Reviews (page 6 of 7)
That’s too much Todd Rundgren. Double albums should be special. This one isn’t.
This is a three star album grafted onto a one star yacht rock album
Interesting, first song the signature
A strange mush mash of songs that didn’t really feel cohesive as an album. Also a range of conflicting song styles though most were on the bland side. A couple of good ones though and certainly this offering was much better than the last we had of his. Way too long though as well.
Hmm pretty bland and nothing like the eccentric album we had before. It all plodded along in a 70s style that didn’t get anywhere but took a long time getting there.
In its defence it’s nowhere near as appallingly awful as his other album we’ve been given. But that was an epically low bar. So this one is just mostly really tedious in comparison - double album length as always not helping. He does wheel out a couple of half decent tunes when he gets a bit rockier. Generally speaking though there’s just some weird bits that feels like the whole thing is some sort of strange joke that we’re not in on. Scrapes a 2*.
Little too soft rock for me
Another boring double LP I have no interest in listening to. Was abouth as mid,uninteresting,repetitive and bland as is it possibly could be.
Dated and cheesy even for the time
Pleasant. Not necessarily my cup of tea but I didn't hate it. Okay as background music but not sure I'd listen to it out of choice again.
Das Doppelalbum wirkt wie ein endloses “schumm‑schumm” ohne echten Spirit. Die Stücke plätschern aneinander vorbei, ohne Konzept, ohne Zug, ohne Funken. Viel Fleiß, wenig Seele – und am Ende bleibt mehr Ermüdung als Eindruck.
Pretty mid ngl, don’t really feel like this went anywhere or did much thought the hour and a half it was on. Didn’t have time for multiple listens (due to the runtime) so may have missed something, but I’m not racing back to this 2.5
Don't really know anything about Todd Rundgren but I recognize the first song. It's a bit cheesy for my taste but we will see if it gets any better. Yeah this is just like generic 70's rock, nothing that stands out. Maybe it was the first time this cheesy style was ever made and if so good for them but def not for me. Like what the hell is Piss Aaron?
Absolutely no reason for this to be 90 mins long
Too much 70's yacht rock on this list Best Song: I Saw the Light Rating: 5/10 Stars: 2
Well, banger the drum all day this is not. Thats all I ever knew about Todd rundgren and I kinda want that back. But let's back up, this isnt horrible. Its a bit too produced and clean. Its pop rock I guess. Not really my bag. Its also incredibly dorky at times. The viking song? Yuck. The song about a piss guy? Kinda funny but still not very enjoyable. And it just never ends. 90 minutes is too much for music that feels this shallow. I was checking how many tracks were left constantly. Only 18 more to go woooo. I wad done after like 5 or 6 tracks. My favorite song was couldnt I just tell you. But favorite is a relative term. I still never want to hear it again. It just had some teeth. Hello its me is also OK but i was so beat down by the time I got to that track i couldnt enjoy it at all. So at the end of it all its fine but im not into it in almost any way. Too poppy and uninteresting. And it has never heard of brevity. And thats the worst of it all.
Steely Dan’s Aja then this. What have I done to upset the random generator? This was even more dull than Aja.
(2.75)
A bit same same. Can’t say I’m going to rush out to buy a Todd Rundgren CD.
There were bits of this that I enjoyed but it needs some serious serious editing - I am bored at the 50 min mark, how am I only halfway through? Cut it to a 40 min album and this could get a 4. As it stands this is Goodbye Yellow Brick Road without the hits 2*
This really did not need to be a double album
Snoozefest
#337/1001. Should I say something about this album? I don't think it was anything.
A fever dream marathon that doesn't earn it's length. 4/10
65
This is probably a 6/10 if it wasn't so damn long. Definitly didn't need to be an hour and a half long. 4/10
Maximalist soft rock, like Gram Parsons meets Stevie Wonder - piano-driven songwriting with lush arrangements, loads of synths, easy-going moods, gentle harmonies, a hint of twang, and a blissed out hazy California sunset vibe. But its so easy-going and so soft it rarely coalesces into anything tangible, its a series of loose impressions, of passing feelings. It feels like it was made as a demonstration of what you can do with a state of the art early 70s recording studio.
Half of this shit just sounds like the Carpenters to me (no offense to the Carpenters).
Middle of the road 70s.pop.
Generally finding this rather bland and not inspiring - but I did like Black Maria. Album not really to my taste though.
Well, I enjoyed some of it but really don’t care for it.
Wow that album is really long.
Album muy raro, comienza siendo algo rítmico y feliz, mientras avanzan las canciones el album se vuelve medio oscuro, con sonidos raros luego se transforma en una especie mas de rock n roll. Es como si te hubieras drogado y el grupo juega ping pong con tu cabeza en diferentes velocidades y no entiendes que está pasando
I couldn't get into this at all. It opened ok and then I lost interest. I made it through the first album but couldn't face the second one.
Why is this so long
Nice album cover. The album was ok.
It's so beige
When you ask an AI music generator incapable of memorable art to spit out some 1970s light rock or soft pop, this is what it will produce. Listenable without attention. I’m surprised any of these songs are remotely popular because I can barely tell them apart.
25 songs and only 2 hits. This album should have been edited down to 8 songs and it still would have felt like a drag to listen to and the length too long. Double albums almost never work. Yet again here is another example.
Favorite Song: I Saw the Light
i don't understand the mindset of a person who has the audacity to record a 90 minute album but then produce something that is so safe. for the most part it's not even that this is actively bad, most of it hovers around Perfectly Fine, and occasionally even good, but there's not something that is binding this together beyond ego to make its length feel warranted. this is a double album split into four distinct segments, so a quadruple EP if you will. that's quite tiresome. capstone it all with a song that is just rank misogyny. a shame when it opens well, the only saving grace.
I just didn’t quite vibe with this. Very long, didn’t love how much it leant towards 70s easy listening/pop, which is not a preferred genre for me
That was a rather insipid album. Nothing I need to ever hear again.
