The Definitive Rock Collection

Todd Rundgren | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 17, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Rhino
• ASIN: B000ICLR8Y
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #119,560 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. We Gottta Get You A Woman

2. Be Nice To Me

3. Wailing Wall

4. I Saw The Light

5. Couldn't I Just Tell You

6. It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference

7. Hello It's Me

8. Just One Victory

9. Sometimes I Don't Know What To Feel

10. A Dream Goes On Forever

See all 15 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Love In Action - Utopia

2. Can We Still Be Friends

3. All The Children Sing

4. The Very Last Time - Utopia

5. Time Heals

6. Compassion

7. Hammer In My Heart - Utopia

8. Hideaway

9. Bang The Drum All Day

10. Crybaby - Utopia

See all 15 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is THE Todd Rundgren collection to get, May 9, 2007

By 

tunestony "music freak" (Dayton, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Definitive Rock Collection (Audio CD)

Todd Rundgren's music career has been a difficult one to digest. He's a very talented songwriter, but he also loves to dabble in the latest technology. So, as a result, he releases a great album and then follows it with some half-baked piece of experimentalism.

That's why THE DEFINITIVE ROCK COLLECTION is so good. It's the first-ever Rundgren collection to just focus on his great songs, and not try and paint a complete picture of his career. So, you don't get "Born to Synthesize" or "An Elpee's Worth of Tunes" but what you do get is the best, most melodic songs Rundgren ever wrote.

Whoever put this collection together was obviously a Rundgren fan. The hits are here, but so are many great album tracks. Even on a dud album, there was usually a good song or two, and this collection finds them. Every Rundgren studio album is represented, up until 1993 and his largely tuneless TR-i phase. We do get "Sweet", a nice return to form pop gem off his latest solo album.

Also a pleasant surprise is the inclusion of several tracks from Rundgren's side-project, Utopia. Again, kudos to the compilers, who smartly omit the band's early prog-rock material and concentrate on the band's catchier songs. Several key Utopia tracks are absent ("Set Me Free" the band's biggest chart hit, and "Feet Don't Fail Me Now" their biggest MTV hit), but those songs didn't feature Rundgren on lead vocals and were left off for that reason.

Although some devout Runt fans will undoubtly complain that one of their favorites is missing, it's difficult to argue with the excellent song selection on THE DEFINITIVE ROCK COLLECTION. Thirty Rundgren songs, and all of them are keepers.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TR: A Master, March 27, 2007

By 

Reviewer (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Definitive Rock Collection (Audio CD)

Todd Rundgren will always remain a niche player in the history of rock music, which is a shame considering he has created brilliantly catchy and inventive songs for 30+ years. His music changes with the time, although is remarkably original and hard to be copied. I think you are either a Todd fan or you are not. But even a casual fan might really like this collection of major hits by Todd and his band Utopia. These songs are more radio friendly than some of Todd's more challenging (read: questionable smoke in the studio) 70s songs. This group of songs present a good reflection of Todd's work from the 70s to today, and can lead a casual fan onto a more indepth review of the great pop champion in future albums.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Skips essentials that it had room for..., April 24, 2009

By 

P A Colloraffi "-----------------------------... (Blood) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Definitive Rock Collection (Audio CD)

It's very hard for me to give this collection only three stars since it's a mostly excellent summary of one of rock's great geniuses, but the fact is it's hard to give it more than that since it leaves a ton of open space at the end of each disc.

The first disc is 59:21 in length, that's about 17 minutes of music that could still safely be fit onto that disc and definite classics from the period it covers including "Black Maria" "The Last Ride" "Freedom Fighters" "Zen Archer" and "Black and White" are nowhere to be found on this collection. Not all of those could be fit on there, but a few of them could and none would be filler, just more killer.

The second disc uses a bit more of its potential, clocking in at 64:00, but there's still a good two or three songs' worth of space left there and again, a lot of classic material from that period that's been passed over. Where's the Utopia song "One World" from Swing to the Right, for example? Or "You Cried Wolf" for that matter, or "Tiny Demons"?

This collection does a lot right, but in this day and age, leaving that much empty space on a disc when an artist has a lot more popular material that would fit and give new fans a better selection, is absolutely inexcusable.

Buy it if you see it on sale, but definitely get all the other songs I mentioned as well via iTunes or some other method then burn yourself an expanded version of this.

Five stars for the music, two subtracted for leaving around 30 minutes of empty space on the disc while skipping essentials.