小简介 如果一个人音乐风格几乎涵盖了所有流行音乐主要风格:流行乐,民谣,布鲁斯,爵士乐,Motown,Soul,迷幻乐,Prog Rock,硬摇滚,重金属,电子乐,实验音乐,New Age,华丽摇滚,Punk,Reggae,Bossa Nova,Latin......或者我们可以想到的一切.那么这个人作为一个创作型歌手的成就已经算是惊人了吧? 如果也有一个人的摇滚吉他演奏,被后辈小子(如Paul Gilbert)奉为宗师和偶像,而同时又精通钢琴,键盘,电风琴,合成器,Flute,Saxophone,Bass,Drums等各种乐器,简言之,此人堪称Prince先师式的多才多艺的乐器演奏天才。 但如果又有一个人的录音工程和音乐制作技巧足以让所有和他合作的歌手和乐队的各种流派的作品成为传世之作.而这一长串名单包括:The Sparks, New York Dolls, Badfinger, Grand Funk Railroad, Hall & Oates, Meat Loaf, Patti Smith, Tom Robinson Band, XTC, Bad Religion, Cheap Trick, Hiroshi Takano, The Psychedelic Furs, The Band......那么这样一个制作人又是否算是功勋卓著呢? 如果还有一个人在长达40年的音乐生涯中凭借无数杰作始终引领音乐走向,不仅个人音乐生涯成功,并且组建，加入了Utopia,The New Cars(重组后的The Cars),Blondie这样的知名乐队获得成功,在70年代就自导自演了最早期成功的MTV,80年代制作了成功的儿童节目,还能在90年代初期就致力于电脑平台,软件和网络音乐的开发,那么这个人是否有可以被我们看作著作等身,嗅觉灵敏的流行文化大师呢? 没错,我们只能找到一个人.Hello,It's Me,I'm Todd Rundgren. 大事记 Todd Rundgren生于1948年的费城郊区,Motown以及Soul音乐自幼开始影响了他的一生,少年时,他开始跟随Beach Boys,The Beatles以及The Rolling Stones的摇滚乐开始自学各种乐器的演奏.16岁就组建了个人乐队.在他18岁时候和朋友们组建了乐队The Nazz并且在1968年发行了首张同名专辑. 1968 年为The Doors暖场而被人所知的The Nazz一直在美国流行乐史上拥有一个特殊的地位,因为它是第一个公认并公开的亲英风格的美国乐队(甚至The Nazz这个名字都是源自Yardbird的一首曲子).在Nazz短短的3年历史中,你可以随处可见The Beatles,The Stones,The Who,The Move,Cream,Traffic以及Yardbird的影子(首张专辑中,Todd就借用了了The Who在"I can't explain"中的强力Riff). 值得一提的是,The Nazz3张专辑中所有的音乐又几乎是不满20岁的Todd一人创作 1968 年的Debut专辑中随处可见的"英国入侵"风格并没有给乐队引起太大轰动,然而实际上已经开始初绽了Todd Rundgren的才华,甚至已经收录了Todd后来的热门单曲"Hello It's Me",18岁的Todd已经担任创作,多种乐器演奏,和声以及制作人的工作 乐队发行首张专辑后,刚刚进入乐坛的弱冠青年Todd已经开始野心勃勃的准备让Nazz发行一张双专辑长度的作品,从而让人们不仅仅把他视作一个有潜力的歌曲作者.但最终1969年发行的Nazz Nazz并没有造成另一个"白色专辑"的影响,但在这张作品中,Todd已经开始受到了1968年发行了Eli And The 13Th Confession而引起乐坛关注的才女Laura Nyro的音乐影响. 1970 年的Nazz III的创作过程足以用混乱二字形容,甚至Todd在专辑制作结束前就退出了乐队,和他争夺主唱地位的Robert "Stewkey" Antoni甚至随后在专辑中抹去了Todd的声音,然而这张专辑里的大部分歌曲创作仍是Todd的功劳,直到今天仍有很多乐评人认为如果乐队内部没有产生分裂,这张作品本应成为一个杰作,而Nazz也将成为一个伟大的乐队.然而另一方面,我们应该看到Todd已经离开乐队,开始了他光芒灿烂的Solo生涯. 刚离开Nazz的年方22岁的Todd迅速发行的首张个人专辑Runt, Todd在专辑中一人独力完成了除Bass和Drum演奏之外全部的音乐创作,演奏,演唱和制作工作.第一次手握全权的Todd在这张专辑中表现了与 Nazz炯异的音乐风格,从而在开始积累了一批听众的同时,彻底回击了他曾经的队友和对手Robert "Stewkey" Antoni.开场曲"Broke Down 钢琴的民谣作品"Believe in me"以Todd晶莹美妙的配器和竖琴演奏而引人入胜;顽皮而动听的"We gotta get U a woman"成为了他的第一首个人热门单曲;"Devil's Bite"一曲成为了Todd作为早期硬摇滚和重金属的代表作."I'm in the clique"则是几乎让人们看到了一个年轻的Frank Zappa;"There are no words"中Todd凭借巧妙的音乐制作技术和他本人出众的演唱和假声缔造出巧妙重迭,典雅忧伤的和声山谷;而片尾曲"Birthday Carol"则是Todd拿手的一首各种风格杂烩长篇曲目,也让Todd在编曲配器方面的卓越才华开始为人所知. (同一时期,Todd几百美金低价买入了Eric Clapton在Cream时期的Gibson SG迷幻吉他,若乾年后归还了"Slowhand"本人,也有说法说他以天文数字价钱拍卖了这把吉他大赚一票) 在凭借Runt引起各大唱片公司关注的Todd终于在此时和Rhino签订了一份丰厚的合约,作为回报,1971年发行的Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren绝对可以称作一张五星级的作品.The Rolling Stones甚至说,这张是最佳的Paul McCartney式的作品(然而事实上Paul McCartney本人一生都没有能逾越这张专辑的作品).自省的民谣作品中常常夹杂Todd本人无礼放肆的幽默(唱片封面是蓝色背景中,Todd本人背对弹奏钢琴,颈上套着绞索).Todd通过这张专辑展示了一个公认的得天独厚的年轻天才孤独而敏感的内心世界,这张内容朴素而谦逊的专辑也基本确立 Todd的主要音乐风格特点,从而成为Todd粉丝们最爱的作品之一.其中包括臭名昭著的Mark David Chapman.在刺杀John Lennon后,警方在Mark的住所搜查出了这张专辑的卡带,并且Todd的亲友一直奇怪,Mark为何选择Lennon,而非Todd作为刺杀的对象,因为Chapman本人一直是Todd的最大粉丝,玉米,凉粉,拖把(Todd 托德.朗德格伦的粉丝是否可以叫"拖把""托蒂""托儿所"之类?) 1972 年,23岁的Todd凭借这张公认的摇滚杰作成为了国际摇滚巨星.这张摇滚史上最出色的双专辑之一的作品"Something，Anything?" 中倾注了Todd个人的灵感,才华和汗水.专辑被Todd分为四部分,前三部分完全由Todd一人全包全揽了创作,演唱,演奏和制作的繁重工作,而在第四部分则邀请了很多专业乐手助兴演奏,还有Randy Brecker和Micheal Brecker(The Brecker兄弟真是赶场无数啊......)在管乐部分的增色. 