A Cappella | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | September 1985 | |||
Studio | Utopia Sound | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 39:42 | |||
Label | Warner Bros./Rhino | |||
Producer | Todd Rundgren | |||
Todd Rundgren chronology | ||||
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Singles from A Cappella | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Classic Rock | [2] |
Rolling Stone | (favourable) [3] |
A Cappella is a 1985 album by Todd Rundgren. The album is one of Rundgren's most unusual in that every sound is the product of the artist's voice. Rundgren employed overdubbing techniques and an E-mu Emulator (an early sampler), electronically manipulating the sound of his voice to mimic conventional rock instruments, handclaps, and other sounds. [4] This approach to music making was later explored by artists such as Mike Patton and Björk.
A Cappella was finished in 1984 and slated for release on Bearsville Records later that year. But with Bearsville's slimming artist roster and lack of successful artists, founder Albert Grossman did not want to risk releasing an album that he felt was too experimental and would not sell, so A Cappella was shelved. According to journalist Barney Hoskyns, Grossman's increasingly fractious relationship with Rundgren also factored into the decision. Bearsville filed for bankruptcy in 1985 and all of its remaining master recordings were either released through Warner Bros. or shelved altogether. Rundgren's Bearsville contract was acquired by Warner Bros. executive Mo Ostin, with Grossman (who died shortly thereafter) retaining ownership of Rundgren's publishing company.
A test pressing of A Cappella's LP master was bootlegged under the title, "Runt A Cappella" (CATSVILLE TR-084), and may have influenced Warner Bros. to release the album since bootleggers were profiting from it. This same bootleg was also released as a high quality concert recording of an A Cappella live concert, taken from a recording at the Bismark Theater, on October 25, 1985, that was broadcast via the King Biscuit Flower Hour. The packaging of both bootlegs were the same, so it was unknown whether it was the studio LP or live LP until it was played.
A Cappella would also be Rundgren's first official album for Warner Bros. Records, following the demise of Bearsville Records, which Warner Bros. distributed. Rhino Records would subsequently acquire the rights to the album for release on CD and for online distribution. Following its release, Rundgren put his solo career on hold and would not release another studio album until 1989.
All songs written by Todd Rundgren, except where indicated.
Album
Year | Chart | Position |
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1985 | US Billboard Pop Albums [5] | 128 |
Todd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Utopia. He is known for his sophisticated and often unorthodox music, his occasionally lavish stage shows, and his later experiments with interactive entertainment. He also produced music videos and was an early adopter and promoter of various computer technologies, such as using the Internet as a means of music distribution in the late 1990s.
Bearsville Records was founded in 1970 by Albert Grossman. Artists included Todd Rundgren, Elizabeth Barraclough, Foghat, Halfnelson/Sparks, Bobby Charles, Randy VanWarmer, Paul Butterfield's Better Days, Lazarus, Jesse Winchester, and NRBQ. The label closed in 1984, two years before Grossman's death. Sally Grossman, Albert Grossman’s widow, was running Bearsville Records from 2010 until her death in March 2021, at the age of 81.
Something/Anything? is the third album by American musician Todd Rundgren, released in February 1972. It was his first double album, and was recorded in late 1971 in Los Angeles, New York City and Bearsville Studios, Woodstock. Three quarters of the album was recorded in the studio with Rundgren playing all instruments and singing all vocals, as well as being the producer. The final quarter contained a number of tracks recorded live in the studio without any overdubs, save for a short snippet of archive recordings from the 1960s.
A Wizard, a True Star is the fourth album by American musician Todd Rundgren, released March 2, 1973, on Bearsville Records. It marked a departure from his previous, Something/Anything? (1972), with its lesser reliance on straightforward pop songs, a development he attributed to his experimentation with psychedelic drugs and his realization of "what music and sound were like in my internal environment, and how different that was from the music I had been making."
Hermit of Mink Hollow is the eighth album by American musician Todd Rundgren, released May 1978 on Bearsville Records. All of the instruments and vocals were performed solely by Rundgren. He intended the songs on the album to be performed on piano with minimal arrangements, apart from the bass, drums and voices, and for the material to showcase his newly refined singing ability.
