06 November 2011
VVN Music
Todd Rundgren will release his September 2010 performance of his album, Todd, on February 14 via S'More/Rockbeat.
By the time he recorded the eponymous Todd in 1973, Todd Rundgren had charted with such evergreen hits as Hello It’s Me, I Saw the Light and We Gotta Get You a Woman, and had also been dubbed “Rock’s Renaissance Man” by Rolling Stone after releasing studio masterpieces Something/Anything? and A Wizard, A True Star. Todd was a departure; the iconoclastic artist included pop ballads alongside medleys, anthems, and prog rock. The album is universally heralded as one of Rundgren’s best, often compared to Electric Ladyland and Pet Sounds.
In 2010, 37 years after its original release, Rundgren performed Todd live in its entirety for the first time ever, as part a special limited six-date sold-out tour (the Healing album was also performed, which will be a subsequent stand-alone live DVD/CD release). The September 14 date at Philadelphia’s Keswick Theater, in Rundgren’s hometown, was videotaped and is being released as both a live DVD by S’More Entertainment and a live audio CD by sibling RockBeat Records. Joining him onstage were Utopia’s Kasim Sulton (bass), The Cars’ Greg Hawkes (keyboards), The Tubes’ Prairie Prince (drums), Guitar Player Magazine’s editor Jesse Gress (guitar), Bobby Strickland (sax) and a full choir. Both the DVD and CD will hit retail on February 14, 2012.
In addition to the musical performance, multiple Emmy Award-winning television personality and sportscaster Roy Firestone, whose knowledge of Rundgren’s work is encyclopedic, was enlisted to conduct an extensive in-depth conversation with Rundgren onstage, which will also be packaged with the DVD.
From pop classic A Dream Goes on Forever to rocker Heavy Metal Kids, from the anthemic Sons of 1984 to the explosive Blue Eyed Soul of The Last Ride, from the industry satire An Elpee’s Worth of Toons to the Gilbert & Sullivan homage The Lord Chancellor’s Nightmare Song, Todd is a masterful example of Rundgren’s broad musical palette.
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