Ein Album seiner Zeit aber ein vielseitiger Musiker
Not a Rundgren fan but I love “hello, it’s me.” And it reminds me of this movie Duets from 2000 with Paul Giamatti, Huey Lewis and Gwenyth Paltrow. Giamatti’s character covers Hello it’s Me - classic movie
Most double albums can feel like a bit of a slog, and Something/Anything? unfortunately falls into that category for me. There is no doubt that Todd Rundgren is incredibly talented, and you can hear the ambition all over this record. With 25 tracks there is a huge amount going on, shifting between pop, rock and more experimental moments. The harmonies are strong, particularly early on, and there are some interesting musical changes that show just how capable he is as a songwriter and producer. The problem is simply the length. At over two dozen songs it feels far longer than it needs to be. For me the album would be much stronger if it had been cut down significantly. After the opening stretch the songs start to blur together and it becomes repetitive rather than engaging. In My Eyes is a fantastic opener and sets the album off brilliantly, but from there it gradually loses momentum. The intro sections and some of the instrumental pieces feel unnecessary and add to the sense that the record could have been edited down into a far tighter and more impactful album. Favourite song: I Saw the Light Least favourite song: The introductory segments and instrumental passages that slow the album down Album artwork: I love the cover. Bright, memorable and very much of its era
This album had me questioning if it was ever going to do Something/Anything. After an hour of nothing "Little red lights" was pretty good. Overture sounds like a demo but I love that shit/ High 2. Too long and aside from the above 2 songs didn't do anything to standout.
Opens with the hit single "I Saw the Light" which I vaguely remember. But on the whole I found the album rather boring - it might have been cutting-edge back in the early 1970s, but it sounds a bit jaded now.
Oh, fuck me. 90 minutes of 70s easy listening pablum? No thanks. I jumped around a bit to try different songs and they all sucked hairy coconuts.
An "interesting" historical document at least, and from that perspective I suppose I'm reasonably happy this is on the list. But it's dated and far too long, obviously. I see this mainly as a representation of all the odd appearances on Top of Pops repeats from the early 70s by artists that you have absolutely no recollection of ever existing. And which sound terrible with modern ears. There are exceptions of course (Fox mainly), but there was some absolutely shite in the charts at that time. And this represents much of that quite nicely. It has merit on the list, which saves it from a panning. But it's really, really dated.
Not my thing
I liked this album. I didn't realize this was Todd who sang, "I Saw The Light." This album hit all the right nerves for me.
Låååååång! Massor med låtar och en hel del skips för min del. Gillade I saw the light och några till men inte riktigt min grej. Lite tråkig...
This was a bit of a rollercoaster ride. At first I was extremely skeptical. A double album of seventies blues rocks did not appeal. It sometimes feels like there are more seventies blues rock albums by bearded men on this list than the total number of albums by women. Then I grudgingly had to admit that there was more interesting stuff going on with the production and musical styles than I'd expected. Then he started singing about loving teenage girls and calling women sluts.
Sounds very 60s but just kinda keeps going
Not sure why, but this just doesn’t do (something/) anything for me. The same is true for all the Todd Rundgren albums I’ve listened to for this project. They just feel generic and unremarkable. Also, I’m annoyed to have gotten several extra-long albums this past week, none of which I’ve especially enjoyed. A spiteful 2.5
2 stars Double album of mostly lounge music. Often uninteresting and at times annoying. Side D could have been scrapped all together and could have easily been a mediocre single LP rather than a frustrating double. There were moments of interest (good instrumentation on “Little Red Lights” and a decent opening ditty), but I’d never sit through this album in its entirety again.
It was pleasant, not particularly memorable
It’s nice for Todd that he got to indulge himself in the studio. Not so good for the listener though. He could have done with some supervision. This just doesn’t engage me at all. I was willing if to be over. And some of the lyrics are questionable. Not feeling it
Butt
Eerste 2 nr aardig. Rest niet mijn ding
This is my second Todd Rundgren album in a week. The previous one (A wizard. a true star) slightly surprised me - it was better than I expected, more psychedelic and adventurous. This album though, is full-on hyper-boring soft rock. It's so faint and inoffensive that is almost becomes offensive. And "Slut" - what's that about? I'll give a 2 because I keep my 1's for music I dislike AND wasn't even written by the artist themselves. At least these songs are of the artist's own doing, and musically it's played well, he sings in tune etc. Definitely on my "must not hear before I die" list.
quite bad aged, not only this album but the whole genre
I'm intrigued by the fact that he played all the musical parts, besides the female harmonies. I'm less intrigued by the songs themselves. But the fact that he's Liv Tyler's biological father? Fascinating.
Baustelle, Gerstetten, Deutschland. Furchtbar öde.
First it was kinda good, then pretty bad, then okay again
Something / Anything? / Too much of everything at the end.
turra
Tiene algunas canciones buenas, pero es una buena turra
Oh just fuck off ...some nice songs and soundscapes
You start making an album of the Greatest Rejected TV Theme Songs, get bored and drop the tiniest little bit of acid, get a little trippy, but then you realize it wasn’t even good acid and now you’ve plateaued, your album is as exciting as a reheated microwave dinner, and you’re just a whiny boring coward. You wish you were cool like some of the rock stars who sometimes let you hang out with them.
4/10 You really feel every one of those 90 minutes.
Ok album. Didn't like the ballads but all of the songs had something interesting going on in them. Also the album was way too long for my taste especially as the songs were ok at best.
I want my hour and a half back. Critics, explain yourselves.
todd needs to learn to quit while he's ahead
Weird journey of an album. Obviously miles too long but seems like this is because its actually two or three albums rolled into one. Didn't like the start but it morphed into something more psychedelic towards the end and I quite liked some of the tracks.
There isn’t a double album in existence that justifies its length, and this certainly didnt change that
This was such a bloated album. It's way, way too long for how boring it is
It’s impressive that he did all of the instruments and produced this himself, but the end result kind of feels like and Elton John ripoff. And it’s so, so long with many songs that, while not bad, are not particularly good. Dust In the Wind and (unfortunately titled) Slut were the only ones I was interested in. Could have cut so much. High 2.
Another artist where I am familiar with the name, but had no idea what they sounded like. Quite a diverse record musically, but not always to my taste. Not really any standout songs (at least on a first listen), but also not a lot I would skip on a re-listen (maybe a couple songs).
An grand experiment that honestly requires a libretto to understand as there are so many different pieces. Just did not do anything for me.
Starts strong but becomes exhausting really fast.
