With the proliferation of multi-disc, Atmos-y deluxe re-issues (for which I’m as much a sucker as the next man), I was wondering if anyone had come across any hints as to why Todd Rundgren hasn’t done any of these?
My cash would be getting thrown down for ANY of his 70’s albums, many of which have now passed the 50th anniversary dates, of course.
My guess is that the original multitrack tapes are not in good condition, if they even exist. Surely there was lots of bouncing down and all that if it was done on 8-track. Maybe someone else might know…
I suspect you’re right, thinking about the way that many of the early albums were made.
Shame though, my spending limit would get severely stretched for a good clean up and Atmos mix of A Wizard, Todd, Something/Anything, Initiation or the first Utopia album.
Those in Atmos plus “enhancements” … COR!
An interesting question. I’m a huge TR fan – SLIGHTLY compromised by his “Jive Bunny EDM” phase, mind. I’m not precious about downloading music, and based on that, there isn’t a lot of rarity out there, really. “Space Force” was eventually released, as was “Up Against It”. Plenty of live material findable if you want it. It might be he has a secret archive, but it’s getting late to open it up, as few artists have stellar sales once the first fanbase has been exhausted, unless they were stellar to start with.
There is THIS: https://burnwoodtonite.blogspot.com/2023/09/a-holy-grail-todd-rundgrens-lost-mix-of.html
I think I own all of his 70s and 80s output, I’m a fan, but I always thought that they lacked a bit in the quality control department. So given what he was happy to put out i think that if there is anything he didn’t think worth releasing then it probably isn’t worth hearing.
I’m always amazed that he was an in-demand producer as his own albums sounded messy and chaotic. I find I can only listen in small bursts.
Yeah, he definitely suits a playlist.
He’s creatively restless, I think. Good and all that, but sometimes , like the Hawaiian versions of his songs album, ‘possibly’ less critical of output than he could be. But I quite enjoyed “A treatise on cosmic fire”.
As one of that select coterie of artists who kept a prolific solo career and a band (Utopia, of course) going simultaneously, I suspect that TR probably doesn’t have huge amounts of material sitting around unused… even his officially rarities sets (e.g. Somewhere/Anywhere) are made up of demos rather than unreleased songs…