Todd Rundgren's Johnson | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | April 12, 2011 | |||
Genre | Blues | |||
Length | 40:08 | |||
Label | MPCA Records | |||
Producer | Todd Rundgren | |||
Todd Rundgren chronology | ||||
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Alternative Cover | ||||
Todd Rundgren's Johnson is Todd Rundgren's tribute album for blues musician Robert Johnson, released April 12, 2011, for Johnson's 100th birthday. [1] Rundgren started out playing guitar professionally in a blues garage band called Woody's Truck Stop, [2] around 1966, where he was heavily inspired by and performed blues songs by Paul Butterfield Blues Band, the Blues Project, and music by original Chess blues artists and British blues-rock groups like the Yardbirds.
This album is a testimony to that music, its direct predecessors, and influence, as Rundgren says, "When I first got out of high school, my first gig was in a blues band. I was fascinated with the music and all through high school started exploring recordings by a lot of the originals. Ironically enough, Robert Johnson wasn’t one of the people that I was familiar with. He was from an era of acoustic blues and I was very much into electric blues. But he did have a huge influence on a lot of the people that were influencing me — most particularly Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and that whole crop of English blues guitar players." [3]
Most of the tracks feature Rundgren playing everything but the bass, which he delegated to long-time associate Kasim Sulton.
The album's title is a double entendre, johnson being a euphemism for penis. Rundgren discusses the album in detail with Ultimate Classic Rock. [4]
Rundgren also released a live version, Todd Rundgren's Johnson Live, on December 3, 2013.
All tracks written by Robert Johnson, except where noted
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.
Nazz is the debut album by American rock group Nazz. It was released in 1968. The album spawned two singles, "Open My Eyes" and "Hello It's Me", with the latter reaching number 66 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart. "Open My Eyes" failed to chart but came to be regarded as a psychedelic rock classic, appearing on several compilations of the genre. "Hello It's Me" became a hit when Nazz guitarist Todd Rundgren re-recorded it for his 1972 solo album Something/Anything?.
Healing is Todd Rundgren's ninth studio album, released in 1981. The album's themes are spirituality and the human condition, something Rundgren had touched on many times in earlier works but never with the consistency exhibited here as every track explores a different aspect. The back cover image of the album shows the caduceus and a Qabalistic Tree of Life each overlaid by a treble clef, reflecting Rundgren's linking of his spirituality and music.
One Long Year is Todd Rundgren's seventeenth album, released in 2000. It is composed of recordings that were released initially only to subscribers to Rundgren's online PatroNet facility, as well as other miscellany. To promote the album Rundgren performed "I Hate My Frickin' I.S.P." on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
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.
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.
Gregory A. Hawkes is an American musician best known as the keyboardist for the rock band The Cars.
The New Cars were a band formed in 2005 by two of the original members of the 1970s/1980s new wave band the Cars. The band was composed of original Cars members Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes, along with vocalist/guitarist Todd Rundgren, vocalist/bassist Kasim Sulton, and drummer Prairie Prince. The band performed the Cars' songs, some new material, and selections from Rundgren's career.
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".
Back to the Bars is a live album by rock musician Todd Rundgren, which was released as a double LP in 1978.
Bruce McDaniel is an American musician and record producer currently living in New Orleans.
Utopia is the second of two self-titled albums by the rock group Utopia. It was released in 1982. It was also their only album for Network Records.
Adventures in Utopia is the fourth studio album by Utopia.
Oops! Wrong Planet is the third studio album by American rock band Utopia. It delivers a markedly trimmed down, pop-oriented direction for the band following the progressively influenced previous album, Ra.
POV is the ninth and final studio album by the rock group Utopia, released in 1985. It peaked at #161 on the Billboard 200 charts. Except for a live 1992 reunion album, this was the last album released by Utopia, and Rundgren's final studio work under the Utopia banner.
Wasp, released by teen idol Shaun Cassidy in 1980, was his fifth and final studio album. In an attempt to salvage a sinking pop career, Cassidy recruited Todd Rundgren to help "reinvent" his music career. Members of Rundgren's group Utopia also played on the record, and the work had a decidedly "new wave" feel.
"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.
Redux '92: Live in Japan is an album by the rock band Utopia recorded live on May 10, 1992 at Gotanda Kani Hoken Hall, Tokyo, Japan and released in early 1993. It captures the band's reunion six years after it had disbanded in 1986. The album ostensibly consists of the "best of" as selected by the members Todd Rundgren, Roger Powell, Kasim Sulton, and John "Willie" Wilcox. A companion video of the same performance was released on DVD and VHS tape.
Oblivion, POV & Some Trivia is a Rhino Records compilation album by Utopia that includes all of the tracks from the original Utopia albums Oblivion and P.O.V., and the song "Man of Action," which was originally the b-side to the U.K. single "Mated" and a bonus track on the cassette and CD versions of P.O.V.. It also includes the non-regular-album tracks, "Fix Your Gaze" and "Monument" from the compilation album Trivia.
Disco Jets is a tongue in cheek project organized and recorded by Todd Rundgren and Utopia shortly after recording Rundgren's Faithful LP and including most of the musicians from those sessions. It's an instrumental recording humorously parodying 1976's US Bicentennial celebrations, disco music, science fiction films and the CB radio fads. It was released in 2001, 25 years after its recording, as part of the Todd Archive Series Vol. 4 - "Todd Rundgren Demos and Lost Albums" 2-CD set on Rhino Entertainment/Crown Japan. It was reissued in 2012 as a standalone CD import on Esoteric Recordings and in 2015 on Cherry Red. It was also released as a limited edition vinyl that was manufactured exclusively by Cherry Red for Record Store Day, only appearing in record shops from Saturday 16 April.