Customer Reviews

For Lack of Honest Work

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The release marks the beginning of another "Bootleg Series" for Todd fans. Some of the music on here has already been released as cds, dvds or downloads. However, the sound quality on here, in most cases, sounds much better than on the other editions. The first disc starts with an early, almost grunge sounding Todd (with Runt) on It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference, Broke Down And Busted and Be Nice To Me going back to Sigma Sound Studios on 7-1-71. We then jump ahead to 11-8-73 for an early Utopia concert and get the ending of Utopia Theme which leads into a great Black Maria which is followed by a groovin' Open My Eyes. Next up, the Hammersmith Odeon for hot versions of Freedom Fighters, The Wheel and Sunset Blvd.. Next up are songs from both The Roxy and Bottom Line shows (with The Hello People) which now appear in their third or fourth release as well as being the shows that most of Back to Bars were taken from. Unfortunately, I don't like that fact that Initiation was cut off from Eastern Intrigue and there's enough room on the disc so it would've fit.

The Seven Rays that opens disc two is from a Utopia concert at the Shaboo Inn in Willmantic, CT on 11-11-78 and it's one for the ages. Never Never Land and The Last Ride returns us to The Bottom Line show from 5-14-78. Mister Triscuits->Something's Coming is from the Hammersmith gig although the track listing only lists it as Mister Triscuits. Lord Chancellor's Nightmare Song is a fun song played with a backing track and A Dream Goes On Forever, played solo by Todd, is it's sweet self (despite a slight slip) from 4-4-82 at the Agora Ballroom in Cleveland, OH. The next three songs are from Levon Helm's studio in Woodstock, NY on 7-3-81 with nice versions of Healer, Love Is The Answer and I Saw The Light (with Utopia) which made for a nice 4th of July, I'm sure. Bag Lady and Too Far Gone are from 5-24-82 at the Venue Club in London with Todd solo again. The second disc ends with four songs from 10-26-85 at the Bismark Theater in Chicago, (with the A Cappella Choir) which has also been released several times before.

The Third disc opens with a nice Can We Still Be Friends from 11-22-86 at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco, CA and the majority of this disc is Todd solo. The next three songs are from 11-23-93 with Cliche, What's Going On->Mercy, Mercy Me and Love Of The Common Man and all are great versions. The next five songs come from the Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, FL with Lysistrata, Hammer In My Heart, Song Of The Viking, Free Male And 21 and Tiny Demonds. I've never been a fan of Free Male and 21 so I can easily think of alot of other songs I would've rather heard but for those who missed out on Up Against It might like it as this is the only place you can get an offical version now. The Want Of A Nail was released on Todd Rundgren - Live in Japan. I like I Hate My Fickin' ISP and this is a good version recorded at Danforth Music Hall, in Toronto, Canada on 9-4-06. Fascist Christ was recorded on 7-18-95 at The Sting in CT. World Wide Ephiphany is on Todd Rundgren: Bootleg Series: Live at the Forum, London '94 while the disc ends with a great version of One World that takes us back to 11-23-93 at Park West in Chicago, IL.

Amazon will not be able to confirm my purchase of "For Lack Of Honest Work" since I purchased it a the merchandise table at the Akron "Todd/Healing" show.

Featuring performances recorded across four decades and spanning at least two continents, FLOHW kicks off a new Todd archives project (after the Japanese Victor and Sanctuary UK efforts earlier this decade).

The sound quality is good and there is good variety, although this collection teases the listener who will want the full concert performances. A fair amount of these recordings are represented by those earlier "bootleg" series, so die hard fans (who else is buying this collection) already have them. Fortunately, the three CD set is reasonably priced, so the listener gets a fair amount of new material for the price (although I pretty much had everything on various radio shows I'd recorded and "import" releases (ok, bootlegs-I've still bought every legitimate recording Todd's appeared on three or four times).

Hopefully this will develop into future releases and not go the way of the rumoured "Artifacts" box set, the AWATS dvd, etc.

Todd is a genius, but sometimes his attention span causes him to abandon projects and leave money on the table. His fan base isn't getting any younger, either. He ought to release product now while we've got incomes.

