Todd Rundgren - Todd Rundgren His Friends (11 tracks) +Album Reviews

It's not that bad, folks.

John Walker | Manistee, MI USA | 07/14/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I, too, yearn for new Todd Rundgren music, and yet this album is not nearly as hackneyed as you might think. Some of Todd's "third rate" former rockers are...good, and his songs are so wonderful that I never get tired of hearing them re-interpreted. (These sound like all-new arrangements to me, not old vocal tracks with new bands. Listen.) When it comes to romantic pop craftsmanship, beautiful lyrics and passionate singing, Todd is tops. I think his songwriting alone ranks with Cole Porter, and he stands the test of time very well..."

Skunk Does Todd Just Fine - No Stinker!

Noble K. Thomas | Edmond, OK United States | 07/18/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'll make this short. Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, the author of perhaps the greatest if not the most recognizable rock solo of all time ('Reeling In The Years'), cooks up a splendid version of 'Something To Fall Back On.' This is worth the price of the CD alone! Also noteworthy is Tony Levin's creative take on 'Bang The Drum All Day'. Buy it."

Todd - Release A Real Album!

Noble K. Thomas | 07/05/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a decent stop-gap for those who simply need a "new" Todd product once a year, but -- Todd, enough already! Just get in the studio, write some songs, HIRE A BAND TO BACK YOU, and release the album. What this is, Todd's vocal tracks "remixed" and re-recorded by an odd selection of third-tier former rockers, just doesn't cut it. While there are a few decent tracks, like "Reconstructed," I guarantee you will never play this twice."

Reconstructed 2: Don?t shoot me I?m only the guitar player!!

Herman Roovers | Malden - The Netherlands - Europe | 12/24/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"A few years ago Runt released Reconstructed. A dramatic collection of remixes by (in)famous producers and artists with Rundgren-vocal-(re)mixes. Now again: original Todd-vocals but new instrumental recordings. Billy Sherwood (Yes, Air Supply and several solo projects) plays a lot of instruments and has invited some (heavy) guitarists and some other instrumentalists.
Most players fill every space on this CD so you hardly can concentrate on Todd's vocals. Notice: some vocals are quite different from the original cause the producer added some reverb!!
Some tracks are nice, most are not. Tony Levin has a funny bass-solo on Bang the drum and Steve Lukather does all right on Tiny Demons. Dweezil Zappa sound heavy and nice on Time heals, but Gary Hoey, Bruce Kulick and all the other guitar Gods......they fail. Even Edgar Winter (saxophone) has to much ego for this "tribute album".
Notice, there is an Italian release called "Love is the answer". Same songs but different package. Nostalgic LP-look-a-like fold out cover."

Was this CD really needed?

Michael J. Kazazis | Longwood, FL United States | 07/05/2002

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Seriously, we Todd fans pick up anything with his name on it...anything to fill that need that we have for new material. Unfortunately, not much new material lately, just rehash of the same old "classics". Last year saw the release of Reconstructed, we have this new release here, plus another one in the planning stages on another label...bottom line is that I'm feeling taken advantage of. This release has no liner notes, so I'm not sure of exactly what I'm listening to. There seems to be a house band and a special guest on each track. But this begs for some stories or insight from the artist about why they like the song, etc. Also, just about all the songs seem to have a lead guitar thats almost playing along with the vocal during most of the songs...to the point that it becomes annoying after the second or third song. The songs are all pretty much true to their originals with Todd's vocals and no real difference in orchestration of the song (Reconstructed was a bit more creative.). All this being said, though its always interesting to hear Todd songs redone, there's not much of anything on this CD to justify why it was done."

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