| Remote Control | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 1979 [1] | |||
| Recorded | Music Annex Studios, Menlo Park, California | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 41:44 | |||
| Label | A&M | |||
| Producer | Todd Rundgren | |||
| The Tubes chronology | ||||
| ||||
Remote Control is the fourth studio album released by the Tubes. This was their first to be produced by Todd Rundgren (the other being 1985's Love Bomb). It is a concept album about a television-addicted idiot savant.
Producer Todd Rundgren suggested that the next work be a concept album. Lead singer Fee Waybill sketched out a storyline based on his favorite book, Being There by Jerzy Kosinski. "It wasn't an original concept," he admits, but "I tried to make it more contemporary." Rundgren encouraged the musical adaptation, and thrust himself into the project, as was his style: "Every song has so much of him," marveled Prairie Prince. [2]
The cover of Remote Control depicts a baby watching the popular game show Hollywood Squares in a specially made "Vidi-Trainer". The back cover is the show's game board with eight members of the Tubes each sitting in different squares. The lower right corner square remained unoccupied with the band's name on the front; the eight members crammed into this same square for a photo that was later used for the compact disc release of this album. (Three members of the band – Waybill, Spooner and Steen – appeared as panelists on the actual game show in the late 70s.)
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | C+ [4] |
| Smash Hits | 8/10 [5] |
Although Rolling Stone panned the album upon its release in 1979, calling it "drearily obvious and stale", [1] two years later the same magazine loved it, limiting its praise of the subsequent album, The Completion Backward Principle , by saying, good as it was, "topping Remote Control will be difficult." AllMusic gives it four out of five stars. [3] Crawdaddy called it "a pop/rock masterpiece."[ citation needed ] The Globe and Mail determined that "the Tubes are to rock music what Second City are to television – sure-handed satirists who take every opportunity to rip huge chunks of flesh from the hand of society that feeds them... Their music never falls short of the outrageous and devilishly clever." [6]
Smash Hits said the album was, "clever and attractive, good songs and production, and enough energy to shrivel any heavy metal band."" [7]
The track Prime Time made No. 34 in the UK singles chart. [8]
In April 2013, Iconoclassic reissued Remote Control in full with bonus tracks, and an expansive booklet including comments from Fee Waybill, Michael Cotten and Bill Spooner. The reissue was mastered by Vic Anesini from the original master tapes and featured four tracks from the unreleased Suffer for Sound album. These tracks were self-produced as the follow-up to Remote Control and the finished album was rejected by A&M which released a compilation featuring only one track from Suffer for Sound instead.
Bonus tracks:
Additional personnel:
| Chart (1979) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report) [9] | 70 |
| Canada (RPM) [10] | 53 |
| United Kingdom (Official Charts Company) [11] | 40 |
| United States (Billboard 200) [12] | 46 |
The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band. Their self-titled 1975 debut album included the single "White Punks on Dope", while their 1983 single "She's a Beauty" was a top-10 U.S. hit and its music video was frequently played in the early days of MTV. The band also performed in the 1980 film Xanadu, singing the rock portion of the cross-genre song "Dancin'" opposite a big band.
Young and Rich is the second studio album by The Tubes, released in 1976. It reached #46 on the Billboard 200.
The Completion Backward Principle is the fifth studio album by the American rock group the Tubes. It is the group's first for Capitol Records. It was accompanied by a long form music video release of the same name, although it did not contain all of the songs from the album. It is a concept album presented as a motivational business document. The album contains two hit singles, "Don't Want to Wait Anymore" and "Talk to Ya Later."
Outside Inside is the sixth studio album by The Tubes, released in 1983. It was the second album by the group to be released by Capitol Records. The album was produced by David Foster. The Tubes had their biggest radio hit with the single from this album, "She's a Beauty".
Something/Anything? is the third album by American musician Todd Rundgren, released in February 1972. It was Rundgren's first album released under his own name, following two records credited to the quasi-group project Runt, and was also his first double album. It was recorded in late 1971 in Los Angeles, New York City and Bearsville Studios, Woodstock. The album is divided into four sections focused on different stylistic themes; the first three parts were recorded in the studio with Rundgren playing all instruments and singing all vocals in addition to producing. 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.
Todd is the fifth album and second double album by American musician Todd Rundgren, released in February 1974 on Bearsville Records. It is the follow-up to the previous year's A Wizard, a True Star and features a comparatively heavier reliance on guitar playing and synthesizers. About half of the tracks were performed by Rundgren alone, with the other half recorded with varying configurations of musicians. In the US, the album peaked at number 54, while lead single "A Dream Goes On Forever" reached number 69.
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.
