Customer Reviews

I Saw the Light & Other Hits

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As a child of the 70's, I never was particularly fond of Todd Rundgren. His only really big hit of the era was "Hello, It's Me", which reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was not until the late 80's/early 90's that I finally fell in love with one of his songs. While riding to work, a local radio station would play "Bang the Drum All Day" every Friday morning. The song was fun and bouncy and always got me in the mood for the weekend. The style of that song was so different from his 70's material that I did not even know for a long time who it was (the DJ's never would say who sang it). Finally, after some research, I found out much to my surprise that the song had been a minor hit for Todd in 1983 (peaking at #63). It was after that I started looking for a CD that contained that particular track. Not being a Todd Rundgren fan, I was not interested in shelling out a lot of money for songs that I did not care for just to get that one song. When I came upon this budget CD, I decided the price was right.

For those wanting the complete Hot 100 hits of Todd, this CD comes up a little short. It does not include "A Long Time, A Long Way to Go" which peaked at #92 in 1971 nor does it include "Couldn't I Just Tell You" which peaked at #93 in 1972. However, those songs barely made the charts and I am sure even some Todd Rundgren fans out there have never heard of them. The CD does include the other 9 songs of his to hit the Hot 100, including the Top 40 hits "We Gotta Get You a Woman", "I Saw the Light", "Hello, It's Me", "Good Vibrations", and "Can we Still be Friends".

As most of his fans know, he went on to front the band Utopia. Curiously, this CD features one Utopia song ("One World"), however that song is not one of the three Utopia songs that charted on the Hot 100. Why that song was chosen over the bands 3 hits seems odd to me, but I assume it was an issue of licensing rights.

For the casual Todd Rundgren fan, this CD will get you all of his big hits for a budget price. The liner notes are pretty slim. If you like breezy, 70's pop music, you will like this CD. If you like the new wave sound of "Bang the Drum All Day", you may not like the rest of this CD. But for the price, I think it is a bargain.

When my little sister gave me this CD for my birthday last year my reaction was kind of like "Oh, Todd Rundgren... that's nice?!". Like the other reviewer I wasn't a big fan back in the 70s and other than knowing he did a couple of pop tunes didn't really know much more than the name. What a really nice surprise! There isn't a tune on this little collection that doesn't bring back wonderful memories other than that drum song but even that's OK I guess.

Not being really familiar with Rundgren's albums back then none of these tunes has had a chance to go stale for me. Most of the time I heard this music was either on the radio while driving or sometimes in the pub and as a result it's really a nice breath of fresh air to hear it. I think this CD has seen more play on my stereo than almost any other since unwrapping it. This is some great pop and the bargain price isn't the best reason to add it to your collection.

Thanks sis!