lose to at trivial pursuit without getting to roll.
He DJed on the Purdue college radio station as well in the early 80's, and he used to make me these amazing mixed tapes he'd call the standouts nobody's heard yet with songs like Marquee Moon by Television and Perfect Circle by REM. The kid had an exceptional ear.
He bought me A Wizard/A True Star for my birthday one year, and I didn't get it at first, either. But I gave it a chance and it slowly became one of my all-time faves.
Great great video. Thank you.
well done, a tough list to put together for sure. And if I may speak for all us old folks who've been Todd devotees since the early 70s, it is SO great to see someone your age who loves and appreciates his unique genius as much as we do, right on.
I disagree with some of your assessments but I tip my hat to you for going through all of the records including some I've never managed to hear. Anyone who will check out Mr. Todd's music is cool by me and especially hoping others will check it out too. Subscribed!
Thanks! Great list
always loved ballad - was beginning to think you were going to forget it.
I grew up on the same street as Todd so he’s always been like a folk hero to me,he was well into his career when I was born and I never met him but I love hearing from other fans. Great vid brother,subbed
Nicely done, very knowledgeable on Todd, my first concert with Todd, was in 1976 utopia
i grew up with these albums it seems like you got into him last week with your strange postioning of his best albums to dismiss ra and the first utopia album leaves me speechless
I grew up with these albums too. Granted, in the 80's instead of the 70's, but I've been listening to Todd for a good 30 years. I love all of his albums, truly. But his proggier efforts don't do quite as much for me as the other stuff. Not sure how that opinion makes it seem like I just started listening to him last week?
Anyways, thanks for watching!
Nice effort, but some things that weren’t mentioned were many of Todd’s solo albums were all him. All the singing, playing and producing. That brought many people to him. The Ikon, on the first Utopia is loved by many children of the 60s and 70s due to the prog music and lyrics fitting the times. We would rank it higher. Thanks for being a fan of his though.
Personally I feel have a completely different order. But hey, it's always nice to find someone who has taken the time to at least listen to it all. Thanks for sharing.
Utopia 1974 is amazing! To me it's #1 or at least very high. That and Another Live are high points of his Prog fase.
At the very least, the opening track has the best drum sound !Ever! Recorded !Live!
I would certainly not describe it as "noodling". The Icon is an architectural masterpiece, where in the final minutes all the themes from the past half hour are stacked together.
(I have owned this album 2 or 3 times on Vinyl, and then twice on CD)
Yeah the original Utopia 1974 album and the follow-up "Another Live" are both really center pieces of his band format career. I wish he had done more, although I do think that probably the best of his deliberate progressive pieces appear on the album "RA" bracketed by other 'pop' compositions, which are complimentary as opposed to being distractions. Not an easy feat I'd imagine.
I agree.. Utopia is in my top 5. I have no idea what this kid in the video is talking about.
I vote for Todd! He is certainly a rare musical find! And he couldn't have done better choosing the members of Utopia. Todd in my opinion has never made "a bad" album!
First saw Rundgren/Utopia in 1974. I was hooked. Plenty of stuff I don't care for, but he is so prolific, constantly going new places musically and SO very respected by his peers. I like rock, so Arena is a favorite. Rundgren's LPs are difficult to rank because of the variety of styles on each. Sorry, but no mucician that I know of comes close. Besides, he seems to care a lot about important issues and doesn't hold back on letting others know what he thinks. Living abroad for 20 years has made seeing him live impossible - something I dearly miss. THANK YOU for taking the time to listen to all of his work.
Excellent video
The cd Todd released of his "Up Against It" demos is very good if you ever find it reasonably priced. I paid 30 dollars for my copy. It was worth it!
Thanks for your dig through Utopia's catalogue. I really got into Todd Rundgren in the mid-eighties when I was going through an extremely rough time. His lyrics tackle a lot of complex human emotions in a way where it made me able to kind of sort through things, and not be afraid to be human and lead with my heart. Now having said that, I do think some of the Utopia albums might've been recorded too closely together. There are some where although the musicianship is stellar as always they seemed kind of uninspired, even bland like on "POV." My favorites are "RA", "Oops Wrong Planet", "Oblivion", and especially the 3-sided album "Utopia." Every song on the "Utopia" album sounds like it could've been a hit single, which is really phenomenal!
Haven't been into Todd Rundgren very long, but he's really fascinating, and sucha wide discography to explore.
This was really cool. You should try him witht eh full trio now.
One of my favourite artists though still working my way through his Disco, listened to Something/Anything and was blown by his talent!
Fantastic PSA show Jason, super super super ultra interesting!!! Todd totally rules!!!
Todd is probably my overall longest music love. I don't think he's done anything relevant since the 80s, but he's Todd
Time for a REMASTER of this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nicely done and not an easy task, given the scope of his work and his genre bending catalog. The two biggest changes that I would make would be to move Arena up about 10 spots and move Ballad down about 5 spots.
