Runt. The Ballad of Todd Rundgren | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | June 24, 1971 | |||
Recorded | Bearsville (Woodstock, New York) | |||
Genre | Pop rock, soft rock, blue-eyed soul | |||
Length | 42:05 | |||
Label | Ampex | |||
Producer | Todd Rundgren | |||
Todd Rundgren chronology | ||||
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Singles from Runt. The Ballad of Todd Rundgren | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
Christgau's Record Guide | B [2] |
Rolling Stone | (Not Rated) [3] |
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.
Most of the album's 12 tracks are piano-led ballads, with the only exceptions being the rock tunes "Bleeding" and "Parole" and the anthem "Chain Letter". As with his first album, this album was initially credited to "Runt". Rundgren himself wrote, arranged, and produced every tune on The Ballad of Todd Rundgren, as well as handling all the guitars, keyboards, and vocals.
"I was pretty overbearing to deal with," Rundgren recalled in the liner notes to the 1999 CD release. "I was also becoming very particular about arrangements, so I took a crack at playing it all myself. But I still had some dependence on other musicians. I wasn't yet ready to play drums or to seriously address what bass playing should be like." [4]
Tony Sales, who played bass on Runt , the previous album, plays on the majority of tracks, but brother Hunt Sales, the drummer on the first album, plays drums only on one cut and conga on one. Studio musicians Jerry Scheff and John Guerin provide the rhythm section on two tracks; Norman D. Smart, who later became a member of the Hello People and was Mountain's first drummer, plays on the remainder. On two of the tracks, Rundgren is the only performer.
The album cover was designed by Milton Glaser. Inside photographs and design were by Ron Mael.
In mid-1971, Bearsville was purchased by Warner Bros. and plans were made to re-release both Runt and Runt. The Ballad of Todd Rundgren as a "twin pack" entitled Todd Rundgren's Rack Job (Catalog Number 2BV 2156) in 1973. The album got as far as test presses and album art, but was shelved as Rundgren preferred to release an album of new material.
All songs written by Todd Rundgren.
(taken from inner gatefold of original 1971 vinyl)
Album
Year | Chart | Position |
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1971 | Billboard Pop Albums | 214 |
Singles
Year | Single | Chart | Position |
---|---|---|---|
1971 | "Be Nice to Me" | Canada RPM Singles Chart | 92 |
1971 | "Be Nice to Me" | Billboard Pop Singles [5] | 71 |
1971 | "A Long Time, A Long Way to Go" | Billboard Pop Singles [5] | 92 |
Todd Harry Rundgren is an American musician, singer, songwriter, 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 art. 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. 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.
Things Here Are Different is the first album by the American singer-songwriter Jill Sobule, released in 1990. It contains the singles "Living Color" and "Too Cool to Fall in Love".
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.
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.
Initiation is the sixth album by American musician Todd Rundgren, released May 23, 1975 on Bearsville Records. With this album, Rundgren fully embraced the synthesized prog sound he had begun exploring in more depth in his work with his band Utopia. However, unlike Utopia, in which Rundgren had limited himself to playing guitar, most of the synthesizers on Initiation were played and programmed by Rundgren himself.
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.
Hunt Sales is an American rock drummer, who has played with Todd Rundgren, Iggy Pop and Tin Machine with David Bowie. He has often worked with his brother Tony Sales, a bass guitarist.
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.
Jason Randolph Scheff is an American bassist, singer, and songwriter who was a frontman for the American rock band Chicago from 1985 to 2016. Replacing former lead vocalist Peter Cetera, Scheff was the longest-serving bassist/vocalist of Chicago.
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.
Tony Fox Sales is an American rock musician and composer. Normally on bass guitar, Sales and his brother, Hunt Sales, have worked with Todd Rundgren, Iggy Pop, and in Tin Machine with David Bowie.
Manilow is the eleventh studio album by singer-songwriter Barry Manilow, released in 1985. It was his first album to miss the Top 40 and fail to earn a gold certification. Many feel it was due to the prominence of synthesizers, a departure from his renowned piano ballads. This album was one of Manilow's two albums with RCA Records.
Back to the Bars is a live album by rock musician Todd Rundgren, which was released as a double LP in 1978.
This article is a discography of American rock musician Todd Rundgren.
"Hello It's Me" is a song written by American musician Todd Rundgren. It was the first song he wrote, and was recorded by his group Nazz as a slow ballad, released as the B-side of the band's first single, "Open My Eyes", in 1968. A mid-tempo version of "Hello It's Me", recorded for Rundgren's 1972 solo album Something/Anything?, was issued as a single in 1973, reaching No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Felix Cavaliere is the first solo album by Felix Cavaliere, former member, primary songwriter and one of the two lead singers of the Rascals. It was produced by Todd Rundgren.
Gently is a studio album by American singer and actress Liza Minnelli. Released in 1996, it is her first album under the Angel Records/EMI label.
Music, Music is the eighth studio album by Australian-American pop singer Helen Reddy that was released in the summer of 1976 by Capitol Records and later described by J. Scott McClintock for AllMusic: "There are breezy, Bacharach-ian excursions, bluesy numbers, light country ('Mama'), jazzy ballads, and even a little Philly soul. On August 2 of that year the Recording Industry Association of America awarded the album with Gold certification for sales of 500,000 copies in the United States. It debuted on Billboard's Top LP's & Tapes chart that same month, in the issue dated August 14, and got as high as number 16 during its 13 weeks there, and in Canada's RPM magazine it peaked at number 14. The third album recorded by Reddy with producer Joe Wissert, Music, Music was cited in 1977 by Reddy as a personal favorite from among her albums. On August 23, 2005, Music, Music was released for the first time on compact disc as one of two Helen Reddy albums on one CD, the other album being her 1975 studio release, No Way to Treat a Lady.
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