专辑中包括了Carole King式的"I Saw the Light",Randy Newman式的"Piss Aaron",Van Morrison全盛时期风格的"Dust in the Wind",Zappa口味的"Some Folks Even Whiter Than Me",强烈启发了"Boston"这样乐队的"Couldn't I Just Tell You"(我自己这样觉得),传统民谣的"Hello It's Me",Motown风味的"Wolfman Jack",古怪奇特的"I Went to the Mirror","It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference"(R 更是一场音乐领域个人才华,野心与探索的极限挑战;一程所有人内心生活和思考的隐秘探索之旅;一席绝妙旋律听觉的完美夜宴. 简言之,这是一张货真价实的Masterwork. 1973 年,当通过"I Saw the Light"和"Hello It's Me"这样的流行曲才认识Todd Rundgren的"流行"乐迷开始失望的发现这张又一个双专辑长度的新作" A Wizard, a True Star"中充斥着各种古怪音效和奇异的歌曲过场.可以说通过"Something，Anything?"Todd确立了自己作为史上最出色的伟大的歌曲作者和制作人的杰出地位.然而在新专辑中,Todd不再满于自己"旋律制造者"的称谓了.也有人说这一时期的Todd受到了远东音乐以及Fusion Jazz进一步影响("International Feel"已经让我联想起Mahavishnu Orchestra的"Bird Of Fire"开场).虽然加入了如David Sanborn这样的Smooth乐手,然而某种意义上" A Wizard, a True Star"仍是Todd音乐生涯中最为野心勃勃的出击.凭借大量电子音效营造出的迷幻时空在偶尔出现的奇妙旋律的过场中轮回往返.在这张专辑中,Todd 凭借随处堆砌的灵感塑造了一个奇幻的摇滚乌托邦世界,一举奠定了自己在电子乐和合成器演奏领域上先驱的地位(专辑中某些场景,甚至可以在10年后 Sonic Youth这样的"后晋"乐队作品中依稀再见). 真的难以置信在Todd那青筋浮现的瘦长双手中让人迷醉的魔力和瘦长身体内蕴含的惊人能量:他可以同时以个人和乐队名义在同一年发行两张双专辑长度的佳作, 并且担任几乎全部的创作,演奏,演唱和制作工程.在1973年发行双专辑" A Wizard, a True Star"的同时已经组建了他的新乐队"Utopia".1974年以Utopia作为演奏班底的Todd不仅发行了"Utopia"的首张专辑"Todd Rundgren's Utopia",并且进行了世界迅演,还发行了个人双专辑长度的"Todd". 在古怪的" A Wizard, a True Star"之后,所有人们都在预测Todd下一张专辑会恢复"Something，Anything?" 的甜蜜,然而"Todd"仍是延续了类似" A Wizard, a True Star"Prog，Art Rock风格,还进一步展示了Todd冷漠古怪的幽默感和天马行空的灵感."A Wizard, a True Star"是一场狂野之梦,然而太过晦涩诡异"Todd"对于普通乐迷来说已经是某种意义上Todd作品中极限的考验了.整张专辑的绝大多数人声部分被层层迭迭,峰回路转的乐器演奏和电子音效取代.导致甚至我第一次听这张专辑的时候,等到"The Last Ride"这首人声曲目出现的时候都是送了一口气. 1975 到1976年,Todd把大量精力集中于在Utopia的专辑"Another Live"和演出,结果1976年的个人作品"Faithful"则是一个出人意料的回顾之作.见惯了Todd狂人般的每年4专辑以上长度作品的人们发现这张作品不仅只有普通专辑的长度,而且一半都是Todd翻唱The Beach Boys,The Beatles,Bob Dylan,Yardbirds和Jimi Hendrix的作品.在这张专辑中,Todd回顾了他60年代Nazz时期的音乐历程 (实际上,在" A Wizard, a True Star"中近11分钟的"Medley"中,Todd已经向对于他重大影响的Motown,R&B,Soul的根源先师们致敬了,比如杰出的 Smokey Robinson). 1976年稍事修整的Todd旋即在1977年发行了3张专辑,其中在"Utopia"发行了"Ra"和"Oops! Wrong Planet"的同时发行了个人专辑"Hermit of Mink Hollow".开头曲"All The Chilren Sing"的愉悦并不能掩盖整张专辑的忧伤情绪.原来,同年,Todd和有"摇滚缪斯"之称的Bebe Buell分手了(Bebe Buell自幼喜爱摇滚乐,在她母亲的鼓励下,她开始成为众多Groupie中的一员,然而在和Todd建立感情后,Bebe Buell开始凭借Todd如日中天的地位结识了例如Jimmy Page,Iggy Pop这样最杰出的人物.Todd一直深爱Bebe Buell,甚至当Todd得知Bebe怀孕的孩子事实上是他人的骨肉,他还是坚决支持Bebe生下这个女孩,并取名为Liv Rundgren.Todd 对Liv Rundgren视若己出,甚至Liv本人直到10几岁才直到她的生理学父亲其实是从未尽过父亲指责的大毒虫Steve Tyler,而非她自幼尊敬的父亲Todd Rundgren一夜之间成为了"养父".即使如此,Todd还是一手扶植已经更名为Liv Tyler的养女成为著名的电影明星("偷香","指环王三部曲".) 在1977年,Todd和Bebe两人一度分手,当时受到严重打击的Todd完成了在继Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren后最饱含个人真挚感情的直白作品.整张专辑100%都是遭受情伤的Todd一已完成.其中内心感情独白性质的"Can We Still Be Friends"也成为了他的热门曲目和著名MTV作品(甚至选为某成人电影3P场景的背景音乐).而这张专辑也被很多后世乐队视作New Age的杰作 同年,Todd解散了Utopia,并随后发行了首张现场唱片,双专辑Back to the Bars.此后Todd完成了他音乐生涯的第一个光辉灿烂的十年.开始以制作人的身份开始新一阶段同样成功的音乐历程. Todd 前十年的成功在于他得天独厚的才华让他汲取了几乎当时所有音乐财富,从而成为一个流行音乐史上少有的集大成者.而这样一个貌似吸血伯爵的"鬼才"和"隐士 "的低调则增添了追寻他音乐足迹的神秘感和乐趣.几乎可以说前十年的Todd从没有重复自己的作品.倾听Todd的快感几乎可以比得上汰渍洗衣粉一样拥有快速见效和长久有效. 然而总是有人不无嫉妒的称作他是一个手艺人,Craftsman这个词,我想总是更适合Paul McCartney或者Phil Collins这样的"德艺双馨,德高望重,得意忘形的老艺术家",而对于Todd,他更像一个鬼才,一个隐者,一个巫师,一个从未把自己的当作明星的大师,一个潜心于创作新的音乐而不是苦苦维持虚伪光环的音乐家......