Here We Discuss Todd Rundgren's Bizarro "Healing"

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I am just now beginning to listen to what is one of the oddest records of what is admittedly a very strange career.

In some ways one of his most purely electronic records, Healing came out in 1981 after the Wizard had been a Utopian for several years. It features super fake synth drums, lots of keyboard pads—but also Middle Eastern vocalisms, recorders and other psuedo-ethnic non-suchery that adds to the spiritual vibe he's going for here.

Or he is at least part of the time, because the themselves are all over the map. You have creepy, echo-ey piano ballads with bizarre atonal melodies, wailing guitar solos, hyperactive sequencers playing over oompah beats...and that's all on the same song ("Shine"). Elsewhere, there's the requisite Gilbert and Sullivan rip on "Golden Goose" and the single, "Compassion," which I can't really decide if I like or am bored by.

On the positive side of the ledger is the three-part "Healing" suite, which has the electronic soul thing that he would (very successfully) return to on Liars featuring a long, LONG middle section I've seen compared elsewhere (and not favorably) to The Secret Life of Plants. The record concludes with "Tiny Demons," which has an awesome sense of mystery to it.

All in all, a pretty confused-sounding record. Given that Mark David Chapman was a huge Todd fan, thought Todd was beaming messages to him, and apparently constructed a tableau in his hotel room the day he shot John Lennon that consisted of a bible, a Wizard of Oz poster and the sleeve to The Ballad of Todd Rundgren, maybe it's understandable.

god i love this album. not a bum note. more thoughts later. "compassion" is a jam but i've always liked todd's hamfisted 'save humanity' stuff. musically, it reminds me of "mated" from uhh.. POV is it?

i would say this is a not an especially odd record for todd, in the grand scheme of things (especially when you look at a capella a few years later). but yeah although the tunes themselves are (for the most part) 'conventional', they all sound strange. like, the arrangement of "healer" is so weird: no drums, no anchoring besides todd's voice breaking through that holy mix of chorused guitar arpeggio and clean clean synth.

just picked this randomly out of a box of records, so, i guess its fate. playing now.

this has some of todd's strongest vocal moments, imo. he really belted it out in the 80s. say what you will about those later utopia records, but his voice sounds awesome.

here's a great clip of todd playing "tiny demons" solo on the bbc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMXGDcrPaxw&feature=related

i would say this is a not an especially odd record for todd, in the grand scheme of things (especially when you look at a capella a few years later)

I actually haven't heard A Capella -- but I have to disagree. Healing is definitely a strange record, even for him. True, it's no more stylistically varied than, say, A Wizard, A True Star or Todd. But to me, this feels like the record where he kind of goes from whiz kid to weird uncle.

yeah whiz kid to weird uncle is a good analogy. he sounds really focused here: no throwaways (golden goose debateable, i guess), a couple of classic singles, every track is really purposeful and nothing seems too excessive or indulgent... i'm too in awe of "healing 2" to really call it indulgent, though. sounds so alien. the psuedo-ethno thing he injects into this album is really one of a kind. i guess as you say it's a bit of a "confused album"

you should check out a capella. catchy tunes, odd sonics. most (all?) of the sounds are todd's voice.

i've had this on hard drive for a while but hadn't listened to it. thanks for reminding me.

I kind of like it. And to me, his 2004 "Liars" album (which was his best for ages - at least since "Healing") sounds like some kind of a followup, only with a more modern sound.

'Healing' part 3 is for me one of the great Todd tracks...absolutely adore it...it's sooooo up...Tiny Demons is fantastic and Golden Goose is bizarre but in a good way

fans of private eyes era hall and oates surely would love "time heals"

Well this is interesting, courtesy of Sonsof1984.com:

IT'S THE LAST RIDE

This is your last chance
to see one of these epic concerts!

RundgrenRadio.com presents
Todd Rundgren performing
the TODD & HEALING albums 2011!
The first-ever TODD & HEALING ALBUMS LIVE concerts in September 2010 were a huge success and the reviews were oustanding including many "best ever" from fans that have been going to Todd concerts for decades! A large LED display and lasers were on display throughout the shows with Todd and the band dressed in extravagant costumes. Todd brought out his SG Gibson "The Fool" replica guitar and even performed a few songs while playing the piano. The music was outstanding with an all-star band consisting of Jesse Gress, Greg Hawkes, Prairie Prince, Bobby Strickland, and Kasim Sulton. Local choirs, led by Choir Master Dirk Hillyer, joined Todd and the band during parts of the HEALING set and added a brand new element to the music for fans that had only heard it by listening to the album. The shows closed with the song, "Sons Of 1984" which included fan participation even after Todd and the band left the stage!

god i love this album. not a bum note.