The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect is Todd Rundgren's tenth studio album, released in 1982. The album is a return to the pop sound for which Rundgren is generally most lauded by critics. Considering it a contractual obligation, he spent little time working on Tortured Artist. However, the album was generally well-received, and Rundgren scored a hit with the novelty song "Bang the Drum All Day".
Runt. The Ballad of Todd Rundgren is the second album by American singer-songwriter/musician Todd Rundgren, released in 1971. Like its predecessor, Runt, this album was credited to Rundgren's group Runt, despite Rundgren handling most of the musicianship and production himself.
Albert Bernard Grossman was an American entrepreneur and manager in the American folk music and rock and roll scene. He was famous as the manager of many of the most popular and successful performers of folk and folk-rock music, including Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Peter, Paul and Mary, the Band, Odetta, Gordon Lightfoot and Ian & Sylvia.
Utopia was an American rock band formed in 1973 by Todd Rundgren. During its first three years, the group was a progressive rock band with a somewhat fluid membership known as Todd Rundgren's Utopia. Most of the members in this early incarnation also played on Rundgren's solo albums of the period up to 1975. By 1976, the group was known simply as Utopia and featured a stable quartet of Rundgren, Kasim Sulton, Roger Powell and John "Willie" Wilcox. This version of the group gradually abandoned progressive rock for more straightforward rock and pop.
Runt is the self-titled debut album of the band Runt, commercially released September 1970. Runt was a trio consisting of Todd Rundgren, Hunt Sales (drums), and Tony Fox Sales (bass). The entire album was written and produced by Rundgren, formerly of Nazz, and he performed most of the instruments. Many regarded Runt as Rundgren's debut solo album, and later reissues credit the album to Rundgren rather than to the group.
Nearly Human is a 1989 album by the rock musician Todd Rundgren, released by Warner Bros. Records. It was his first release in four years, although he had been active as a producer in the intervening years. Many of the album's songs deal with loss, self-doubt, jealousy and spiritual recovery. It was also the first collaboration between Rundgren and Michele Gray, a singer and ex-model who helped to organize the sessions. Gray sang backing vocals, both on the record and on subsequent tours, and the pair later married.
Mark Roebuck is an American composer and musician living near Charlottesville, Virginia, known primarily for his work as the main songwriter for the 1980s underground power pop group The Deal, and for his later project, Tribe of Heaven. Imagine We Were, recorded with Dave Matthews in 1989-90 and was finally put out as an independent release in 2005.
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Kasim Sulton is an American bass guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist. Best known for his work with Utopia, Sulton sang lead on 1980's "Set Me Free," Utopia's only top 40 hit in the United States. As a solo artist, Sulton hit the Canadian top 40 in 1982 with "Don't Break My Heart".
Bearsville Sound Studio was a recording studio founded by Albert Grossman in Bearsville, New York, 2 mi (3.2 km) west of Woodstock in 1969.
Todd Rundgren's Utopia is the debut album by the American rock band Utopia, released in October 1974 on Bearsville Records. The band was formed in 1973 by musician, songwriter, and producer Todd Rundgren who decided to expand his musical style by moving from pop-oriented rock towards progressive rock. He assembled a six-piece group that featured three keyboardists and toured as a live act. Most of the album was recorded in the studio except "Utopia", the opening track, which was recorded live in concert in 1974.
This article is a discography of American rock musician Todd Rundgren.
Lazarus were a 1970s American soft rock band, consisting of principal members Billie Hughes, Gary Dye, and Carl Keesee. Hughes was the leader of the band, serving as lead singer and songwriter, and playing guitar and violin. The band are considered early artists in the Contemporary Christian movement.
Lazarus is the self-titled debut studio album by Texas band Lazarus. It was produced by Peter Yarrow and Phil Ramone, released in 1971 on the Bearsville Records label, and distributed by Warner Bros. Records. "Warmth of Your Eyes" was released as the first single in 1972. The album is considered one of the early albums of the Contemporary Christian movement.
John "Willie" Wilcox is an American drummer, vocalist, producer, recording engineer, sound designer, composer and senior audio director. He is best known for being a member of the band Utopia. He also has been the senior audio director for Bally Technologies and Scientific Games in Las Vegas, Nevada from 2010 to 2020.