即使他本人反感这个称谓,我们还是把他称作 A Wizard,A True Star. Todd Rundgren's best-known songs -- the Carole King pastiche "I Saw the Light," the ballads "Hello, It's Me" and "Can We Still Be Friends," and the goofy novelty "Bang on the Drum All Day" -- suggest that he is a talented pop craftsman, but nothing more than that. On one level, that perception is true since he is undoubtedly a gifted pop songwriter, but at his core Rundgren is a rock & roll maverick. Once he had a taste of success with his 1972 masterwork, Something，Anything?, Rundgren chose to abandon stardom and, with it, conventional pop music. He began a course through uncharted musical territory, becoming a pioneer not only in electronic music and prog rock, but in music video, computer software, and Internet music delivery as well. As his career wound into its third decade, Rundgren concentrated on behind-the-scenes innovations, but during the '70s and '80s he maintained a relentless work schedule. He released up to two albums a year either as a solo artist or with his band Utopia, while producing acclaimed, successful records for artists as diverse as Badfinger, Meat Loaf, Grand Funk Railroad, the New York Dolls, and XTC. Given such an extensive catalog, it's not surprising that there's a vast variety of styles within Rundgren's music -- which is either rewarding or frustrating, depending on the album. Also, more often than not, the singles from each record do not offer an accurate indication of what the remainder of the album sounds like. Such an approach severely curtailed his mass appeal, but it helped him cultivate a ferociously dedicated cult audience. During the '70s, his records were underground favorites, and his albums continued to chart until 1991, nearly 20 years after his commercial peak. In those 20 years, Rundgren may have existed largely on the fringes of pop music, but he produced a body of work that ranks as one of the most intriguing in rock & roll. A native of Upper Darby, PA -- a suburb of Philadelphia -- Rundgren learned how to play guitar as a child, teaching himself after his initial round of lessons ceased. As a teenager, he absorbed pop music from Motown to Liverpool and formed Money, his first band, when he was 16. Following his high-school graduation, he moved to the resort town of Wildwood, NJ, where he regularly sat in with a number of bands. Eventually, he became a member of the blues group Woody's Truck Stop, which soon became based in Philadelphia. Rundgren stayed with the band for several months, but when the group began to move toward hippie psychedelia, he and Carson Van Osten bailed to form the Nazz in 1967. Taking their name from an obscure Yardbirds song and inspired by a variety of British Invasion groups, from the omnipresent Beatles to the cult favorites the Move, the Nazz were arguably the first Anglophiles in rock history. There had been many groups that drew inspiration from the Beatles and the Stones, but none had been so self-consciously reverent as the Nazz. Playing lead guitar and bass, respectively, Rundgren and Van Osten were joined by drummer Thom Mooney (formerly of the Munchkins) and lead vocalist，keyboardist Stewkey (born Robert Antoni). By September 1967, the group received some financial support from local record store Bartoff & Warfield, who also put them in touch with John Kurland, a record promoter who was looking for a guitar pop band. Kurland took a shine to the