Faithful (Todd Rundgren album)

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Faithful
Todd Rundgren Faithful.svg
Studio album by
Todd Rundgren
ReleasedMay 1976
Genre
Length50:04
Label Bearsville
Rhino
Producer Todd Rundgren
Todd Rundgren chronology
Initiation
(1975)		Faithful
(1976)		 Hermit of Mink Hollow
(1978)
Singles from Faithful
  1. "Good Vibrations"
    Released: May 1976
  2. "Love of the Common Man"
    Released: June 25, 1976
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Christgau's Record Guide B [2]
Rolling Stone (Not rated) [3]

Faithful is the seventh studio album by American musician Todd Rundgren, released in May 1976 on Bearsville Records.

Contents

Music

Rundgren explained the motivation of the first side as treating rock music like European classical music, where a piece is always performed in the same way. Rundgren is backed on the album by the other three members of Utopia: Roger Powell on keyboards, John Siegler on bass, and John Wilcox on drums.

The first side is mostly dedicated to "faithful" re-recordings of songs from 1966, while side two contains original songs inspired by music of that time period. Critic Robert Christgau called the second side Rundgren's "clearest and most interesting set of songs since Something/Anything? ". [4]

The closing song, "Boogies (Hamburger Hell)", opens with a reference to restaurant chain Beefsteak Charlie's, which former Utopia drummer Kevin Ellman was operating along with his family at the time.

Release

The album was released in May 1976 with virtually no advertising, as Bearsville president Paul Fishkin believed that Rundgren fans would purchase it based solely on word of mouth.[ citation needed ] The Rundgren original "Love of the Common Man" and his cover of the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" were released as singles, the latter peaking at number 34 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart. The album peaked at number 54 on the Billboard album chart.

Track listing

All songs on Side 2 written by Todd Rundgren.

Side 1
No.TitleLength
1."Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" (Jeff Beck, Jim McCarty, Jimmy Page, Keith Relf)3:12
2."Good Vibrations" (Brian Wilson, Mike Love)3:44
3."Rain" (Lennon–McCartney)3:16
4."Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine" (Bob Dylan)3:24
5."If Six Was Nine" (Jimi Hendrix)4:55
6."Strawberry Fields Forever" (Lennon–McCartney)3:53
Side 2
No.TitleLength
7."Black and White"4:42
8."Love of the Common Man"3:35
9."When I Pray"2:58
10."Cliché"4:00
11."The Verb 'To Love'"7:25
12."Boogies (Hamburger Hell)"5:00

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

YearChartPosition
1976 Billboard Pop Albums [5] 54

Single

YearSingleChartPosition
1976"Good Vibrations"Canada RPM Singles Chart28
1976"Good Vibrations" Billboard Pop Singles [6] 34
1976"Good Vibrations" Billboard Adult Contemporary [6] 32

References

  1. ↑ "Faithful". Allmusic . Retrieved January 10, 2012.
  2. ↑ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: R". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies . Ticknor & Fields. ISBN   089919026X . Retrieved March 12, 2019– via robertchristgau.com.
  3. ↑ "Rolling Stone Music | Album Reviews". Rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on March 10, 2005. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
  4. ↑ Robert Christgau, Rock Albums of the '70s
  5. ↑ "allmusic (((Todd Rundgren > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums)))". Billboard. Retrieved April 27, 2012.
  6. 1 2 "allmusic (((Todd Rundgren > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles)))". Billboard. Retrieved December 17, 2011.
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