#396 Todd Rundgren, 'Something/Anything?' (1972)

Previously #173

At the end of this album I felt as if I’d listened to an incomplete record. I wanted more. I knew there was more. I checked a few times and I’d almost certainly listened to all the tracks on the album… or had I? As it turns out, it seems that Rhino/Warner only uploaded disc 1 of this double album to Spotify. A travesty! I managed to cobble together the second disc from other releases on Spotify and as the rules are every track on every album, I had to go back to complete the record after being a few albums ahead of this one. To say this album is a masterpiece would be underselling it. I don’t feel this album comes up in conversation when people discuss landmark rock albums of last century, or even the 70s.

Each side is separated as follows: ‘A Bouquet of Ear-catching Melodies,’ ‘The Cerebral Side,’ ‘The Kid Gets Heavy’ & ‘Baby Needs a New Pair of Snakeskin Boots (A Pop Operetta).’ The first three sides were recorded in L.A., with every instrument and vocal by Rundgren himself. He also produced those songs. Awe-inspiring talent. The last side was recorded in New York by a ragtag group of musicians. Essentially, anyone who happened to be in or near the studio was roped in to record. The songs were written at a prolific rate thanks to Ritalin and weed.

Unusually, Rundgren, a non-proficient drummer, recorded the drums first on each track, humming the rest of the song to himself as he did it. If he made a mistake on the drums, he changed the rest of the song around the mistake as it was too difficult to go back and re-record. The hits from this one were ‘I Saw The Light’ (inspired by Carole King) and ‘Hello It’s Me,’ a cover of his own band, Nazz. But this is really an album that needs to be listened to in full (and not with two other albums between Sides B and C.)

#rs500albums