If you like Todd . . . . try Astral Drive

So, if you see a movie about the American Revolution and wish you had been there, is that faux-nostalgia? That is condescension of the highest form. I'm 52 and felt great nostalgia for The Beatles when I was a kid, but that's likely fine because it was the Beatles and this is SHTV.

 

I'll have to check this out. It's depressing how few young songwriters cite Todd as an influence. I suppose it's his own fault for going in so many different directions musically.

 

I intended to delete that line when I realised that the song-writer was born in 1967, and accidentally left it in. I'm not sure about your condescension remark, nonetheless. I had imagined a 20 year old (judging by the lyrics) writing a song about how much they missed the 70s. Why is that not faux-nostalgia? But really we are going off topic into theory with this.

 

Phil Thornalley was born in 1960 so his musically formative years were in the '70s. But back on topic . . . Astral Drive is the best Todd Rundgren album that he didn't make in 1976. Just enjoy it for what it is. If you like mid-70's Rundgren, you'll really like the album.

 

Right at the beginning of that song there's some obvious "Todd chords" that were the result of Todd being totally self-trained on a piano, and he definitely has the "trash can snare" sound Todd favors.

I really like it. I mean is it fair that there's hundreds of bands aping Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and the Beatles, and only a handful doing so for Todd? Other than The New Radicals and Mandy Moore I can't think of many drawing inspiration from Todd.

 

I’m digging this and I’m glad I stumbled on this thread.

Thanks OP!

 

The name "Astral Drive" was niggling at me, and I finally found it. The place Todd rented in Nichols Canyon when he was recording Something/Anything was on Astral Drive.

 

Thanks for the tip on this one. At first I thought it was a bit cheap to so overtly do Todd. However, this album has become an obsession over the last week. It's just so good I've played it about 50 times. I can't say that about anything he put out after Liars. This is the record Todd has refused to make. Gotta take what I can get and enjoy what's on offer. Anyone here Kasim on backups on the last track? Seeing Todd tonight. Think he'll play Parallel Universe and Summer of 76? Kinda wish he would.

 

My brother and I will be at the House of Pain Blues tonight as well.

 

Yep, I'm at the show. A whole bunch of 50 year olds being expected to stand for 2 and 1/2 hours. This place sucks.

I'm the crabby, fat guy with glasses, thinning hair and a School of Rock of t-shirt.

 

Phil Thornalley was the most recent guest on the Todd Rundgren fan podcast Rundgren Radio. I just started listening to this podcast, and I'll let everyone know how it goes.

Visit https://www.rundgrenradio.com or your favorite podcasting platform. I subscribed via the Android app Pocket Casts.

Kasim Sulton does background vocals on one song. He said the first Todd song that caught him was Useless Begging.

 

Interesting stuff from the podcast.

He started as a "tea boy" at a studio, and managed to work his way up to assistant engineer and then engineer, and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Engineered Pop Album for the 3rd Thompson Twins record.

He produced engineering and wrote for the British artist named Pixie, who had several number ones. He said his day job is being a songwriter and trying to please the pop establishment, and he had a bit of a low point and then found himself playing Todd songs on the piano and realized just how much he loved this music. So he did this album for himself.

 

Kasim called into the podcast about an hour in.

Heck of a career - engineering for Steve Lillywhite, mixing the two XTC albums before Skylarking, and the first two Psychedelic Furs albums. He produced the Cure's Pornography.

Interesting bit of data - Greg Alexander of The New Radicals is not a Todd fan. The Todd influence was from the co-writer of You Get What You Give Rick Nowels

 

Thanks for the podcast recap. Quite an interesting career indeed. I figured he did Astral Drive to scratch a personal itch - he's not going to become rich and famous from it. Would love to see a follow-up of some sort - they guy knows how to write a catchy tune.

 

He did say he was going to play three shows in England as the opener for Johnny Hates Jazz, but it will be only on a piano. But he demonstrated what it will sound like, and it worked.

 

He's English, and talking about your personal wealth just isn't done, but as he wrote or co-wrote a number of hit pop tunes, he is, as they say, very comfortable. So he doesn't need to become famous.

From his Wikipedia article:

In 2010, he wrote three UK number ones: "Mama Do", "Boys and Girls" and "Cry Me Out" for Pixie Lott, and in 2012 the top ten hit "Kiss the Stars".​

He seemed to be very pleased that the type of Todd fans who listen to a fan podcast like the album, but realistically, he probably made more money from music than Todd ever has, and can afford a labor of love or two.

 

At 1:35:10 he talks about mixing XTC's Mummer, and how Andy kept bugging him to put his vocals lower in the mix, that he didn't like the sound of his own voice.

 

At the very end, he mentioned that he might do an EP of acoustic versions of some of the songs on Astral Drive. And he confirmed that it was from reading the liner notes on Something/Anything.

 

An incredible album. I wrote to Phil and told me how much this album means to me and he wrote some lovey words back. I find it strange how few people know who Todd Rundgren is . Even my records shop had not heard of him.

 

If I could do one thing, it would be to introduce the young musicians I know to Todd's music. Realistically? It's Todd's own fault. If I introduce a young person to the music of say Stevie Ray Vaughan, or Electric Light Orchestra - I can play half-a-dozen songs would be in recognizably the same basic style. But it's hard to do that with Todd. He got bored doing the same thing, and different albums can sound like they're by different people. A young person who likes the young singer/songwriter Todd, might not appreciate the Prog Todd. Or the EDM Todd. Or anything else that he'll do next time.

 

You really have point here. Thank you.

 

I finally got around to buying this album and I love it. Phil does have a gift for melody, though obviously not in the same class as Todd.

I'd love for him to come to America for the next Rundgren Radio fan Gathering, and perform the album in full.

 

Astral Drive is AOTY for me . . . Easily

 

Thanks. While appreciating T.R.'s ambitions and many tangents, I still think his best work are his songs (in the Laura Nyro mode, if you will). Listening again to "A Wizard..." , it careens between being pompous, moving, majestic, annoying, tender, cloying, incomprehensible, arrogant, indulgent, appealing, sometimes within the space of a few seconds. A good chunk of it is simply ADD ideas extrapolated as no better (and no worse) than cartoon music. The actual songs are great. One of a kind.