Todd Rundgren: An Elpee's Worth of Productions
Rhino R2 70519
Total disc time: 73:22 (AAD)
Merit: **½
Sound: ***
Rhino's knack for creatively repackaging old music fails them a little this time. By chronologically assembling eighteen songs that Todd Rundgren produced for other performers over as many years, the compilers prove merely that when he works with great bands (the New York Dolls, for inastance) he gets great results and that when he works with crap bands (Meat Loaf and the Tubes, for instance) he gets crap--just like any other producer. Of course, there's plenty that falls somewhere in between, and if you program the Bourgeois Tagg, Grand Funk, Fanny, and Lords of the New Church cuts consecutively, you'll brighten your day. But given the inclusion of ho-hum songs from Hunter, Jill Sobule, the Rubinoos, and Rick Derringer, wake-up calls from Hall and Oates' War Babies and Badfinger's Straight Up would've been nice.
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