To my reckoning I only know one Todd song. Luckily it's a good'un, appearing on arguably the greatest Comedy and greatest movie soundtrack of all time - Dumb and Dumber. The CD soundtrack is so packed that that song doesn't even appear on it, bizarrely. Todd "Carty" Rundgren is of course better known for his infamous stints in both Grange Hill, EastEnders, and for skating 'uo the wrong chute' in Twats On Ice. Before he was Tucker Jenkins-ing all over the Dining Hall, he was recording unnecessarily long albums featuring songs about love, falling in love, being in love, luvin', and love. This seems to be one such album. Some good tracks on here, none quite as good as the Grange Hill theme tune, and it far outstays its welcome - also like the Sausage launching kids show. I am currently eating very potent Salt N Vinegar crisps. Points for all the faff and experimentation and for doing most of it himself, but the majority of the songs aren't very good. There are simply too many songs and for all of the experiments so many of the songs are copy pastes. I will never fathom why songs 9-13 are all present when any one of the songs would have been enough, each sharing the identical plinky plonky piano sounds and rhythm. The spoken word song has no business being on the album - indulgent, dated nonsense. It's disappointing as I was looking forward to this, having loved Can We Still Be Friends and enjoyed the first handful of songs. But my patience only goes so far and as much as I held out to give this a three star review, it just isn't deserving.
Not really/no
Definitely less out there and interesting than his last album we had. None of it grabbed me at all really. It all felt more familiar though, like it had been done before. Which I didn't really expect. Meh. 2.5. Won't be back
Slow and cheesy 70s rock with some weird stuff mixed in. Really didn’t enjoy this at all. And way too long. Could’ve been a 1.
Pretty forgettable 70s soft rock.
Dull
Schmalz from 71.
ok
A few somethings, mostly nothings. A lot of the material seems jokey. Reminds me of a Zappa album - and that’s a bad thing - in that there’s a lot of just dicking around in the studio. Notable tracks include I Saw The Light, Couldn’t I Just Tell You, Dust In The Wind, Hello It’s Me.
Pop, 1972 -> 2
no
First song is one of those I've heard before slapped on a hits of the 70s and then immediately forgotten about. Maybe this is a bigger deal somehow but doesn't seem to be any different than the midfield.
Muy happy flower pero y habria sido no demasiado cansino si no fuera porque tiene 300 canciones, como me suele pasar, disfruto mas de las canciones instrumentales (en este caso 1, que me recuereda a una mezcla entre plantasia y mario kart)
Decent start, but the whole second disk could easily be cut from this album.
52/1001 First listen. Never sought out a Todd Rundgren song before much less a whole album. A double album even! I like that each side has its own theme. I like that they’re only 3 or 4 minutes long. There’s a clear radio single here and then the rest. Sounds fine but I’m not coming back to this. 4/10
I was looking forward to this one, but it's honestly a slog. There are some gems on here, but it's definitely full of some garbage too. If the tracklist was reigned in 15-20 minutes, it would be much better. Best Songs: I Saw the Light, Cold Morning Light, It Takes Two to Tango, Black Maria, Hello It's Me Worst Songs: The Night the Carousel Burned Down, Overture, Slut
Soppy shite. Just bland run of the mill saturday tv family gameshow appearing drabness.
Snork. Første låta er det eneste som er noe her.
Don't think I'd ever listened to Todd Rundgren before. Not sure I will again.
Individual songs are good but I’m rating the entire album and man it was tough getting through this.
This was too long, and somehow - despite the changes of style and genre - all very similar. Maybe the idea of developing a song while recording it isn't the best way to create something unique.
As is always the way with hugely talented musicians, there's a total lack of quality control. Track 1 is clearly one of the greatest pop songs ever written. It goes massively downhill from there. While there's the odd pleasant moment, with editing this could have made a pretty good single LP. For a double, it drags. The decision to leave in the studio chatter on side 4 makes that feel like a bunch of bonus tracks, and the last track leaves a really unpleasant taste in the mouth. Some good tracks, but I don't think I would recommend this to anyone. A mid-high 2*
A weird hodge podge of not very interesting songs. I thought I would like this. I didn't.
Some good songs but certainly didn’t justify its run time. Meh.
Singer gems in there but not an album you're likely to put on ever
It’s been over 900 albums since I reviewed Todd Rundgren’s A Wizard, a True Star, and here we are with its predecessor. I don’t remember much about AWaTS, but I gave it three stars, and my review says that I thought it was fine (for some reason, I remember picking up some dry cleaning on the day I listened to it, but that could be a bullshit memory; there’s a mural close to my dry cleaner’s that has a similar color scheme to AWaTS’s cover, so maybe that’s where the association comes from. Isn’t the mind a bizarre thing?). I’m curious to see what this album is like, but I’ll admit that I’m not super keen on the idea of listening to Todd Rundgren for 90 minutes. Unfortunately, Something/Anything wasn’t really my cup of tea. Yes, the amount of work that Todd Rundgren put into this album himself is impressive, and he’s a talented musician, but Something/Anything is bloated, and pretty uneven across its four sides. There were a few good songs on this album, but there were also large swaths of it that I really didn’t care for. I think Todd Rundgren is one of those artists who falls under the category of “your favorite musician’s musician,” but his work just doesn’t wow me, because I don’t find it particularly unique, and it’s not the type of music I gravitate towards. I have some notes on each section of the album: Side one of the album was pretty good. “I Saw the Light” was definitely the most notable song on the whole record. I thought it was just a really good, beautiful pop song. Its sound was really well-layered, and there was a lot of emotion in the softer sound of the vocals. “It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference” was good too, but not as good as “I Saw the Light.” There were some good little details in the arrangements, like the tinkling of the cymbals. I thought the bridge was pretty strong too. “Wolfman Jack” sounded great, and it was really fun. I loved the backing vocals and the horns, and this song had a strong bridge too. Side two of the album definitely lived up to the name “the cerebral side.” I really hate calliope sounding music, so “The Night the Carousel Burned Down” was not my speed. Also, I hated that garbled intro on “Saving Grace,” and this song had a melody very similar to “Carousel,” which I didn’t care for. I was glad there was no calliope involved on “Saving Grace,” but man, I wanted to move really far away from “Carousel,” and this song didn’t deliver on that. The only song on this part of the album that I remotely cared for was “I Went to the Mirror.” I didn’t care for it when it started, but I liked the bluesy sound it developed into. The third side of the album was my favorite part. “Black Maria” was pretty good, and I liked that it kept that blues vibe from the end of “I Went to the Mirror.” “One More Day” was really nice too, and I liked its soft sound. Todd’s vocals went along with the music really well. “Couldn’t I Just Tell You” had a great foot-tapping rhythm that I really enjoyed, and I thought the overall rock sound was really good. On the last side of the album, only a couple of songs stood out to me. “Dust in the Wind” was good, and I was glad that this wasn’t related to the Kansas song in any way. The lyrics were good, as was the overall sound, and I liked the backing vocals and the saxophone. “Piss Aaron,” while feeling pretty out of place on this album, was pretty entertaining. The lyrics felt like something off of a Primus or Ween album. While Something/Anything had some good moments, most of the album just wasn’t my speed. A lot of these songs failed to do anything that I thought was unique or interesting, and side two of the album was really grating to me. Sorry Todd Rundgren, but at least we’ll always have “Bang the Drum All Day.”