Nazz and signed on as their manager. Kurland and his associate, Michael Friedman, had the Nazz sign with SGC Records -- an offshoot of Atlantic Records and Columbia-Screen Gems -- in the summer of 1968. Their debut album, Nazz, appeared in October, supported by the single "Hello It's Me." Although the song would later become a major hit for Rundgren as a solo artist, the dirgey original version barely scraped the national charts. Despite the lack of success, the record -- particularly the Nazz's self-production of "Open My Eyes" and "Hello It's Me" -- attracted some good notices. Taking these as a cue, the group began work on an ambitious, self-produced double album, named Fungo Bat. By the time it was released in April 1969, it was trimmed to a single album, Nazz Nazz. In the process of editing, much of Rundgren's newer, Laura Nyro-influenced material -- which he had sung himself -- was left on the shelves. Neither the management nor his bandmates gave Rundgren much encouragement to sing, nor was his new introspective direction warmly received by his colleagues. Faced with a no-win situation, Rundgren left the group not long after their summer 1969 tour. Stewkey took control of the Nazz, erased Rundgren's vocals from the album sitting in the vaults, and replaced them with his own. The result was released as Nazz 3 in 1970, but it stiffed. Rundgren, meanwhile, became an in-house producer and engineer for former Bob Dylan manager Albert Grossman's fledgling studio and label, Bearsville Records. Around the same time, Rundgren formed a band called Runt. In reality, Runt was little more than a front for his burgeoning solo career. He played all of the instruments except drums and bass, which were usually handled by brothers Hunt and Tony Sales. Runt -- either Runt's first album or Rundgren's first solo album, depending on your point of view -- was released on Ampex Records in the fall of 1970. The album slowly earned an audience, with the single "We Gotta Get You a Woman" climbing into the Top 20 in early 1971. His modest success was enough to convince Grossman to sign Rundgren to a long-term contract with Bearsville. Apart from a re-release of Runt, the first Rundgren album to appear on Bearsville was Runt's final record, The Ballad of Todd Rundgren, a record that was reminiscent of such melodic singer，songwriter peers as King and Nyro, yet it had a subtly bizarre sensibility and quirky sense of humor that gave it a distinctive character. As he pursued his solo career, Rundgren quickly earned a reputation as a talented producer，engineer. His first production was for American Dream, but he quickly graduated to the big leagues thanks to his association with Grossman. In 1970, he engineered the Band's Stage Fright and Jesse Winchester's acclaimed eponymous debut. These two productions set the stage for Rundgren to take the production seat that George Harrison left vacant; the result was Badfinger's Straight Up, which gave him a huge hit with "Baby Blue." It wasn't long until Rundgren had a huge hit of his own. He abandoned the Runt concept before beginning his third album, deciding to record the entire record himself. The result was Something，Anything?, a double-album set that cemented Rundgren's reputation