Customer Reviews

Second Wind

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Pure raw emotion - songs sung from the deepest part of a man whose heart is out for all to see! Todd Rundgren is a soul man! Always has been, even when he was singing those rock n' roll songs at the top of his lungs (and range). In the tradition of Hall and Oates, two white blue-eyed soul brothers from Philadelphia, Mr. Rundgren uses vocal inflections to their ultimate effect. His technique never gets in the way but indeed enhances his ability to communicate the words he sings. The melodies are memorable and the arrangements pure magic. There are no throwaways, every song given the attention of Todd's best epics.

Highlights: "The Smell of Money" exemplifies TR's sense of humour for which he has been known throughout his career. Don't let that make you think that there is no musical merit here. To the contrary, this tune has all of the earmarks of operatic orchestral greatness! I'll see you on Broadway!

"If I Have to be Alone" is as emotional a vocal performance as I have ever heard on record. Todd has always been able to make the listener feel as though the singer and listener are there together....been there done that....and oh yeah...can say it exactly the way you're feeling it.

Make no mistake...this is a pop album! Unfortunately, there are thousands of pop musicians and records that smell of mediocrity so much so that one has to remind oneself that The Beatles were pop musicians....and look at the excellence of their effort. Well, Todd Rundgren on this cd exemplifies the best of the pop genre, bringing you into each song emotionally, relating to every feeling you ever had and somehow making you feel better for having heard those feelings expressed so beautifully. Over a long career which admittedly has had its' ups and downs creatively, Todd Rundgren most definitely has hit his Second Wind with this release! May there be many more........

These songs were recorded basically live (without audience noise) or "live" in-studio. The title track is a stand-out, but my favorite tune is "If I Have To Be Alone", a powerful yet sad spiral into loneliness, depression, and resignation. Depressing lyrically, yet very powerfully sonically and vocally.

Todd has often performed all the instruments on his records, but this time he enlists the stellar talents of Prairie Prince of the Tubes (and of Journey a LONG time ago), Journey's bassist Ross Valory, Lyle Workman on guitar, Vince Welnick (The Tubes/Grateful Dead/Missing Man Formation) on keys, and a host of others. This disc is not easy to find, so grab it up while you can!

First of all, I don't notice any new liner notes written by Todd as Amazon describes although Joe Reagoso does write a brief blurb as well as doing the remastering. I'm also not sure that this album has really been out of print for nearly 20 years. I bought mine when it was first released back at the end of '90 or the beginning of '91 and I could swear that I was still seeing it new into the late '90's so maybe 10 or so.

I liked this album when it was first released and it has grown on me more since. There really isn't anything on here that I don't like and includes some Todd classics like Change Myself, Love Science, Who's Sorry Now, If I Have To Be Alone, Kindness and Public Service. The new remastering job is nice although the sound on this was always good and I'm not sure if it's that much better than the original although we could all do with a fresh copy about now anyway. This album was recorded live at the San Francisco Palace Of Arts with the audience removed mostly. A note to those who don't know, Todd doesn't play any instruments really on here but does do a great job with the vocals.

After the excellent "Nearly Human," Todd Rundgren mixed two of his major fascinations for "2nd Wind." Those being live digital recording and the musical "Up Against It." Todd formed a band and booked a residence at San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts Theater for five nights. The audience was informed that they were attending a recording session and not a concert, and were not to whoop, holler or applaud. (Much like Joe Jackson's "Big World.") In fact, the only time you hear the audience is cheering at the end of "The Smell of Money," otherwise, they followed Todd's rules of the set.

"2'nd Wind" treated those crowds to three songs Rundgren wrote for the off-Broadway musical "Up Against It," which was based on an unproduced screenplay British playwright Joe Orton wrote in the 1960s for the Beatles. Todd has produced the play both Off Broadway in 1989 and as a live concert event (there's a Japanese import of you want to hunt it down), and of the three tracks, "If I Have To Be Alone" is the strongest. On the other hand, "The Smell of Money" borders on parody of the non-humorous kind and has not aged well. Although "Public Servant" was not part of the play, it also carries the weight of a faux show-tune and is one of the album's lesser efforts.

On the other hand, Todd must get bored writing the same brilliant pop songs he seems to deliver with seemingly little effort. On "2nd Wind," they are the opening "Change Myself," the funky rocker "Love Science," and the introspective "Kindness" and title track. Todd also had an incredible band for these Sf shows, an all star roster that included Roger Powell of Utopia, Vince Welnick and Prairie Prince of the Tubes, Ross Valory of Journey, guitarist Lyle Workman and Jenni Muldaur. Musically, "2'nd Wind" is performed beautifully. Song for song, though, it is a very average Todd Rundgren album.

Though Todd has been enamored of computers for decades now, he has always been able to show the soul inside the machine. That said, this album, which was recorded live while asking the audience to hold their applause (similar to Joe Jackson's "Big World"), is a solid follow up to the best album of 1989, "Nearly Human." Like that album, this album is chock full of soul, and Todd's oh-so-soulful voice! "Change Myself" is a song that has inspired me for years, and one of the best of his long career. "The Smell of Money" would sound great in a Broadway show, and "If I Have To Be Alone," as others have commented, is gut-wrenching in its beauty. Credit must also go to his stellar backing band, which includes many of those who backed him up on "Nearly Human."