Having obtained `For Lack of Honest Work' several weeks ago from a mailorder place, I've listened to all three and a half hours and three CDs of this set. It's mostly high quality live recordings, bootlegs that range from 1971 to 2006, more or less sequenced in chronological order. There's a gap in time, though, with nothing at all from '96 to '02 (not necessarily an essential period from the artist) and a few other years missing along the way. As you might expect, the sound quality improves as you go along. Some of the early recording are spotty, but just about everything on discs 2 & 3 sounds great. I'm assuming the producers of this 3-CD set sorted through many more hours of live recordings before choosing these particular 43 performances. By and large they did well at selecting really good stuff. I especially liked the solo acoustic "Love of the Common Man" (FL '03) and the a cappella group backing Todd on "Real Man" (NYC '78), plus there are some amazing electric guitar solos, as on the mind-blowing instrumental "Mister Triscuits" (London '75). Unfortunately there are a few duds mixed in too, such as the chaotic messes made of the "Sunset Blvd" medley and "Black and White." I could have done fine without ever hearing those two cuts, and some of the Broadway things on disc 2. Overall, though, the good FAR outweighs the bad here, leaving a rich bounty for Rundgren fans.

One important note on the packaging. This set suffers from a problem that also plagued the recent ELP 4-CD box. (They were released by different record labels, but they both appear to have used the same packaging company.) The individual cardboard trifold sleeves for each disc were apparently glued with bad glue, or the glue wasn't allowed to dry completely before the CDs were inserted. Some of the glue dried onto the CD surfaces! My thanks to customer reviewers who noted this problem with the ELP set and offered solutions. (Goo-Gone worked well for me.) The release date for this set was delayed repeatedly, so maybe the delay was to correct this problem? For the sake of other buyers, I hope so.

When I was young, the first real concert I attended was on Rundgren's "Adventures In Utopia" tour- I was wowed and was hooked on Rundgren. As such, I was excited to see "Honest Work" become available, but was disappointed with the album in a number of ways.

It is not apparent in what sense "Honest Work" is a "bootleg" album, as the material seems all to have been professionally- if not all that competently- recorded for the artist. Many of the cuts simply sound like lesser versions of tracks already available on "Something/Anything?" and "Best of Todd Rundgren Live."

Some of the early tracks on "Honest Work"- e.g. "Never Never Land"- have the sound of being recorded at small venues, and feature Rundgren alone with a piano. They suffer from over-served audience members yelling largely incoherent comments that interfere with listening to the music. Rundgren seemingly encourages this ... call it "audience participation," with distracting banter that is reminiscent of Bill Murray's old "Saturday Night Live" character Nick The Lounge Singer.

More recent tracks, like "What's Going On - Mercy Mercy Me," sport Rundgren accompanied by ethereal acoustic guitar. I half thought I was listening to Kenny Loggins playing in a forest on "Outside From the Redwoods."

Then too, my favorite Rundgren studio album is the quirky "A Cappella," featuring only vocals and sounds made with Rundgren's voice. "A Cappella" benefited from Rundgren's considerable studio recording expertise and tight vocals. When played live on "Honest Work," songs like "Hodja" lack crispness and adequate harmony, and suffer by comparison to their studio counterparts.

Finally, though you wouldn't know it from the product description, the album comes in what I guess would be called "eco-friendly packaging." The album's cardboard box and paper/cardboard sleeves give "Honest Work" a cheap, thrown-together feel.

I am always on the look out for new Todd releases. I have seen him several times live, and my family owns just about everything he has recorded or produced.
This album is a wonderful compilation of live performances. So many performers now do not know what live means. Todd doesn't need electronic help to make each rendition of old or new material memorable and engaging to listen to. The variety on the collection makes listening to the whole album at once very enjoyable.
I would recommend this to any Todd fan - as well as anyone who would like to get familiar with Todd's music.

What can be said about the genius of Todd live...It represents his dynamic, eclectic range of musiucal stylings that he has done over the years, every phase a new and interesting chapter that all us fans can't wait to get our hands on.
If you love Todd, then you already have this, if you like him or haven't thought about him in a while, pick it up and be blown away by what you have missed live over the years, you'll be glad you did!!

Received this cd a couple of weeks ago. Brings back so many memories of all these songs. Love the live versions, especially "Mr. Triscuits". Cathy

great cd you probably have to be a hardcore todd fan to apreciate alot of this cd