Why is it so long?????
Trying to write a review for this album has given me a headache. The album started well, opening with “I Saw the Light”, which is a Rundgren song I have always loved. When I also enjoyed “It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference”, I did wonder whether I might be onto a winner. Almost as soon as I had that thought, two things happened: I realised this was a double album, and I know enough about Todd Rundgren to know the wheels would come off at some point if you give him long enough, and “Wolfman Jack” started. From there on in, it was a steady descent into madness, culminating with the last few tracks. I’ve never heard a blues track about a teenager who pisses wherever he feels like it, and nor do I wish to again, and the less said about the closing track the better.
This was looooooooooong. I ironed all my kid's school uniform, then prepped a Sunday dinner and made a chocolate pear pudding, and it was still going. I knew I Saw The Light from somewhere but otherwise was going into this blind. It was surprisingly varied, so there was bound to be at least one good track for most people. In my case I really liked Wolfman Jack, The Night The Carousel Burned Down (which felt a bit Harry Nilsson to me) and Little Red Lights. I Went To The Mirror was interesting, though I'm not sure I could entirely say I enjoyed it. Surprisingly I did enjoy Todd explaining studio screw ups during Intro (the last time I got a lesson on a 1001 Album, it was Ravi Shankar trying to educate me about Sitars and I did not appreciate that one little bit). The hit rate was pretty low for me, and the ridiculous length means it gets marked down. Would have been a 2.5 with half marks, but I'm rounding down. 2/5
I listened to this yesterday but literally don’t even remember anything about it while writing the review now. Was definitely greatly overshadowed by my discovery of the new Cure album yesterday.
Nobody needs this much Todd rundgren.
Something/Anything? must've been his criteria for inclusion on the album. Occasional gems that are not the hits can be found, but it's nearly 90 minutes of Todd Rundgren when a brief 30-minute EP would've been my preference — at least it was an easy listen?
I Saw the Light...the big hit off a double album. I wonder what makes bands think double albums are a good idea. I Saw the Light is the big hit and it's the first song...this is going to be a long listen. This is vastly superior to the other album he had on the list though. I might actually like Todd Rundgren? Nevermind, Todd Rundgren sucks. And his stupid Intro seven tracks in is really dumb. Wow, this just keeps getting worse. Little Red Lights is one of the least cool songs about a car ever and there is some serious competition for that dishonor. The little interlude of a studio session is better than most of the album. My god, it gets worse as it goes on. If this was two sides, it would be at least one side higher...the second two sides would still be one lower so maybe the system works? Piss Aaron makes me realize that this is like a combination of Chicago and Harry Nilsson, but it is definitely worse than the sum of its parts. Hello It's Me doesn't have that many listens on Spotify but it's definitely the song I'm most familiar with other than I Saw the Light.
Cheese overdose
Was considering giving this a 3 when the track "Breathless" came on and just tanked the entire fucking thing. And then I realized that it wasn't even halfway over. I'm sure these were new and exciting sounds when this album came out in 1972 but it just sounds old and dated. There's some really good guitar stuff on here like Black Maria but it's few and far between. Would have liked this a lot more if there were more songs like "Couldn't I Just Tell You"and "Little Red Lights" which absolutely slaps. Yeah, give me a whole album of Little Red Lights, Some Folks Is Even Whiter Than Me, Black Maria, Couldn't I Just Tell You and Rolling Stones inspired Slut (which seems at odds with the rest of the shit he's got on this album). Overall, too goddamn long, too all over the place and just a slog. This is an hour and a half I can't get back.
This is not Harry Nilsson's best record.
# Album Name: Something-Anything # Artist: Todd Rundgren # Rating: 2/5 # Comments: Honestly, i was fleeting between a 1 or a 2 for this. Starts out with a banger then just goes on and on and on and fucking on. No one in there right mind should produce a double album unless you really are that good. We've seen it many times on this list. why do people think its a good idea? Couple of good songs but considering theres 25 tracks its like fuck me dead. Wayyyyyyy too long. # Top Tunes: i saw the light / black maria / wouldnt make any difference / hello its me / # Would I listen to it again? No
Eh
4 albums in 1 ? I liked the third one best.. It was more psychadelic - especially the ending.
On this double LP, three sides feature songs with Rundgren on every instrument - ambitious certainly, but ultimately yielding little more than a string of sub-Beatles pop rock tracks, with no real magic aside from "I Saw The Light". Side four sees him working with a rotating set of musicians and contains the excellent "Hello, It's Me", along with several *really* regrettable choices. When working with other bands (like XTC and The Tubes), Rundgren has shown himself to be an excellent producer, but perhaps having someone else in the producer's chair for this record might've made for a much tighter single LP.
Not only is this album exceptionally long, it's also impressively boring and unmemorable. What is it doing on here? 2/5
Not for me
boring
25 songs that all sound the exact same
An overly long mish-mash of largely mediocre tunes.
90 minute album which felt 300 minutes long. So boring.
This was a mixed bag. A couple of tracks were ok
I understand that Todd Rundgren is well respected in the business as both a musician and producer, but by the end of the 90+ minute run time of this album, the answer to the title question could easily have been 'Something/Anything?/Nothing.'
Oof this was not a great one. Went on for way too long and just the most bland dad/yacht-rock out there. Very little enticing me to come back to it at any point in the future. 3.75/10 (1.875/5)
torturous listening experience 4/10
typical 70s pop rock.... which means "shitty". That's what I mean when I say that. Shitty.
Not particularly impressed. Apparently he's a big deal.
