Customer Reviews

Healing

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this album in 1981. I was 15, and "Healing" was one of the very first albums I bought with my own money. That's how crazy I am! And I liked it then, just as I like it now. No matter how many times I hear it, I am still taken by surprise due to its uniqueness and originality. There is no other album quite like it. It does have something in common with its predessessor, the excellent "Hermit Of Mink Hollow", but it's also very different. I like to think of "Hermit" as DAY and "Healing" as NIGHT.
This album has atmosphere! It's loaded with synths and drum machines, but don't let that scare you. Just be aware that "Healing" is very personal, spiritual, and about as idiosyncratic as it's possible for a pop album to be. My favourite track is "Shine". This song means so much to me! It is, in my opinion, a good candidate for the definitive Todd Rundgren song. Mystical, futuristic, soulful and incredibly intense. The 20-minuite long "Healing"- suite is great, even if i sometimes think part II is a bit too long. But that depends on what mood I'm in.
Still, I agree with some other reviewers, that track number 4, "Golden Goose" is out of place somehow. As a vinyl release, "Time Heals" b/w "Tiny Demons" came as a free, additional single to the album. If I could choose, the single would have been "Time Heals" b/w "Golden Goose". And "Tiny Demons" would have been track number 4 on the actual album. I use to program my disc that way, since I think it makes a tremendous improvement. Try it yourself!
For me, "Healing" will remain an album I return to frequently. This is one I will play at the oldies house!

The story behind this album is that it was Todd's way of dealing with a horrible event in his life. One evening, he and his girlfriend (who was pregnant carrying Todd's oldest son at the time) were tied up and robbed in a home invasion robbery. The most horrible part was that the robbers had the gall to taunt him by singing his early hits like "I saw the light" as they ransacked his house and recording studio. This album is about dealing with trauma and tragedy as the title suggests. It is also about becoming a more spiritual person and the difficulties that any "good" person is likely to experience in this world.

Preachy? Maybe. But it beats listening to Gansta Rap.

This is an outstanding album from start to finish. My sister gave me this record for my birthday in 1981 when it first came out and it remains as one of my very favorites to this day. The words and music are incredibly powerful. Todd takes you on a journey about life, us as human beings and our interactions and relationships with each other. His emphasis is on valuing yourself and each other. Life is too short and it is a waste if you don't live your life to the fullest and practice some compassion and forgiveness to others as well as yourself. "Your life is your life--no one else can live your life", "Time heals the wounds no one can see" and one simple word--"Shine" are phrases that Todd carves into stone for us here. I highly recommend this album. Todd Rundgren is one of the few musicians that communicates clearly that where there is life there is hope and it feels good.

I was a college drop out when this album first came out and had taken a nowhere job working overnight as a maintanance man for McDonalds. Part of the "charm" at that time was that I was able to bring a boom box to work with me and listen to what ever I wanted while I scrubbed the floors, rest rooms, etc.

I was very down and wondering what life had ahead of me. During one day off, I purchased this album and created an additional copy on cassette to play at work. The atmospheric music was mesmerizing at 3 or 4 in the morning and almost made me dizzy with the instrumentation. As the album came to a close, with its third part of the title track, the sun started coming up and had sprayed a ray of light just in front of me. I found that with the solitude of a lonely night's work, the power of Todd's music and lyrics, I was moved to get the heck out of that job, earn enough money to finish school and get out of this dead end job.

I am now a college professor with a family of my own and still play this on the CD version. I once met Todd's manager, a very nice woman in Woodstock NY, and told her the story above. I wonder if she ever passed that message on.....

Very uplifting album.

I've been a huge fan of Todd Rundgren since the early eighties. He is a great guitarist (and does quite well on most other instruments as well), a fair singer, and an amazing composer. If you know a bit about music, and you've never heard him, the best way to describe his songs is to say that they are catchy pop, but at the same time contain alot of nice-sounding outside non-diatonic harmony.

Anyway, the best songs on this disc are Shine and Healer, and these two songs are also a perfect intro to Todd for the uninitiated. There's not really a bad song on this whole disc, though, and it's kind of a mystical, New-Age concept album. If you'd like to get into Todd Rundgren (and everybody should...), this would be a great place to start. If you're already a fan, this should definately be in your collection.

(4.5 Stars)

"Healing" is Todd Rundgren's most subdued, meditative, and spiritual sounding album. It's in many ways a continuation of some of the sound explored on the arty "Initiation" and the pop-tastic "Hermit of Mink Hollow", only more refined and conceptual.

Musically, it's very electronic/synthesizer based; don't expect any charging rockers on here. And yeah, this is 1981..so the production does sound dated at times. But it doesn't bother me, given how strong Rundgren's songwriting is.

It begins with the uplifting "Healer", one of the more pop based songs on here (although still retaining the spiritual feel of the album).

"Pulse" has a rich electronica backdrop; very 80's sounding with all the blips and bleeps (and even synthesized handclaps), but very good too. "Flesh", on the other hand, is a bit more subdued and ethereal.

"Golden Goose", like everyone else has said, does not fit in at all with the rest of the album. It's goofy, and borders on novelty throughout. Not that's it's bad; it just doesn't belong on here.