as a near-genius producer and gifted songwriter. Apart from the fourth side, which was constructed as a tongue-in-cheek operetta about a bar band, he played every instrument, sang every part, and produced the entire album. Hailed in the rock press as some sort of masterpiece upon its early 1972 release, it also won Rundgren a wide audience. The King tribute "I Saw the Light" reached number 16, and while its follow-up (the terrific power pop classic "Couldn't I Just Tell You") stiffed, the third single, a superior re-recording of the Nazz's semi-hit "Hello, It's Me," climbed all the way to number five. In all, Something，Anything? reached number 29 and went gold, spending nearly a full year on the charts. Stardom was handed to him with Something，Anything?, but Rundgren rejected it. He would later state that he had mastered pop songcraft and had no interest to simply repeat himself through endless recyclings of "I Saw the Light" or "Hello, It's Me." That's certainly not what he delivered with A Wizard, a True Star, his 1973 follow-up to Something，Anything? A weird sonic collage encompassing everything from psychedelia and Philly soul to Disney show tunes and vaudeville, the record may not have been an intentional move to shed his mainstream audience, but that was the ultimate effect. As the legions of listeners who loved "Hello, It's Me" departed, Rundgren's cult following -- the fans who did consider him "a Wizard, a True Star" -- intensified. Rundgren played the role to the hilt, dyeing his hair in a rainbow of colors and turning in extravagant concert performances. His appearance may have flirted with glam or glitter, but his music was getting increasingly progressive. His next album, 1974's Todd, may have had the occasional full-fledged pop song, such as the near-hit "A Dream Goes on Forever," but it had more than its share of lengthy experimental instrumentals. This was the direction he decided to pursue and he decided he needed a full-fledged band to help him continue in the progressive direction. And so Utopia were born. Initially, the group consisted of three keyboardists (Moogy Klingman, Ralph Shuckett, and Roger Powell), a bassist (John Siegler), a percussionist (Kevin Elliman), and a drummer (John "Willie" Wilcox). Balancing Utopia with his solo career, Rundgren became one of the most prolific artists of the decade. Released just months after Todd, Todd Rundgren's Utopia consisted of only four tracks, all of which were mainly instrumental, none of which were less than ten minutes. Rundgren continued in that direction on his next solo album, Initiation, which was released in the spring of 1975. Its radio-play hit, "Real Man," became one of his concert staples, but the true heart of the album lay in the half-hour-long synth experiment to which the entire second side was devoted. Mere months later, Utopia released Another Live, a wild live album devoted to long synth-driven instrumentals. Another Live proved to be the culmination of the synth experiments and, in some ways, the stretch of willfully difficult records Rundgren made during the mid-'70s. He kicked off 1976 with Faithful, an album that split into original pop material and re-creations of '60s chestnuts from the