Arena's "Courage" is a beautiful piece of songwriting. I'm so hung up on the chord progressions that I don't even think about the production! Like you, not a gigantic fan of most of the rest of the album.
"Liars" stands up beautifully, in my book...I'd rank it in the top 10, personally. "Nearly Human" and "Hermit," Top 5? Yes. Thank you. This is a great list. Thank you!
I started listening to Todd at seven years old back inn1974, and he’s still my favorite artist. Interesting to see another big Todd fan have almost completely different viewpoints on his music. I disagree with your takes on almost everything, but just good to know someone loves Todd.
Thanks for doing this. Although I haven't always been crazy about some of Todd's more progressive stuff, he has written some of the greatest pop songs of the 70s and intermittently throughout his long career. Something/Anything is a classic and my favorite Todd album with A Wizard, A True Star a close second. I was fortunate enough to see him in concert a handful of times during the 70s and had the pleasure of meeting him once after a show. He was a very entertaining, dynamic performer. My last time seeing him in concert was in the early 90s at a small club. Unfortunately, it was during his rap phase and the only song he played that I knew was the stellar Black Maria, so it was kind of disappointing. But he definitely should be in the R&R Hall of Fame and would be if it weren't such a politically run organization.
Nice job don't total agree with everything I don't know if you purposely left out back to the bars but a great live album. But it's nice to see your appreciation an knowledge of a great artist that is a true American treasure looking forward to more videos
runt 606 I did leave Back to the Bars off intentionally. I omit live albums from all of my videos (even though another live is sort of a live album).
Thanks for watching and taking a minute to comment. Would love to see your list or even a top 10 if you don’t totally agree with my list.
I don't agree with the majority of your choices. Writing off that first Utopia so early on is a real "WTF" moment. But hey! You just keep being you. I enjoyed the vid, thanks for taking the time.
As a 40 year TR/Utopia fan, I'm impressed by your list. I like that you boldly put The Ballad and S/A as high as you did. Among Todd fans, they can get lost in the shuffle, but they are great records. For my personal taste, I would have ranked the original Utopia albums higher. I loved the prog-rock stuff and the musicians on those albums - Moogy, Schuckett, Siegler and Ellman - are some of the best he's ever played with.
His 2nd album is clearly stronger than the debut.
Nice
Of course, there are a few albums I would move around...but not all that many! Overall, I thought his comments were right on the money-the right records are ranked the lowest, and the correct ones are near the top. I liked Oblivion, White Knight and The Individualist a lot more than he did, but overall I appreciated the criticism very much.
It's good to see that TR also does have younger fans than the bunch of us are... That said, I disagree with a lot of your opinions ( Arena, TR's Utopia, White Knight, Liars ).
Nothing wrong with a little disagreement. That's what makes it fun!
Thanks for watching.
I truly like Deface The Music. Nice list
I really like With A Twist. It helps that I like Bossa Nova. I put together a fun playlist with the original songs followed by the With A Twist versions. Thanks for leading me toward further musical explorations.
Omg I forgot that album. I classify that as a failed Rundgren experiment..the production is excellent I like the idea but it didn't really work
Solid list. "Runt" is def. in my top 5 though. Always enjoyed it more than "The Ballad Of...". How about a Daryl Hall John Oates list? They're not just a "singles act"- lots of great "deep cuts" worth exploring. Great series!
Wow... Runt over Ballad ? That sounds weird to my ears. I agree on Hall&Oates being worth exploring though.
The underrated , underappreciated War Babies produced by Todd and backed by Utopia .
Top Ones : 1966-1976 (Solo, Nazz and Utopia) Healing, Acappella, Up Against It
A thought-provoking post for Todd fans. This is interesting because it’s being inside one person’s head and musical appreciation is so personal, everyone’s view is valid. The one thing I have to really strongly disagree with is that Bag Lady is not a strong song and shouldn’t have been on the record. Onomatopoeia stronger than that, really?
You ever planning on doing a remaster for this with Joe?
Yeah we will. - Joe
3 should be #1 but good list and commentary.
I love Todd and more so Utopia...cut my teeth on those sweet sounds. I do have to agree with you, he can be maddeningly uneven. I used to wait on the edge of my seat for a new Todd record but now, meh. At least we all have an amazing catalog of music to keep us happy till he gets his shit back together.
Listening to Rundgrens entire catalogue is a hell of a rollercoaster where thankfully the great stuff outweighs the crap. I'm guessing he's kind of given up now though I did like a few songs on that newer album ...I forget the titles...must have been brilliant /s
@@atomiccritter6492 I don't think it is a matter of him giving up. I think he is trying too hard to be relevant. Also Todd is such a prolific artist that I believe he is throwing his giant output at the wall to see what sticks. Either way I just wish he would go back to music that made me a huge fan in the first place. Hmmm...I can only dream. Cheers to you Atomic critter.
