Dr. Frankenstein steps out

Dr Frankenstein steps out.

SOMETHING/ANYTHING?

TODD RUNDGREN BEARSVILLE/WARNERS

The name Todd Rundgren has passed across so many lips in the past few months that you can almost detect traces of chapstick around its edges. It has always been relatively easy to find praise for his name in conjunction with someone else’s (Paul Butterfield, the Band, Badfinger, etc.) but it seems that the time has come when the man must finally be met on his own terms. Something/ Anything? will see to that.

Chances are also good that you’ve already encountered the contention that this tworecord set is Todd Rundgren’s consummate masterpiece, but that’s stretching the truth. Something/Anything? is just one stop along the highway Todd’s traveling; a place for him to pause momentarily and examine the places he’s been, evaluate the scope of his present capabilities and tentatively explore some possible avenues for the future. He does make a few mistakes over the course of these 80-plus minutes, but most of them come as a result of the fact that he chooses to present us with a self-portrait that is painstakingly detailed. All his cards are on the table.

To push the point home, the first three sides contain nothing that Todd didn’t fashion' with his own hands. The major difficulty with one-man shows (Mayall, McCartney) has been that they were approached as serious artistic projects — most often in reactionary retreat from a band situation — a pitfall which Todd sidesteps because his thorough understanding of his music is matched by an equally thorough understanding of himself. He’s serious about his music, but not overcome by a sense of its importance. He’s an artist not because his outlook is consciously artistic, but simply because he passionately feels what he’s doing.

To even attempt this singular presentation implies a categorical manipulation of the studio environment, and Todd succeeds largely because his ambition seldom exceeds his flesh-and-bones grasp. His tools are machinery, but you’re never in doubt as to who’s behind the controls; his creations have enough life to vindicate the theories of Dr. Frankenstein. He understands production and energy as well as anyone, and acheives an almost perfect balance between the two.

The extent of his musical dexterity and studio finesse allows him to think in terms of sound rather than mere instrumentation, and he can therefore fulfill his ideas in a way which the linear egotists — like McCartney — cannot. What distinguishes “I Saw The Light”, for example, is nothing more than Todd’s simple backbeat drum sound. Nothing to cause Buddy Rich very many sleepless nights, you understand, just the right sound to set the motion and push the song forward. He’s a master of effect, and even the most seemingly complex of his songs are merely the ordered assemblage of elementary parts.

He’s a perfectionist, but he seldom allows his desire for perfection to interfere with the task of making good music, because he realizes that good music is not always technically perfect and that a certain amount of sloppiness, in the proper emotional light, can accomplish just as much.

Integrity to Todd Rundgren is a pie in the face; he is far too 6oncemed with making good music to adopt any stiff posturings. His integrity is that everything he does is inevitably good. And he knows how to enjoy himself, just like a normal person. It really sounds like he had fun putting this one together — that the entire process was marked by almost adolescent fascination and that that was the only justification needed in the first place. In this sense, Something/Anything? is Todd Rundgren’s instant party.

A friend remarked that he thought the spoken interludes between songs were useless, but he failed to see the point. The interludes — whether they be snatches of conversation or the fully developed “sounds of the studio” game — are essentially what holds the record together. They’re just idiotic and nonsensical enough to insure that seriousness never gains too ironclad a grip, and that things are kept constantly flowing. One gets an irqpression of Todd as impeccably professional, sharp and calculating, yet perhaps the kind of businessman who might close a multi-million dollar deal with a gag-buzZer handshake. And there’s something very appealing, maybe even necessary, about craziness which is always productive.

He’s the mutated product of an American musical heritage: rock, folk, soul, a healthy dose of standard pop, and it’s topped off by a slightly impish touch of vaudeville sensibility. And all of it is stamped in the end with his personality and flash; he’s carving out a niche that’s all his own.-

His most immediate instrumental asset is his guitar playing, which is always at the core of everything he does yet never really screams for the spotlight. When he does show off - as with the tonal caliesthenics in “Little Red Lights” - he does so with a smile on his face. His keyboards, a secondary mainstay, work well both as integrated rhythm and occasionally as featured instrument. His rhythm section work is competent, but — given that bass and drums were the two instruments he usually let somebody else handle - a little on the shy side. His bass, particularly, is almost buried. Vocally, he’s a modem crooner; with a lack of selfconsciousness which pleads for sentiment on the softer numbers but can tear loose on the flash stuff like “Wolfman Jack”.

Most of his songs center on emotional entanglements of one sort or another; dramas which are developed and acted out, with plenty of room afforded for the listener’s participation. His success as a songwriter hinges on his ability to present his situations so thatthey are at once both wonderfully universal and yet somehow intimate. Everybody can relate to the loss of “Cold Morning Light” or the longing of “Marlene”, yet their power lies in the certainty that they came so directly from Todd. More than once he’s helped me merely by articulating something I was feeling at a time when I was groping for the right words. Friends like that are hard to come by.

His lyrics aren’t always that striking, but the music is strong enough to carry you until a line pops out and wounds your heart immediately. The melodic structure of his songs is always solid, such that you find yourself mouthing the sounds even if the words don’t quite fall into place. “I Saw The Light” is evidence enough that he’s familiar with the makings of a hit single, and that his name should continue to be a familiar one on the Top 40 charts in time to come.

The reason that he chose to do the first three sides solo was most likely to see how far he Could exercise his personal capabilities, putting him in a situation where he had only to contend with himself. Most of the ideas which have come to fruition here can be traced all the way back to the three Nazz albums on Atlantic, but to realize them, however, it seems that he (literally) had to do it all himself. On the other hand, you just know that he’s got to be one of those musicians who finds no greater pleasure than in interacting with other people. And now that he’s seen that he can do it all, his band ventures should prove to be even more rewarding.

Which is, I guess, what side four is all about. Essentially a collection of loose ends, he imposed a framework which presents us with a socio-historical picture of Rundgren masquerading as a pop operetta. Despite the fact that this side contains some of the album’s finest music — a new redition of “Hello It’s Me” and a gospelish “Dust In The Wind” — the significance is that the energy level increases noticeably. Where he created the atmosphere before, he now becomes a participant, and sets us up perfectly for the product of the new band he’s assembled.

These two records won’t hit you at once; they work more like a time-release cold capsule. I’ve had the record for some time now, and though it’s seldom off my turntable, each succeeding week sees me coming back to a different set of songs. To write a really comprehensive review of this album I’d probably have to wait until next November, but only pedants are comprehensive so I’ll let you discover the track-by-track particulars for yourself.

Something!Anything? stands as perhaps the finest work released yet this year, a blend of all concievable colors and moods into one cohesive and constantly moving statement. After years spent standing just out of reach of the spotlight, Todd Rundgren has made his grand entrance. Perhaps Something /Anything? was consciously designed, not as an exposition of genius, but as Todd’s way of calling attention to himself, of saying, “Hey, it’s me. I’m finally here and this time you’ll remember my name.” If that’s the case, then this album’s primary value is as an introduction to the man and an invitation to his future. It’s an invitation that nobody can afford to pass up; Todd Rundgren’s name may be worth its weight in gold, but you’ll soon discover that his music is worth at least twice as much.

Ben Edmonds