Meh
A handful of enjoyable tracks but seemed few and far between with such a long runtime. Could have been a three if it was shorter.
After the first track: where have you been all my life Todd? After the rest of the album: yeah, ok, back into obscurity again please. As with other albums by ”geniouses” that play all their instruments themselves it lacks that certain groove tight bands can create together.
If you’ve ever wondered how the popular TV format Gogglebox – “Celebrity Watch Party” in the USA; I’d like to say something sarcastic about that, but I absolutely can’t imagine normal Americans watching normal Americans watch TV either – would work for music, then toss a coin into Todd’s uncanny jukebox and experience the joy of wasting money. Talent here isn’t the problem, either in front of the microphones or behind the desk. As a musician and as a producer, Todd is good, maybe even one of the best. The songwriting, similarly, is consistently strong, often interesting. And yet something rankles; I’m increasingly irritated by the feeling that I’m listening to an eclectic mixtape of mangled pastiches. I’ve stepped into cave of wonders where the treasures are the echoes that bounce from the walls. Yes “Song of the Vikings” sounds very much like the Beach Boys, “I saw the light” like Carole King … but why should I give a shit? If we put the dodgy tribute acts to one side (and let’s say nothing about the final seven or so tracks … regrettable), there’s stuff on this double album to actually enjoy – “It wouldn’t have made any difference” is a sublime pop song with a truly fantastic middle 8, “Wolfman Jack” is silly but also a quite brilliant vocal. On the whole, though, this album feels like it sets out to prove a point but ends up confirming the opposite. Pop music might be formulaic, but something about “Something/Anything?” just doesn’t add up.
Awww 70s soft rock... not even fun enough to be called yacht rock.
Rather boring.
Talented obviously but not really my thing
Yes, it’s always impressive when one person can play all instruments and mix and record everything singlehandedly. But oh my God this is boring
Thankfully, YouTube only had half of this long double album so I was spared the pain of listening to the whole thing. A couple of the songs were OK, most were garbage. The 2 radio "hits" are mediocre at best. I always thought one of them was by Carole King. Sorry to disparage you Ms. King!
This was okay. Then it was way too long. And weird.
A fine album, just not for me.
Not for me
Went from fine to annoying by the end of this very long record.
JFC, this is a long ass record. There's some stuff on here I didn't mind, but the sheer amount of it made it fairly insufferable by the end.
Really, this hasn't aged well and I don't think many of these 70s/80s albums were something special to that older crowd, yacht-rock lovers. But really, this is just banal studio work. Great, Todd. But learn to play well with others. Another voice in the room might've pulled you back from the general boring shite this is. The 1st 2 tracks are truly awesome and then it just drops off the cliff into a pile of boring shite. And then to make matters worse, we have CD filler for a 2nd album/disc. OMG...crap!
Just kinda boring
piss aaron right before hello its me is crazy
point8.
Didn't really care for it. Was noodly and fun in spots but it just didn't really come together for me.
Bit of a struggle to get through this double album. A few very good tracks but most of the material felt lightweight and inconsequential to me.
I had high hopes but unfortunately I just couldn't get into this.
Didn't really enjoy this one. Had a lot of styles and a few decent tracks were hidden in there.
There's a good (but likely not great) album buried in this sprawling mess. If you, say, took the top 3 songs from each of the album's 4 parts and then mixed them together. You'd probably having a solid album of sunny 70s AM radio pop. But, as is, this album collapses under Todd's inability to self edit.
I know mainstream media is dead and there isn't really a monoculture anymore, but it's crazy to think there used to be this gamut of programming on network TV that had an entire sector of people devoted to it - actors, writers, craft services -- and obviously music: theme songs, scoring, etc. & it wasn't just the seminal shows everyone's parents watched like MASH & Happy Days. There was mediocre dreck too like One Day at a Time, the White Shadow, and Reno. You wouldn't even know if I made one of those up. But all of Todd Rungren's music basically sounds like music for those mediocre 70s shows. Aping some form of a real genre but never really nailing it. Cheesy and obvious. Not really enjoyable. But it's there because the Valerie Bertinelli spin-off needed a theme song.
A variety of styles in one album. Feels a bit too long and indulgent though, these types of songs Paul McCartney does better at.
if he could pick the 10 best songs this would be a 3 or even a 4 stars album
Nothing about it was bad, but I found it boring and long. The pop rock sound isn't really for me. 4/10
126th album I listen to… first time I comment. Todd… you gotta know when to stop. Soooooooo loooooooong.
This is so outstandingly average. If it was half the length it would be a 3, but how could anyone listen to an hour and a half of this?
Ajoittain ihan hyviä biisejä mut liian sekava
The guy who shot Lennon was a huge Rundgren fan
Probably deserves more than 2, nothing really wrong with it. But I'll never listen again, didn't interest me.
2 - Solo lo salva la primer canción,... sino sería 1
Some real drivel, close to Steely Dan in its unpalatable array, but there are some interesting tracks that make this not an entire miss.
Idk
Like nok bedre da andre albumet hans
60s/70s pop/rock just aint it for me
So many songs, so many different types of genre. Really impressive that Todd did 3/4 of the album all alone. Unfortunately, none of the songs are any good
Nothing really grabbed me.
for the most part this is fine to listen to but then it goes on for so long and Piss Aaron is there and it fills me with contempt
Mostly inoffensive but overall forgettable and a large amount of it.
Long, boring album that all sounds the same.
Not really my cup of tea, but wouldn't be bad as background music. Wolfman Jack was pretty good, but the rest wasn't for me. 2*
This gave steely Dan but less zazz, then went Free / Bad Company. A lot variety here that ended up feeling a bit beige, pretty inoffensive. Piss Aaron and Black Maria were standouts. Slut has not aged well at all so album loses a point for that
Nice album art. Sonically it was catching my attention. Twice I assumed it should be done or that it had looped over. It all blended together a bit much.
Feels like Todd was trying to change up the genres on this album. Some of it was yacht rock, some straight up adult contemporary/soft rock, and then out of nowhere a doors sounding track or two. And none of them worked for me.
dadcore
Not enjoying this. My favorite song is Slut because it’s fun and kinda rocks. There was a LOT of filler on this album.