Very nice job especially coming from someone so young. You are probably half my age. The only thing I do t understand is ranking the first Utopia so low. For me the Todd album will always be number one. Nothing else even close.
Thanks. Are you 74?
NAZZ.
What do you think of The Nazz?
I like them. They have a few really good songs and as a Todd fan I find their albums to be pretty interesting. However, I don't see them as some criminally underrated and forgotten band. He definitely went on to bigger and better things afterwards.
I think their version of Hello Its Me is pretty damn fine - its got a certain something
GOOD to KNOW I have mostly all of these Albums, even 'Deface the Music' (on a Cassette). Don't agree with ALL Your Choices in their respective Order, My Number ONE is Nearly Human. I can see where your taste may lie, so Good for You. AND, Thanks for telling me about albums I haven't even heard yet. I think I'd like to hear them. BUT, PEOPLE Have to Hear NO WORLD ORDER and I SO LOVE LIARS ALBUM-Very GOOD ALBUM. Just goes to show people SO MANY GREAT SONGS.
A very varied catalogue, both regarding musical styles and quality, to say the least. Some of his 70s albums were really great, but there were a couple of albums I truly hated (especially the awful "No World Order" which I found to be the nadir of his entire discography).
36. No World Order (1993) ★
35. reProduction (2011) ★½
34. Global (2015) ★½
33. The Individualist (1995) ★½
32. Runddans (2015) ★★
31. State (2013) ★★
30. Todd Rundgren's Johnson (2010) ★★
29. White Knight (2017) ★★½
28. Space Force (2022) ★★½
27. Arena (2008) ★★½
26. With a Twist (1997) ★★½
25. Another Live (1975) ★★½
24. Todd Rundgren's Utopia (1974) ★★½
23. 2nd Wind (1991) ★★★
22. Initiation (1975) ★★★
21. Ra (1977) ★★★
20. Liars (2004) ★★★
19. One Long Year (2000) ★★★
18. Swing to the Right (1982) ★★★
17. Oops! Wrong Planet (1977) ★★★
16. Oblivion (1984) ★★★
15. POV (1985) ★★★
14. Adventures in Utopia (1980) ★★★
13. Nearly Human (1989) ★★★
12. Deface the Music (1980) ★★★
11. A Cappella (1985) ★★★
10. Utopia (1982) ★★★
9. Runt (1970) ★★★½
8. Healing (1981) ★★★½
7. The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect (1982) ★★★½
6. The Ballad of Todd Rundgren (1971) ★★★½
5. Faithful (1976) ★★★★
4. A Wizard, a True Star (1973) ★★★★
3. Todd (1974) ★★★★
2. Hermit of Mink Hollow (1978) ★★★★½
1. Something / Anything? (1972) ★★★★½
★★★★★ - Masterpiece
★★★★½ - Really great
★★★★ - Great
★★★½ - Really good
★★★ - Good
★★½ - OK
★★ - Bad
★½ - Really bad
★ - Awful
½ - The worst
Top 10 songs:
10. Love is the Answer (1977)
9. One World (1982)
8. Libertine (1982)
7. We Gotta Get You a Woman (1970)
6. Bang the Drum All Day (1982)
5. Be Nice to Me (1971)
4. Just One Victory (1973)
3. Izzat Love? (1974)
2. Can We Still Be Friends? (1978)
1. Couldn't I Just Tell You? (1972)
Way wrong on Another Live (top ten), otherwise a thoughtful list, thanks.
I enjoyed this. Musicians, like myself, as one might expect, have a slightly different viewpoint. Prog was good, but could be excessive. Sorry! It allowed great players to wank out (play to the edge of their abilities, technically) and often resulted in some fabulous melodies and grooves. I do love great pop tunes and romantic sentimentality, word-wise, having said that. I did agree with your fave tunes on each album...possibly for the same emotional aspect. Carry on, bro! I do hope that you got to see Todd play live, sometime in the past and future, one hopes.
I’m a musician myself, and yeah I’ve seen Todd about 6 times (I think).
@@TastesLikeMusic Bueno!
I do think that Todd is a great musical treasure, even when not at his very best. I still have problems figuring out his weird piano chords...the doggie fingered chords? x over y?
I don't know much from Utopia. I just know many consider One World to be his best but Real Man is his best with Utopia. To know Todd and I know his great songs. The rest are missing something to me.
Great songs:
1 Real Man
2 We gotta Get you a Woman
3 Love is the Answer
.. In the really good category:
4Can we Still be friends?
