Sometimes I Don't Know What to Poll: ILM Artist Poll #107 - Todd Rundgren - RESULTS

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c0/Hall_Oates_War_Babies.jpg
#4 - 256 points - 8 votes - 1 first place vote
Hall & Oates - War Babies (1974)

I'm a huge stan of Remote Control (really, one of the best album covers ever) - yeah, that was me with the first-place vote. Not sure if Todd got any writing credits, but the songs would slot very well on his own albums at the time. Also really feels like a Todd album, as if he was finally finding a signature production sound. ("Signature" in that a non-musician like me can identify it.) Shame that the years-later follow-up, Love Bomb was such an unloved bomb.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f4/Forever_Now_%28The_Psychedelic_Furs_album_-_original_cover_art%29.jpg
#3 - 269 points - 8 votes - 1 first place vote
Psychedelic Furs - Forever Now (1982)

One thing I never noticed about "Love My Way" was that Flo and Eddie (Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan) of the Mothers of Invention sing on the chorus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb4JY2mr-_Y

Another example of Todd's peerless vocal arranging abilities.

That’s interesting, never knew that but I am often surprised when I read about tracks they are on.

They had been brought in to sing on some other tracks on the record, but when they overheard "Love My Way", they insisted it would be a hit and that they should sing on it.
I've only heard the first Psychedelic Furs album and a compilation, I should hear this because I do enjoy their early stuff.

“Frederick” is perfection. A gorgeous song about stepping away from fame. Sandie Shaw’s cover from 1986 is a miracle, too.

That song and "Dancing Barefoot" are my favourite Patti Smith songs, over anything on Horses.

war babies is really good, top knotch H&O album

Agree -- it also doesn't really sound like anything else in their catalogue. Plus, the fact that it doesn't have any H&O classic singles on it almost makes it more interesting to me.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/05/NewYorkDollsNewYorkDolls.jpg
#2 - 281 points - 9 votes - 1 first place vote
New York Dolls - New York Dolls (1973)

AND

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#1 - 666 points - 14 votes
Paul Shaffer & the Party Boys of Rock 'N' Roll - The World's Most Dangerous Party (1993)

(cue someone saying that record is actually really good)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0a/Xtcsl2.jpg
#1 - 502 points - 14 votes - 7 first place votes
XTC - Skylarking (1986)

Interesting that I was the only first place vote for The Dolls s/t.

I like that record better than the Grand Funk Railroad album, but I feel he did more for them than the Dolls, so I ranked it higher in this list.

Full list of productions -- apologies as I didn't put the #1s in the spreadsheet but just belt-and-suspender'd counting them when putting together the results:

XTC - Skylarking 502
New York Dolls - New York Dolls 281
Psychedelic Furs - Forever Now 269
Hall & Oates - War Babies 256
Patti Smith Group - Wave 227
Badfinger - Straight Up 225
Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell 148
Cheap Trick - Next Position Please 138
Sparks/Halfnelson - Sparks/Halfnelson 119
Steve Hillage - L 110
The Band - Stage Fright 106
Grand Funk Railroad - We're An American Band 104
The Tubes - Remote Control 94
The Pursuit of Happiness - Love Junk 59
New York Dolls - Cause I Sez So 56
Laura Nyro - Mother’s Spiritual 56
Jill Sobule - Things Here Are Different 45
Todd Rundgren - A Wizard/A True Star 40
The Lords of the New Church - Killer Lords 33
Bourgeois Tagg - Yoyo 33
Utopia - Oblivion 30
The Lords Of The New Church - Is Nothing Sacred? 28
Badfinger - Ass 28
Bad Religion - The New America 28
Tom Robinson Band - TRB Two 26
Utopia - Deface the Music 24
The Pursuit of Happiness - One-Sided Story 22
Shaun Cassidy - Wasp 22

Who's up for some albums?

Albums!

*raises hand*

Ok, quickly, before we pivot to that -- a word that Skylarking ...

Like a lot of voters, Skylarking was my #1 but it also kind of reminds me that Todd's production "style" isn't really a style (nothing else in his catalogue really sounds like it) so much as an approach. He clearly goes in to these sessions with the goal of getting the record done -- you can see why he was in high demand as a producer for so long: he got records finished on time and on budget. He had a knack for getting bands on the charts who hadn't gotten there before or in a very long time -- Psych Furs, XTC, Meat Loaf, maybe even Badfinger, who didn't really have a solid record start-to-finish until Straight Up. It doesn't always work -- clearly, he couldn't get Laura Nyro to work quickly and as much as I like the Cheap Trick record he did (including "Heaven's Falling" which he wrote), the album stiffed.

But in general, Todd pushed artists to do something a little different than they had done to that point. Not only does that seem to run counter to the whole "just get the record done on time" mandate he was under, but from what I can tell, even when it created a little tension in the studio, it resulted in a better record that the artist tended to look back fondly on. And it allowed him to work with an incredibly diverse collection of talent that almost defies categorization.