Having pretty near absorbed the 70's and early 80's catalog of Todd Rundgren (and to a lesser degree Utopia) during the past couple years,this album has helped me a great deal to define the very individualistic music of "runt",as he apparently sometimes was referred to. After hearing this in relation to what he did before I refer to his music as art soul. It has elements of just about every sub-genre of progressive rock,pop and R&B his voice,melodies and words are able to convey subjects of deep personal meanings in terms that communicate with the people listening. In many ways this was an album of many firsts for Rundgren. For one,Todd took on the Beatles concept for Let It Be and make a record of all new material before a live audience (asked to keep silent rather than applaud of course),in this case at Palace Of Fine Arts Theare in San Francisco. Also he is using a full 11 piece band including Utopia's Roger Powell on keyboards,Bobby Strickland on sax,Prairie Prince on drums along with guitarist Lyle Workman and percussionist Scott Matthews. It's one of the few occasions where he's used a live band on a solo album. Also it's his first album of the 90's. And before the alternative rock phenomenon knocked just about everyone else off the radio and chars,Todd made it clear he still had what it took.

The album begins with two thick,grooving soul-pop pieces in "Change Myself" and "Love Science". On the former song he's suggested the than prevailing thought that the worlds problems could be solved a great deal by expanding our thought processes naturally. "Who's Sorry Now" is a 70's Motown style cinematic soul,breaking from ballad to uptempo parts almost effortlessly. "The Smell Of Money" has a similar anti corporate message,though done in a witty comic style to a very elegant tin pan alley influenced pop/tango arrangement. The three ballads "If I Have To Be Alone","Kindness" and "Gaya's Eyes" all explore some of the same type of epic philosophical issues matched to epic music that Todd dealt with so well,on the last two of them anticipating the coming "mean generations" lack of respect for mutual accountability as well as extended on Marvin Gaye's earlier pleas that the planet has it's own soul and humanities assault on it's own eco system was slowly destroying it. The hardest edged track on the album is the hard rocking "Public Servant" which criticizes the muckraking media/Hollywood system of the day,a topic that still effects us all. "Love In Disguise" is the one cut that comes closer to being a modern progressive modern opera piece with a more spiritual theme and the albums ends with the frantic world fusion of the title track.

Another new factor here for Todd was the use of the "DDD" (or full digital recording) which really added surprising punch to the live sound of this record. Usually the earliest use of this technology wound up flattening out the sound and volume of the music. In this case it punched it up a lot. But also it should it noted that it was in the hands of Todd's own ability as a producer that allowed him to pipe this live band recording into the 48 track digital tape machine. While as always exploring the newest technology,Todd provides as with more of his usual best with lamens terms philosophising on everything from capitalism,environmentalism to modern romance. Often misunderstood as being one thing or the other,Todd comes at his music with a very broad minded and non judgmental and thoughtful attitude. This type of musical ethic would soon give way to the massive angry angst explosion that would dominate the pop/rock scene for the next decade or so. There just wouldn't be much room for the Peter Gabriels or the Todd Rundgren's on the charts anymore. But creativity for those who appreciate it is never a bad thing. And that is why Todd made albums like this and continues to go by what his heart and mind tell him.

For five nights, Todd set up a "recording studio on stage" at the beautiful Palace of Fine Arts Theatre in San Francsico. It was a very quick drive across the Golden Gate Bridge from his home in Sausalito.

All the players and vocalists onstage used headsets, and carried little notepads to make remarks on each take of each song they did, which would save the producer a lot of time, later!

The audience was warned each night that it was NOT a concert. It was a recoring session, and they were not allowed to make a peep until the song was over, AND Mr. Rundgren gave a visual sign to indicate that it was appropriate to applaud. One night's signal was a one-fingered salute!

At the end of the show, no, I mean RECORDING SESSION, Todd would come out with a guitar and sing JESSE, which just about knocked everybody's socks off, as he crooned his most sincere desire to fornicate with Jesse Helms. And also Tipper Gore. And also POPE JOHN PAUL, TOO!

Apparently, Warner Brothers got WIND of this number and prohibited it from being included on the album.

Too bad - it was one of Todd's best.

Look for it on the bootleg: "69 SUNSHINE - THE RUNT in SLEAZALITO"

It's a testament to Todd Rundgren's artistry that he was able to make what amounted to a contract-fulfilling album into one of the most overlooked albums of his career.

Interestingly enough, despite Warner Bros' insistence that Todd make a single-friendly album, they only threw minimum support behind "Change Myself," which might have sunk into obscurity if it weren't for its groundbreaking music video. With the exception of the "Up Against It" songs, the title track, and the blistering "Public Servant," they could have easily made singles out of every song on "2nd Wind."

Still, even if it's not Todd at the top of his game, it's still highly listenable, and I highly recommend it.

2nd Wind strikes me as typical Todd Rundgren: there are songs that are amazing and stay with you for years, while others are just okay. Rundgren is famous for Being The Genius Songwriter, but when he dispenses with the unnecessary flourishes, mood and tempo changes, and other bits of self-consciousness, he is an absolutely brilliant pop writer: songs like "Hello It's Me," "Love is the Answer," and "Can We Still Be Friends" are as perfectly crafted and memorable as songs can be. 2nd Wind has several songs that are as good as those hits: "Change Myself" (a straight-ahead arrangement that builds as effectively as "Love is the Answer"), "Who's Sorry Now," and "Kindness" are sublime; "Gaya's Eyes" and "If I Have to Be Alone" are great; and the rest of the disc is certainly listenable, but doesn't rise to the same level of excellence. Still, that's 60% amazing, and 40% good.

as long as Todd sticks to his tried and true harmonies, guitar hooks, and gathering of superior musicians.......its a home run.........when he gets experimental....its a toss up......this was a good night to see Rundgren!!!!!!!!!!