Yardbirds, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and the Beach Boys. His resurrection of "Good Vibrations" brought him his first Top 40 hit in three years. That year, he also revamped Utopia, stripping away two of the keyboardists (Klingman and Shuckett), as Elliman and Siegler left. Kasim Sulton joined as the new bassist. Although the new Utopia's first album, Ra, was a prog rock album by any measure, it was less overtly experimental and heavier than before. Ra was released early in February 1977 and was followed seven months later by Oops! Wrong Planet, a record that found the quartet abandoning progressive music for streamlined pop，rock, with a mainstream hard rock bent. By the time The Hermit of Mink Hollow was released in April 1978, it had been two years between Rundgren's solo albums, yet it had been six years since he had delivered an album as unabashedly pop and accessible as Hermit. On the strength of the Top 30 success of the ballad "Can We Still Be Friends," the record became a big hit, spending 26 weeks on the charts and peaking at number 36. He followed the record with the double-live album Back to the Bars, which was split between Utopia and solo material. As his solo career received a shot in the arm, his production career reached a pinnacle of commercial success with Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell. The shamelessly bombastic record became an unexpected blockbuster, due in no small part to Rundgren's cinematic production. Not only did it reap financial rewards, but it also opened the doors for a variety of production gigs; over the next year, he kept extraordinarily busy, working with everyone from old friend Patti Smith (Wave) to new wave pub rocker Tom Robinson (TRB Two), as well as arena rock goofs the Tubes (Remote Control). Given that Rundgren had been releasing records at such a rapid rate throughout the '70s, it comes as a shock to note that neither he nor Utopia released an album during 1979. That's not to say he wasn't busy. Not only did he have his production work, but during 1979, Rundgren opened Utopia Video Studios, a cutting-edge video production enterprise. Utopia Video Studios' first project was a version of Gustav Holst's The Planets, a demonstration disc for videodisc by RCA SelectaVision. It was a harbinger. Throughout the next decade, Rundgren began to devote more time to technological developments than his own music. Nevertheless, the early '80s were a robust time for Rundgren -- his last great period of commercial success. He came back swinging in 1980, releasing two albums with Utopia: the shiny pop，rock opus Adventures in Utopia and the cutting Beatles parody Deface the Music. He also released "Time Heals," the first music video to combine computer graphics and live action; it would later be the second video played on MTV. The following year, he released his first solo album in three years, the spiritually inclined Healing. By this point, his relationship with Bearsville Records had become increasingly rocky. Utopia delivered one last album for the label, 1982's Swing to the Right, before departing for the fledgling Network label, releasing Utopia that same year. After completing a groundbreaking solo tour in 1982, which alternated acoustic sets