Anyway, that's Todd's legacy as a producer in my book -- and yet another reason I love him, even when he's producing records by artists I don't care for.

(ABOUT Skylarking, that is ...)

Ok, onto albums!

Part 2: Albums
17 ballots

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#20 - 45 points - 2 votes
Utopia - Swing to the Right (1982)

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#19 - 50 points - 2 votes
Utopia - Disco Jets (rec. 1976, rel. 2012)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/60/Nazz_Nazz.jpg
#18 - 64 points - 2 votes - 1 first place vote
Nazz - Nazz Nazz (1969)

Haven't heard any of these three! I'll comment later tonight.

Glad I helped #20 and #19 to chart. Politics and goofing around. Always room for a bit of both.

wow wonder who voted Nazz Nazz #1

I completely forgot about that Disco Jets album but it's pretty entertaining. definitely one of those 'way better than it looks' sorta albums

Swing to the Right is solid!

https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/5929ad0f9d034d5c69bf42d9/1:1/w_320/76185d18.jpg
#17 - 72 points - 3 votes
Todd Rundgren/Emil Nikolaisen/Hans-Peter Lindstrøm - Runddans (2015)

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#16 - 87 points - 3 votes
Nazz - Nazz (1968)

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#15 - 91 points - 3 votes - 1 first place vote
Todd Rundgren - Nearly Human (1989)  

I figured Nearly Human might be higher - it might be my favourite 1980s Rundgren album. Parallel Lines is very good.

Runddans probably one that would be higher if anyone heard it. it kind of got buried behind Global, which was much less interesting.

I expected to vote for Runddans but when I went back to it I found it to be pretty unfocused. I couldn’t argue it’s better than the best of Todd’s 70s and 80s output. There was a marvellous remix EP that the label spun off Runddans featuring The Boredoms’ EYE, Tim Gane & Sean O’Hagan, and Erol Alkan - but it didn’t feel right voting for any of those in Tracks either: a step too far removed from Todd.

that's part of the charm imo - it's like an updated and more interesting version of "A Treatise on Cosmic Fire". it's only got a few real memorable bits (the "put your arms around me" part, the wanked-up guitar solo, and that glitched out phone conversation) but I always have a blast listening to it

Co-sign. I loved Runndans -- in particular how after, like, 12 or 13 minutes, just as it achieves this cosmic perfection with the ecstatic guitar solo he throws the thing into a blender and chops it up to smithereens before moving on to something else. It's like this perfect metaphor for his career.

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#14 - 93 points - 4 votes
Utopia - Adventures in Utopia (1979)

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#13 - 97 points - 3 votes
Todd Rundgren - Liars (2004)

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#12 - 104 points - 4 votes
Todd Rundgren's Utopia - Todd Rundgren's Utopia (1974)

I am on record about Liars -- it was my #2, which felt right to me as I really like probably all but two of the tracks on it (and enjoy those fine anyway). I also think it is easily the best of his Todd-in-a-Box all computer productions.

Adventures is, like, the polar opposite of Runddans - it couldn’t be more focused, even if that focus is on airplay and arena tours. Comfort food from first to last.

Voted for TR’s Utopia as well. At one point, every song was on the long list for my Tracks ballot, although I rowed back in the end.

Adventures in Utopia was supposedly the soundtrack to an imaginary TV show -- Kasim Sulton said they were thinking of having a cartoon series and that Todd had a script he'd written he was pitching to people, with them as computer scientists and "fabulous gadgets."

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#11 - 122 points - 5 votes
Todd Rundgren - The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect (1983)

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#10 - 132 points - 5 votes
Todd Rundgren - A Cappella (1985)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Initiation_todd_rundgren.jpg
#9 - 158 points - 6 votes
Todd Rundgren - Initiation (1975)

Initiation 2 lowww

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/70/Healing_todd_rundgren.jpg
#8 - 252 points - 9 votes
Todd Rundgren - Healing (1981)

Wasn't Todd one of the first (if not the first) "omg dude played all the instruments on his albums!" artists? I think that's where a lot of the Prince comparisons come from.

well Stevie and Todd both got to that point at the same time… to say that Stevie isn't in the same class as Todd and Prince on this score cuz he used other musicians throughout the 70s and didn't tend to mess with bass guitar and guitar is unnecessarily pedantic…on many many many of his recordings he isgenerating every sound…

I personally rate Stevie Wonder above both Todd and Prince in just about every category, which is why I think we tend to see a lot of comparisons between Todd and Prince, but not so many between Todd and Stevie (at least I don't.)

Ralph Schuckett died about two weeks after his mention on this thread. RIP.

https://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/xtc-skylarking-705/