We're an American Band is the seventh studio album by American hard rock band Grand Funk Railroad, credited as Grand Funk. The album was released by Capitol Records on July 15, 1973, and was certified gold by the RIAA a little over a month after its release. Two singles were released from the album. The title track was the first single from the album released on July 2, 1973 and the second, "Walk Like a Man", was released on October 29, 1973. Both were sung by drummer Don Brewer. There was also an addition to the band's membership with this release - Craig Frost - who played the organ, clavinet and Moog. Prior to We're an American Band being released, Grand Funk Railroad had been a power trio. Craig was credited as an additional musician on Phoenix, which was released the previous year.
Wave is the fourth studio album by Patti Smith, and the third and final album where the Patti Smith Group is billed. It was released on May 17, 1979, by Arista Records. Produced by Todd Rundgren, the album continued the band's move towards more radio-friendly mainstream pop rock sound. Wave garnered a mixed reception from music critics and was less successful than its predecessor, Easter (1978). However, the songs "Frederick" and "Dancing Barefoot" both received commercial airplay. Following the album's release, the band disbanded, and frontwoman Patti Smith pursued a solo career nine years later with Dream of Life (1988).
Shinin' On is the eighth studio album by American rock band Grand Funk Railroad. The album was released in March 1974, by Capitol Records. Although not as successful as its predecessor, We're an American Band (1973), it peaked at #5 in the US and was certified gold, and its first single, a cover of "The Loco-Motion" topped the U.S. charts. The original cover was done in bi-visual 3-D and included the required blue and red lensed glasses to view it. A Quadraphonic mix of the album was available in the Quadraphonic 8-Track cartridge format. The title song was featured in The Simpsons' 7th season episode "Homerpalooza" on May 19, 1996.
The Tubes is the debut studio album by The Tubes. Songs which received significant airplay from this album include "What Do You Want from Life?" and "White Punks on Dope", the latter of which peaked at number 28 on the UK singles chart. The album was dedicated to Bob McIntosh and Tom Donahue.
What Do You Want from Live is the debut live album released by The Tubes, and was recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon, London.
Where There's Smoke... is a 1979 album by Smokey Robinson, released on Motown Records' Tamla label. It contains his Billboard Top ten pop hit single "Cruisin'".
Now is the third studio album released by The Tubes. It was produced by John Anthony. Fed up with constant meddling from Bud Scoppa and Don Wood under the direction of Bill Spooner including surreptitiously remixing a track when Anthony was not at the studio, Anthony was advised to leave the project by Jerry Moss. The head of A&M A&R Kip Cohen said that they took advantage of Anthony and believed that they overran the budget to increase their union fees. Bill Spooner took over and completed the project with the help of the engineer Wood and Scoppa.
Genius of America is the eighth and most recent studio album to date by The Tubes and marked their return to the studio for the first time since 1985's Love Bomb. The band self-produced the album and is their first body of work to include Gary Cambra. The album was released on October 15, 1996. A CD featuring re-mixed versions of the songs plus two bonus tracks was released in Europe in 1999 as Hoods from Outer Space.
Ra is the second studio album and third release by Utopia on Bearsville Records, released in 1977. Band leader Todd Rundgren planned on releasing the LP in 1976 on his own label, Ethereal Records, as the new four-piece line up was not signed to Bearsville. Replete with an elaborate $250,000 stage show featuring a 22-foot-tall (6.7 m) pyramid and golden sphinx which took 18 months of prep, Ra was Rundgren's most ambitious live undertaking.
Wild In London is the third live album by The Tubes released in 2005. It was recorded on December 6, 2004 at Londons' Shepherd's Bush Empire and features some newer Fee Waybill characters such as "Russell Chaps". The CD featured a guest appearance by Beki Bondage who dueted with Fee Waybill on "Don't Touch Me There"
(re)Production is the twenty-third solo album by rock musician Todd Rundgren that was recorded and released in 2011. For this album, Rundgren re-recorded songs that he had produced for other bands across his career, including Meat Loaf, Hall & Oates, The Tubes and Grand Funk Railroad. (re)Production gives these songs a much more modern sheen, incorporating elements of electronic dance music and synthpop. The work was created during the MyRecordFantasy Camp sessions at the Track Shack in January 2011 arranged by the label Gigatone Records. Album packaging includes samples of cover art submissions by fans. Alternate covers were used for International, Domestic, and online versions.
T.R.A.S.H. is a compilation album by the rock band The Tubes, released in November 1981.
Back in Your Life is the third album by American rock band Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, released in February 1979 by Beserkley Records. Despite being credited to Richman and his backing band, the album only features the backing band on half of the album.