with sets featuring taped backings and video backdrops, he released The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect. Despite the presence of a moderate novelty hit with "Bang the Drum All Day," the album didn't eclipse Healing on the charts. As he attempted to leave Bearsville, Rundgren found himself in further record company difficulties when Network folded. Utopia then moved to Passport, yet another new record label. In 1983, after he devoted some time off to do technological work, he reconvened Utopia, which released Oblivion in 1984. Oblivion did respectably on the charts, peaking at 74, but the next year's follow-up, POV, tanked -- it reached only 161. Part of the problem was that Utopia's sound had indeed changed, but it was no longer contemporary. Following POV, Rundgren effectively pulled the plug on the group, although he would later reunite the band for an occasional tour. Rundgren's next solo album, A Cappella, featured nothing but his voice, albeit multi-tracked and sometimes processed beyond recognition. Negotiations with Bearsville held up the release of A Cappella for months. Once the deals were completed, Rundgren was finally free of Bearsville and he signed to its new parent company, Warner, which released A Cappella in September 1985. It did fairly well on the charts, but it was treated more as a novelty than a full-fledged record by both critics and fans. Rundgren spent the next few years working on computers, as well producing. In 1986, he was hired to produce the cult British pop band XTC. Over the course of the recording sessions, tensions grew between Rundgren and the group's main songwriter, Andy Partridge, eventually spilling over into outright hostility. Nevertheless, the resulting album, Skylarking, revitalized XTC's career and Rundgren's producing career. Although he had a few high-profile gigs afterward -- such as with Bourgeois Tagg and the Psychedelic Furs -- he decided to continue with his own technological and musical endeavors. In 1989, he finally released Nearly Human, his soul-spiked follow-up to 1985's A Cappella. Staying on the charts for 11 weeks, it was Rundgren's last album to come close to a mainstream hit, thanks to the radio single "The Want of a Nail." Several songs on Nearly Human were also used in his musical score for the off-Broadway production of Joe Orton's Up Against It, which was originally the script for the unfilmed third Beatles movie. A collection of new material recorded live, 2nd Wind, appeared in 1991. It was his final record for Warner and the last record he would make for a major label. The following year, he reunited Utopia for a tour of Japan, then he set to work on his first album for Rhino's new music division, Forward. Released under the moniker TR-I -- from this point on, he used TR-I to distinguish his technologically innovative work -- No World Order was an ambitious project. Not only was it released as a conventional CD, it was also released as an interactive CD-ROM through Philips and Electronic Arts. It certainly earned him press, but the reviews didn't lead to sales. Frustrated, he left Rhino, releasing The Individualist on ION in November 1995. Like its predecessor, the album was designed as a groundbreaking