I understand the importance and influence of Todd Rundgren from reading about him. But I can’t say that I hear it listening to his solo albums. At least “Something/Anything?” is better than the wizard one - he was never really a true star despite his impact, and certainly not a wizard. Doesn’t take much to be better than “A Wizard, A True Hero,” though. “Something/Anything?” starts out bland and innocuous enough, but once you get to the “Intro” on the 7th track, things occasionally go off the rails. And when the whole thing stretches for an hour and a half, there’s no tolerance for that. And, um, is that final song serious or satire?
The Good: It isn’t nothing! The Bad: Still don’t know if it is something… The Ugly: Wasn’t really hoping for anything… Is it easy listening? Is it pop? Is it Rock? Is it experimental? Todd needs to make up his mind, that’s for sure. I am grateful that he’s been able to totally explain to me what hiss sounds like! In good faith I can’t score this album higher than 2 1/2*, and because he’s unsure as to what the album is, that means a downgrade…
3/10 No thanks, Todd was too mellow in the 70s. Its like listening to carpet being tred on. 3-19-2025
I had to search my memory to come up with a Todd Rundgren song. Not exactly memorable. I see dome reviewers raved and gave this nothing in particular album a 5. 🫢 Perhaps they’d just listened to 5 heavy metal albums in a row?
Didn't like it. Reminded me partly of Carole Kind and her I don't like at all.
The opening is actually fairly decent. Hard to hate, but nothing to really love either. Goes completely of the rails with the examples of bad production techniques - just fix your shit man. The listener didn't hire subpar studio crew for you. Song of the viking is somehow even worse than the complaints about his producers. Maybe if he cut some of the completely pointless shit, we wouldn't have to suffer through 24 tracks and 90 minutes.
Pues lo he escuchado como el que oye llover, ni me he enterado, ni me he molestado en ver el nombre de ninguna canción.
Bloated and self-indulgent pop/ rock. The decision here was whether this was bad enough for 1 star, or if there was just about enough to scrape 2 stars. There was certainly a lot of padding, annoying interruptions to lecture about how to produce music, some comedy songs that fell flat, a little light rock. It felt like someone trying to rip off the Beatles, but ending up sounding more like Elton John. Not great, but the relief of finishing this made me decide to go for a low 2 stars.
This started off well, but then just turned into generic unoffensive 70’s soft-rock. If this was shorter this might’ve gotten a higher rating, but 25 songs was a lot to listen to without much variety. Also the random intro track about audio errors was odd.
I understand he was a pioneer on the forefront of a lot of things I like, but this album was both boring and long for me.
Most of the songs on this album have not aged well. "I Went to the Mirror" and "Couldn't I Just Tell You" are okay, but if I were to hear "I Saw The Light" or "Hello It's Me" on some 70s pop-music station, I would immediately change the channel -- way too saccharine for my tastes.
Middle of the road dad rock
You can tell Rundgren is a producer and no one was around to stop him from doing whatever he wanted. No one needs to listen to 90 mins of dad pop rock. It’s not bad. A lot going on, very studioy. All pop rock til the very end. Nothing stands out 4.8/10
This had some ok songs, but what a slog. Too long by a LOT.
I kept waiting for this album to give me something, anything that I would enjoy; alas, I never saw the light.
This goes a little too hard in the pop realm for me to love. Honestly, it gets more irritating the I longer it goes on, and this is a LONG album. There are a lot of moments when it starts to "rock", but there is still some weird polish on it that makes it feel toothless and safe. Great performance, both technically and musically, but aside from a few moments here-and-there (Little Red Lights, solos on Slut) I just couldn't get into it.
J'ai eu beaucoup moins de plaisir à écouter cet album que A Wizard, A True Star. Ça avait les défauts de cet album sans avoir l'aspect plus expérimental qui m'accrochait. L'album est aussi beaucoup trop chargé. Il serait plus intéressant s'il était un peu plus épuré. 4/10
Like a couple songs, the rest was meh
Never really got this band. Boring. What gives?
A lot of this was actually "pleasant" to listen to. It's not quite easy-listening, but it's also not really rock music either. His voice isn't that great, and the songs don't really have a catchy hook to them. Weird, huh? I guess that this is the musical equivalent of Jell-O: somewhere between liquid and solid. It's not a main course, but works okay as filler.
This is #day153 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and... if you're making an almost 90-minute-long album, you've got to keep the listener engaged all the way through, right? And I wasn't. Actually, I couldn't finish it. This is a 2 out of 5. P.S. Overture–My Roots is blocked on Spotify, thanks God. Looking forward to #day154.
Not seeing the appeal of this one
Not toooooo horrible
Blind album and artist. The album had a couple good songs but overall I was not vibing or really enjoying it. It dragged at parts and at the end of me ultimately.
2/5
Track one, radio 2 classic. Banging opening. The rest very "meh"
Yacht rock. Bad at that. Not sure how it has a 3 average. 2 is being generous.
Ik was aanvankelijk best positief hierover, want dit is gewoon lekker gezapige 70's muziek, maar toen zag ik dat het album 25 nummers omvat met een totale lengte van anderhalf uur. Qua punten is het dan toch een beetje een slijtageslag. Je begint op een 4, dat zakt naar een 3 en uiteindelijk ga je twijfelen over de 2. Er komen wel wat verschillende stijlen aan bod, ome Todd trekt vanalles uit de kast, maar uiteindelijk blijft het een te lang album. En er staat eigenlijk niks op wat in 2024 nog echt indruk maakt. Het worden 2 sterren. Ik heb er 2,5 dag over gedaan om mezelf hier doorheen te slepen, dat zegt genoeg. Ohja en na dit album begon Spotify automatisch Joni Mitchell te spelen, dus dat zegt eigenlijk ook genoeg.
Goes downhill very quickly after the first song
Okay album. Oldies pop.
A shockingly boring album
Okay. Wouldn't listen again
Too much of this is the sappy poppy stuff that I didn’t like of the early 70’s. There were a couple decent tracks, the stuff with a little more edge for lack of a better word. They were too few and far between though, which left me listening to a double album of mostly 70’s pop.
There's one or two decent tracks scattered throughout but on the the material struggled to keep me interested for the whole double album. The sound has an almost demo like quality, so weirdly it feels like a bootleg. The main issue though is the knowledge that there's far better examples of this genre. On the whole, it's a disappointment.