5 Be Nice to Me
6 Couldn't I just tell You?
7 I saw the Light
8 Just One Victory
9 A Dream Goes on Forever
covers of other great artists that are not as good as the originals :
I'm so Proud (Impressions)
la la la mean i love you Del Fonics)
oh baby baby (Smokey and the Miracles)
Don't question me I have perfect taste in music and if you take that away i am nothing for the want of a nail. Sure he does a lot of listenable songs and a nice cover of Costello's Two Little Hitlers but his promise of Something?/Anything was not lived up to. In Part as Todd was obsessed with writing songs that would bring love to the world and doing experimental songs. Some of his orchestral music is good and some of his attempts to include gospel are not as successful. But what do i know, I have never listen to any of one full album. I don't need to I am a wizard a true star.
To me Healing LP must be on top-5..
Initiation #25? WTF?
Rating the 1st Utopia at the bottom and describing its intricacies as “noodling” lays a weak foundation for the rest of your opinions.
For me it would be the Healer album. It's kind of like Todd's equivalent of "What's going on" by Marvin Gaye both in it's conceptual nature and musical ambitiousness. Really the only blemish on the LP is Golden Goose which seems to scratch Todd's itch for writing sarcastic cuts as it does nothing to serve the album.
Golden goose doesn’t fit in, but it’s amazing.
Yep golden goose musically seems at odds to the rest of it. Healing imho is Rundgrens best take at prog rock as I never was enamoured with Utopia
Agreed.
Back To The Bars(1978 Live Recording) could have been the best of Todd Rundgren's albums.
the bread truck is coming for the hollis
I disagree with most of what he says. The Utopia Theme is the best thing Todd ever did. He’s entitled to his opinion. I don’t share it.
what no Disco jets come on
Your list is pretty spot on. I agree with most of it in general. Personally I would’ve ranked nearly human a little higher and second wind a lot higher but everyone has their favorites. I wouldn’t downgrade albums for dated production. Great songs and great performances will always be great regardless of the production style. But I would tend to downgrade his later work for inferior Fidelity as you mention they just sound tinny and compressed to me. I don’t own any albums after Arena Which I did not like either. I was thinking of getting some of them but based on your reviews maybe I shouldn’t bother.
Thanks for watching and commenting! Interesting point about dated production. I partially agree, in that I think one should always try to listen beyond the production to hear the underlying songs and performances. Still, I think the it should be the aim of people making records to make something that stands the test of time. So, if a record ends up sounding dated, and if I'm less likely to listen to it because of that fact, then I think it's fair to call it 'worse.' Songwriting and performance are critical elements of great records, but so are production, mixing, arranging, etc.
Interesting topic for discussion though!
Ra the very best...the rest.. so so. For me.
After watching again you cannot rank Initiation so low. Yes one side is all instrumental but the songa are fabulous. Faithful so low? My tops are Todd. Something Anything. Wizard. Hermit. Faithful. Ra. Initiation. Ballad. Oops wrong planet and Ra
I stopped buying Todd after Liar. Your selections seem to confirm I did the right thing.
I think there are 3 types of Todd albums for me...the great, the ok and the abysmal
Let's try to group them
Abysmal...Re-production...just Todd experimenting really.he even makes his version of Two Out Of Three ain't bad sound worse than Bonnie Tyler's dance version
Acapella...great idea but it just doesn't have good songs
Todd Rundgrens Johnson...just trotting out the blues again
Arena...absolute cack though Strike is a nifty AC/DC homage
The great albums...Liars, AWizard ATrue Star, Something Anything, Todd, Healing, The Individualist
Saying a cappella doesn’t have good songs is just straight up incorrect.
@@TastesLikeMusic good songs are a matter of taste - its all subjective. I honestly cannot recall one memorable song IMO. Again I admire the idea and production just think its let down songwise
We differ on his progressive work. Original Utopia album is way too low.
Initiation ranked lower than No World Order, A Capella Faithful and Deface the Music? Seriously?
Yes
Todd does-not noodle. You just don't get what he is playing.
Todd rundgrens utopia debut album was amazing. Why would you rank it so low?! And also wasn’t a ‘slog’ to get through.
For what it's worth I couldn't disagree with you more. You weren't around in the 70's. UTOPIA 1974 and Another Live... That was the music of the day. YES/ELP/Camel/Genesis/Crimson were what we listened to. Noodling? Really. It just shows you don't know. The Ikon wasn't noodling. Todd knew every single note. The Seven Rays and Another Live are great tracks. God. You're way off. The Individualist.. it's Todd's vocals man. How do you not get that.
Whatever
He's full of Iuka, Missiippi,burn the album Snotty jr jr
Not you snotty
Steals the albums and then wants to rate them. snotty scoot, Of Iuka, Miss
The second you put the first Utopia album at the bottom was the moment I quit listening. Well no I listened long enough to hear you take the worst song on the album and praise it. I guess everybody has an opinion but I'm not going to waste my time listening to anymore of yours