"Compassion" is the most known song on here, if any. It's one of Todd's greatest ballads. Gorgeous sounding, introspective, meaningful, and it has a great hook too.

Even better is "Shine", a lengthy song that begins as a slow piano ballad before erupting into a total synthesizer hailstorm; the techno/dance beat is backed by euphoric, soulful vocals (gospel like, even) from Todd.

Finally, the "Healing" suite, which is composed of three parts. It retains the entire mood of the album: meditative, spiritual, soothing, etc..all the adjectives I've already used. It's atmospheric and lush for the majority, although it turns more pop towards the end. Another stunning composition.

As a bonus, you get "Time Heals" and "Tiny Demons" tacked on at the end. This was not part of the album (a single, rather), but lyrically they aren't out of place. The former is a new wave-ish pop song (one of the catchiest, most infectious things Todd has written, actually) while the latter is one of Todd's most haunting ballads.

"Healing" is often overlooked, making it a sort of lost gem in Todd's catalogues. Don't pass it up due to obscurity, it's excellent.

No question one of the finest albums ever recorded. Works on every level, as a meditation on life, hurt, and anger; as an expression of the bonds all of us share; and as a stiff warning to the music industry to take his vision seriously, unvarnished and undiluted. A must have.

My guess is this is the work that divides Todd fans the most. I mean, everyone's in consensus now that "A Wizard" was pretty great and "Todd" pretty disappointing, but depending on who you talk to "Healing" is either new-age drivel or a measured, transcendent narrative with an unusual payoff. Oh, and by the way, it's the first Todd album I ever bought. Kind of like starting off a study of Irish literature with "Ulysses."

Given his rep, it's no small thing to say this is Todd's most unusual album. Rather than being an out-and-out collection of hits -- or small experimental snippets interlaced with hits -- the majority of "Healing" is given over to unrushed, carefully arranged songs that play directly opposite to any pop conventions. The narrative is pretty simple -- guy meets bliss, guy loves bliss, guy explains bliss. But little else about the album is. The songs unfold more dramatically here, and the tools of revelation aren't typical. "Pulse" percolates with almost comically stripped handclaps and synth bleeps, and the truly outstanding "Healer" begins as an echo-laden piano ballad before emerging into one of Todd's most unexpected blasts of nirvana.

The last part of the album probably tests listeners the most: an extended piece in 3 parts called "Healing," which overlays vocals, key motifs and, for some reason, bossa nova rhythms into a near mantra-like state. He ain't kidding with the title, kids. But one man's pomposity is another man's beauty, and after a few listenings it's amazing how lovely the suite becomes in one sitting. And for a guy who's a production genius, a pop dilettante and a so-so experimentalist, to hear that much heart put into a single side is a bigger breath of fresh air than most cynics will admit.

The original album came with a bonus single featuring Todd's MTV hit "Time Heals," and another disquieting, lovely song called "Tiny Demons." Both are on the disc.

There is the pop star Todd. There is the experimental Todd. There is the soulful Todd. There is even -- gasp! -- the rapping Todd.

Healing was made by none of the above.

Healing is an aural delight, in the same way Pet Sounds was for the Beach Boys. Of course, everyone knows that Pet Sounds didn't sell much. This would also apply to Healing. The subject matter is spiritual, introspective, even a bit heady. (Translation: Don't put this in your party collection.)

The production on this one's among his best, so get out your headphones. "Time Heals," "Compassion" and "Tiny Demons" are as close to singles as you'll find on this one, and it's a shame that the radio stations of the day were busy playing The Go-Go's or ZZ Top or Peaches and Herb.

This CD rounds out the essential Todd releases. For some of you, it will be your favorite.

I am mainly a fan of Todd's band Utopia. I always felt that Utopia was a bit more consistantlty good with their albums than Todd has been as a solo artist. Mind you, I love "Nearly Human", "Hermit of Mink Hollow", "2nd Wind", "Back To the Bars", and many of Todd's other great works, but his recent experiments in rap and dance music (see "No World Order, etc.) have left me completely cold...and crying out for a Utopia reunion! What a relief that I can still strap on my headphones and completely lose myself in (what I consider to be) Todd's single greatest moment as a solo artist, his 1981 album "Healing"! This is a magnificent piece of work, with a positive, spiritual vibe running throughout. The music is always melodic and cleverly-arranged, but has a slightly "experimental" sound with warm analog synths, pulsating drum machines, and overdubbed vocal harmonies dominating the mix. There is not a weak track to be found. Some highlights include "Healer", "Pulse", "Flesh", Healing Part 2", "Time Heals" and the energetic, intense "Shine", which is a definite favorite with me. I've found that "Healing" sounds best when listened to with headphones, so that you don't miss any of the layered-production and background synth washes. Todd really makes great use of stereo-seperation and panning here, proving that he deserved all of those "best producer" awards! Mr. Rundgren really put his heart and soul into this album ,and it shows. Todd produced it, recorded it, wrote it, and sang or played every note, making this a true "solo" effort in every sense of the word. He proved to me that he dosen't always need his Utopia bandmates to produce an excellent piece of work!