technological innovation -- this time, however, it was an enhanced CD. The Individualist earned better reviews than No World Order, particularly among computer-based publications. During this time, he also worked as a DJ on the acclaimed syndicated radio program The Difference with Todd Rundgren. The show was nominated for several awards, but its production was ceased in November 1996 due to an altered show format. He also did several television and film soundtracks, including the hit Farrelly Brothers movie Dumb and Dumber. In 1997, the fledgling Angel Records offshoot Guardian Records offered Rundgren a significant amount of money to re-record many of his hits and cult favorites as a bossa nova record. Clearly, Guardian was attempting to capitalize on the lounge fad of the mid-'90s, but Rundgren took the bait, supporting the resulting record, With a Twist, with a full-fledged tour. Prior to hitting the road in the U.S., he was one of the first Western artists to perform for the Chinese during the summer Shanghai Festival. That year saw the first release of his Up Against It songs through the Japanese label Pony Canyon. He also inked a deal to host a weekly online radio program called Music Nexus for the EnterMedia network. In fact, the Internet became the main focus of Rundgren's career by the end of the '90s. In 1996, Rundgren launched Waking Dreams, a collective that developed creative ideas in marketable commodities. Perhaps more importantly to the music industry, Rundgren also founded PatroNet, an innovative device that lets users subscribe to music offered directly from his site -- with no record company middlemen at all. During all this, Rundgren continued to work on new music -- intending to distribute his new material a song at a time through PatroNet -- as well as write his much-delayed autobiography (despite short previews on his official website, it's yet to be published). The late '90s saw Rundgren return to the road for several different tours -- both as a solo performer and as part of Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band, as he also continued to produce other acts (Splender's Halfway Down the Sky, Bad Religion's The New America, etc.). The emergence of numerous archival projects began to surface in the early 21st century, such as The King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents in Concert and a slew of Japanese-only rarity sets as part of the ongoing Todd Archive Series (by mid-2001, 11 different sets had been issued -- comprised of outtakes, demos, and full concerts over the years featuring Rundgren solo, Utopia, and even the Nazz), as well as a compilation of tracks that has only been available previously on his PatroNet service, titled One Long Year. In the summer of 2001, Rundgren participated in the A Walk Down Abbey Road: A Tribute to the Beatles tour, which also included Ann Wilson (Heart), John Entwistle (the Who), and Alan Parsons (the Alan Parsons Project). Three years later, Rundgren issued his first rock album in over a decade. Liars, a political-heavy concept record, was issued on Sanctuary in spring 2004. Arena appeared from Hi Fi Records four years later in 2008. (更多)
| 国籍 | 美国 |
|---|---|
| 地区 | 欧美 |
| 性别 | 男 |
| 类似歌手 | 相似艺人 |
| 职业 | 原创音乐 |