Something/Anything/Nothing? About one in five songs had some interesting/odd bits. (intro/song of the Viking), but it was largely mush. The last quarter of live sessions was listenable, but not magic. I really like Bang on My Drum, but that's not on this album. File under: Innovative For It's Time
The title say it all: is it something? Is it anything? I don’t know. It had strong moments but it’s way too long.
Don't really have more to say about Todd than I did before, even after a double album. It's kinda not bad but its not good and doesn't connect in any meaningful way.
Yacht Rock...a genre I don't think we have had yet. It starts off fine, nothing super special in my mind, but just was yacht rockesque. Reading I did see he did pretty much all of it himself and there was some cool recording techs on the second half of the album. It got long but the lyrcis were really what bothered me. Slut, just straight up rude, Marlene is 17 and you don't care because you "love" her, Some folks whiter than me...just not going to try and change problems because it ain't your problem, Piss Aaron...I don't even know what is happening in this one. So I don't think I am going to be listening this one again.
The song called "Intro" which is puzzlingly in the middle of the album is a fun look back at 70s music production. Anyway, this wasn't really objectionable except that I didn't really like it? It was also long. Not sure if it is objectively bad or I just wasn't in the right mood.
Generic 70s soft rock interspersed occasionally with truly weird shit.
the absolute blandest 70s soft-rock known to man interspersed with occasional sparks of innovation and humor. there's merit to the idea that this record is worth loving or praising but this left me so cold and bored
A double album of seventies pop-rock is still just seventies pop-rock, in fact less so as there's more of it, if that makes sense.
Det er laaaangt! Og det siger mig intet... Anden halvdel emmer mere af i pro teater end musik..
Hold da op det album er all over the place. Og så er det 90 min. langt. Jeg var stået helt af mentalt da der kom lidt skramlet rock lyd. Og det var for lidt til at redde noget.
Not for me. Not horrible but felt very dated
I saw the light- surprised it was Todd Rundgren. Never listened to him before and won’t again. That was the only song I liked. Got bored with each song and had to skip halfway through each one. Not my cup of tea.
It's not all bad, but it's not great. I'm sure there's a 3 star album between all the filler.
Todd was not really on my radar before, but this is solid stuff.
Arse. Absolute arse.
I do not doubt that Rundgred had an impact on music. But this album did not have a positive effect on me. It's what bored me in the 70s, and does so now too.
Some decent songs but an unfathomable amount of annoying bullshit
I hadn't heard of Todd Rundgren before. Apparently I hadn't missed anything either. I already found the first and apparently best-known track "I saw the light" pretty boring. I was bored listening to three more tracks and then skipped straight to "Hello it's me", which - surprise surprise - I also found boring. Conclusion, a boring album. At least it didn't get on my nerves. 2/5
Man what a slog. First I thought it sounded ok but with someone uninteresting pop. But then it just, nerver, ever, ended. 3 star in there but due to the length 2 star.
Its ok. Slow and kind of boring
There are a few good songs here but not enough for a double album. Overall, I think 2 stars or D+ is where I would rate it.
A mixed bag filled to the brim. Rocky, poppy, psychy, Super Mario Landy. Seems like Todd Rundgren just threw everything he had at the wall, hoping that Something/Anything? would stick. An observant listener or simply life experienced person will realize that this approach usually only ends in a mess.
There's an awful lot going off here. And most of it is bloody awful. Like most double albums, this should have been a single, The early 70's slush stuff would suffice. I'm surprised that I made it all the way to the end. Piss Aaron is a very odd piece of music
Not special and too long
Ik ken Todd Rungdren enkel van een tweetal nummers en zijn beef met John Lennon. Als je kritiek hebt op John Lennon en the Beatles, ligt de lat wel behoorlijk hoog natuurlijk. Spoiler alert: hij geraakt nauwelijks boven de lat, maar duikt er ver onder. Geen verschrikkelijk album, maar nu ook niet iets om naar huis over te schrijven ofzo. 2.4*
Psychedelia Rock which sometimes a good start then gets blantly repetitive.
Decent
Ett sömnpiller. Men det är bättre än rap och hiphop.
Props to Todd for recording most of this music single-handedly, but the songs themselves are a bit 'meh'. Four or five tracks piqued my interest (chief among them the unexpectedly great 'I Went to the Mirror'), but four or five out of 25 isn't a great ratio. 2 / 2.5
I found this a bit too "formula". Happy song - Sad song - rocky song - repeat. Feels very generic.
Very much background music
This album was fine, but a double album was entirely unnecessary. Most of these songs were alike, and they all melded together. I didn't find it unique nor engaging, outside of a few tracks. Bloated listen but not unpalatable. 2.4/5 -> 2/5 I listened to this behemoth again today and feel the same. Just props for him doing this mostly by himself.
meh, cheese rock.
Side 1 - First track really good, followed by loads of songs I can imagine playing on Radio 2 on a Sunday in the 90s. Side 2 - Goofy. Kind of sub-par Brian Wilson Side 3 - 70s guitar wankery / more Radio 2 Side 4 - Overture was missing from the link but it is on Spotify. Wasn't really worth it but I guess it tells a story. I have no strong feelings about the rest of it. More guitar wankery.
123/1001
Soft rock radio Playing this sort on repeat World wide moms rejoice
1. light - 2 2. difference - 1 3. jack - 1 4. cold - 1 5. tango - 0 6. memoriez - 1 7. intro - 0 8. breathlezz - 0 9. carouzel - 1 10. grace - 1 11. marlene - 1.5 12. viking - 0 13. mirror - 1 14. maria - 1 15. day - 1.5 16. tell you - 1 17. torch - 1.5 18. red lightz - 0 19. overture - 1.5 20. uuind - 1 21. aaron - 0 22. hello - 4 23. folkz - 0 24. zore - 1 25. zlut - 0
I like I Saw the Light, Wolfman Jack, Breathless; I kind of like It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference, Song of the Viking , Couldn’t I Just Tell You; ranked lower for lyric issues
boring kind of offensive (2 to tango?? slut???????) way too long!!!! i went to the mirror ganz gut
I think this would have been a fine album had it not way overstayed its welcome. By the time I got to the last few of the 25 songs i was so eager for this album to be over.
Just another crappy 70s album.
This sounds so dated, but in the worst possible way. Just listening to how busy these tracks are, with woo woos and soft flutes, a soft pad synth running through it. There's something proggy about the song structures, with some abandoning time signatures altogether. It's gorgeously constructed and well recorded. But the songs are just shit.
