Todd Rundgren - Something/Anything? (1972)

Japanese import

Multi-LP sets usually have me immediately considering what tracks I would include in a single album edit (see Out Of The Blue, for example). The temptation to do such an edit with this set was strong until I finally came to the conclusion that what we've got here is a brilliant single album surrounded by an very interesting second album. In other words, I'd like to simply forget about the tracks in which Rundgren wants everyone to know he's the best musician/smartest person in the room, but there's something inherently fascinating about those tracks. When it's good (which is most of the time, to be honest), it's '70s soft rock and power pop at its finest with lots of 7^th chords and vocal harmonies that would make Brian Wilson proud.

Rundgren played every instrument and did all the vocals on the first 3 sides of the original LPs. At his best, that sort of control produces remarkably economical pop: melodic and immediately accessible without being simplistic. The album is less successful when Rundgren’s fascination with the recording studio begins to compete with the songs themselves. Some of the experiments are genuinely inventive while others seem included primarily because he could include them. For what was side 4, Rundgren kinda sorta throws together another album side with various bands recorded at various studios and calls it "Baby Needs a New Pair of Snakeskin Boots (A Pop Operetta)." Certainly ambitious but Rundgren certainly possesses the talent to pull it off. If I were editing it for listening pleasure, I'd probably go to the trouble of making a single LP edit. But since I'm hopelessly trying to assess Rundgren's artistic vision as a whole, I guess I'll keep the double album, even track 7, Intro.

Press of the time:

• Robert Christgau (A-): "this has the feel of a pop masterpiece"
• Rolling Stone: "Rundgren may produce the masterpiece he has in him, but Something/Anything? most decidedly is not."
• CashBox: "Something very musical and hitbound."
• Record World: "an outstanding achievement"
• Billboard: "The most important thing about this album is that he seems to have had a great time recording it and it is enormous fun to listen to."

On Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Something/Anything? was ranked at #173 on the 2003 & 2012 lists, dropping to #396 in the 2020 edition. It was also included in the 2005 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, where it was called "Rundgren's most compelling work" and "an album that stands as Rundgren's zenith both commercially and critically."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #29
• CashBox: #37

Tracks: They certainly picked some of the strongest tracks for single release: Hello It's Me (#5 pop, #17 AC), I Saw The Light (#16 pop), and Couldn't I Just Tell You (#93 pop). Track 3, the Motown homage titled Wolfman Jack, was later released in 1974 and bubbled under the Hot 100 at 105. The whole thing starts off with softrocktastic songs on what was side 1 (tracks 1-6 here) that Rundgren correctly dubbed "A Bouquet of Ear-catching Melodies." Side 2 (tracks 7-13) contain much of the production gimmicks mentioned above, but even the novelty songs, The Night The Carousel Burned Down and Song Of The Viking have hooks galore. And with Side 3 (tracks 1-5 on the second disc) Rundgren helps define the sound of the power pop genre. Aside from Hello It's Me, side 4 isn't my favorite, but even then something will catch my ear from time to time.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Riding around in an early '70s Ford Country Squire station wagon and hearing Hello It's Me on the car's AM radio.

Previously revisited for the blog:
The Very Best Of Todd Rundgren (1997)
The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect (1982)
Healing (1981)