Hmmmmmmm, I listened to this album recently and noticed his singing was frankly flat in places. Good album tho!

He's playing on March 2 and 7 in NYC. Should I make the extra effort to see him? I never have....

absolutely, his band is awesome (kasim from utopia, prarie prince). But if it's Todd Rundgren's Johnson (leaden blues covers), avoid

i saw him do a wizard a true star all the way through last year in sf and it was uhh really amazing. tons of costume changes, tight playing. also saw the same lineup play around the time Arena came out; they were super tight as well. played stuff from throughout his catalog.

been listening to this album a LOT lately, there indeed is something very "off" and alien about the whole thing, and quite frankly I think Todd's the first person to use drum machines this way. some of the distorted sounds remind me of IDM in a way. and the entire second side is totally ace. what other records are like this?

great album. the flutey part of drifty "healing 2" has been going through my head lately. beautiful stuff.

the more I hear this the more I swear this is one of the most unique sounding albums ever made. there's such an alien vibe to everything on it. I don't know how he got some of these sounds. it's like he built all his electronic gear by himself.

I mean the 8 minutes of "Shine" is just....what da fuck

Yeah it's a very unique album sonically, especially his use of drum machines (frogbs, you were otm about this a few years ago). A few of the tracks on The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect explore this vibe too (thinking "Influenza" and "Don't Hurt Yourself" and "Chant" in particular). But Healing is really special, definitely the best of Todd's one-man-band albums. The entire side 2 "Healing" suite is one of my favorite pieces of music--about as serene and spiritually affecting as rock-adjacent music gets. Sandro Perri's "In Another Life" from a couple years ago a achieves a similar zen-to-infinity effect

Actually just listened to those Tortured Artist Effect tracks I mentioned, and the drum machines and synths sound way more run-of-the-mill compared to Healing than I remembered

yeah all those sounds going off on “healing part 2” O_O

I've listened to this a few times, including this morning. I'm a Todd fan but don't know what to make of it; I think his spiritual aims are sincere, but I'm not won over. The textures are unusual for the era but the songs aren't compelling, except for "Time Heals", which I enjoy but is kind of Todd-by-numbers. I actually like some of the Utopia stuff from this era, I'll keep listening.

i am listening to this for the first time on spotify and i really enjoy it thus far (at healing part 1) and i possibly enjoy it more than any other todd rundgren album ive heard (all the 70s ones)

xp yeah that's what makes this so odd, of his 30-some odd albums this is the only one that seems completely sincere. even the requisite novelty tune ("Golden Goose") is more bizarre than fun.

one of the things that always gets me is that booming, slowed-down bass drum sound on "Flesh"...it sounds like an old PC game glitching out

I love “time heals and “tiny demons” both very very much

‘Healing’ pt 3 is one of favourite tracks...nobody does gorgeous warm euphoria like Todd

I mean the 8 minutes of "Shine" is just....what da fuck

This got a 40th anniversary RSD reissue. I already have the original LP, but it looked pretty and I was able to win an eBay auction at $9.99 for it, so here it is:

https://i.imgur.com/9Xve3TZ.png

don't think it was remastered at all, but this pressing sounds a lot better than the one I have. though that's mostly because it's clean. the bass really pops on it which is good because pretty much everything Todd touches is a tad treble-heavy. anyway I think Side 2 of this might be my single favorite side of any Todd record, even including AWATS. I love that Todd is actually playing the synth bit the whole time. it's such an electronic and futuristic sound (at least it was then) that hearing human touches like randomly double-tapping the triangle are kinda endearing. also I may be 100% wrong on this but it almost sounds like it could've been a big influence on Underworld? I swear some of the same sounds are there. (think Part 2 & "Most 'Ospitable")

Saw the movie “worst person in the world” and one of the most memorable music/scene moments was set to “Healing pt. 1”. I was surprised to discover it was a Todd Rundgren song. What a cool track. I seriously need to explore his discography beyond the mid-70s.

"Tiny Demons" appeared in a early episode of Miami Vice.

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