Good in parts utterly bizarre in others
Meh
I did not expect that album to be THAT boring.
Rating: 5/10 Meh.
Too long, 1:30h
Unfocused nonsense that went on way WAY WAAAAY too long.
Hlmm listened the whole album but was a bit too long towards the end, not bad but not my thing still 2.5 tho!
Who knew Dolph Lundgren was such a multi-instrumentalist. I didn’t find the music that enjoyable, and by the end of it I actually quite disliked Dolph. I found it very annoying every time he piped up, even if it did offer a slight release from the monotony of the music.
That was difficult. Imo this is not a good album. Too much shit. If I cut half the songs I still wouldn't like it all that much. A couple of really good songs, a few are ok, but so much shit I just couldn't enjoy myself for a very long time. My respect for Todd Rundgren has dropped a few notches.
An hour and a half is too long for just about any album. That's doubly true when it's as soft and boring as this one. It feels like Toddy knew it was boring, too. He stuck a bunch of weird, out of place interludes in here to try to break up the monotony. And... well, I guess it did that. By making the album even less listenable. It was going to get a middling score for just being so meh but the lyrics are just so often creepy. Like, what's the deal with so many artists from this era fetishizing underage girls? So gross.
Meh.
not for me, couldn't even finish.
01) I Saw the Light - 7,5 02) It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference - 7,0 03) Wolfman Jack - 7,0 04) Cold Morning Light - 7,0 05) It Takes Two to Tango (This Is for the Girls) - 7,0 06) Sweeter Memories - 7,0 07) Intro - 1,0 08) Breathless - 5,0 09) The Night the Carousel Burned Down - 6,5 10) Saving Grace - 7,0 11) Marlene - 6,0 12) Song of the Viking - 6,5 13) I Went to the Mirror - 6,0 14) Black Maria - 7,0 15) One More Day (No Word) - 7,0 16) Couldn't I Just Tell You - 6,0 17) Torch Song - 5,5 18) Little Red Lights - 5,5 19) Overture–My Roots - 1,0 20) Dust in the Wind - 7,0 21) Piss Aaron - 6,0 22) Hello It's Me - 7,0 23) Some Folks Is Even Whiter Than Me - 6,0 24) You Left Me Sore - 6,5 25) Slut - 6,0 TOTAL: 6,04 (60/100) So, 25 tracks and an hour and a half of my life. Was that really necessary? On side one (songs 1 to 6) we can hear unoffensive but not too exciting pop/rock songs of the early 70s. Quite OK. Than side two starts with "Intro". I don't get the purpose of those spoken nonsense, I'm here for the music. "Breathless" is some kind of instrumental that started promising but continued with annoying synthesizers. And than we return to pop/rock or what ever this genre is. At this stage it starts to get a bit boring, and we have 16 more tracks to go! On side three (songs 14-18) I lost any interest and am waiting for the end that surely has to come, right? 7 more songs. Side four... starts with the "Overture" where we have to listen to some other people live records of his favorite songs, or what? Then some more 70s pop-rock. And than the final song called "Slut". And I swear to God I would rather listen to Taylor Swift than this album ever again.
Not my taste in music
Levy alkoi lupaavasti, mutta aika nopeasti kääntyi "rokahtavaksi" lemmenlaivaksi soundin puolelta. Kuuntelin kerran läpi ja olin onnellinen kun levy loppui.
Thought this was decent a third of the way through but it just kept going. Would be a 3* but far too long.
25x nicht mein Ding. Hört sich für mich alles gleich an.
Mostly boring, it's not a sound that appeals to me but it was worth it for Slut!
Too long and boring.
4.5/10
Starts out reasonably catchy but pretty soon the songs are boring and then weird and boring. There's a few gems in here but overall I don't find this special enough and it doesn't feel influential enough to be on this list.
I Saw The Light Hello It's Me
Som things were silly and funny but in general it's not my genre really
Absolute grind to get through
boring
Definitely one of Rundgren's worst LPs. 3 very good songs and about 20+ poor songs to slog through. He's got many great LPs solo and with Utopia why choose this one? 5 stars for 3 songs 1 for the rest.equals 2.
It says the album lasted 1.5hrs. Felt like 8.
boring as shit
Somewhat enjoyable over the almost 100 minutes but VERY 70s and USofA. A bit too much for me. Loved the intro of Wolfman Jack and the guitar part in Slut though.
A large, immaculately crafted portrait of the most annoying guy ever. Best songs are the opener, "I Saw The Light" and the Mario Kart instrumental "Breathless" Todd Rundgren already appeared in my project as the producer for NY Dolls, my understanding is that he is a prolific virtuoso musician and producer. This album is actually 4 short albums (1 for each side of a double LP), for me the first two are stronger than the last, with the last side being the most irritating. I listened three times today, and the last three songs got more annoying to me with each listen. There are some bright spots, and it's always impressive to take in something that's almost entirely self produced. He played every instrument for the first 3 sections.
A little to mellow for me.
This sounds like the 70s. That's not a compliment.
If you're going to make your album 90 fucking minutes long, at least put some song diversity into the mix. No man should be forced to listen to almost 2 hours of straight vanilla 70s rock. "I Saw the Light" and "Hello It's Me" are the only songs I actually enjoyed. Talking about any other song on here is like asking somebody to rank each rice cracker in a pack from worst to best. Boring. Guards, put him in the wood chipper.
Soft rock aint my thing.
Bit boring for me
Back in the day he was one of those artists we'd all heard of, but none of us had ever much listened to. Don't know why. Sadly, this has left me feeling that we didn't miss out on something. I just don't have the heart to put it in the 1 star bin with all the Rap, Hip Hop & roooooaaaaaaar shite, but in all honesty that's where this belongs.
Listened Before? N Interesting but didn't stand out a ton from other 70s stuff. Added to Library? N Songs added to Playlist: I Saw the Light
Some good moments but overall just annoying. What’s with the talking and unnecessary noise elements?
This album started off strong but got pretty weak in the middle, not sure why the intro is song 7 but the album would be better without a few of these songs included. Repeats: I saw the light, it wouldn't have made any difference, Skips: intro, breathless, viking song,
Started off good and there’s some decent stuff on here but it’s a bit of a slog. Could have been a far better, shorter album but it’s padded out with mediocrity
Made in the generation that saw disco and yacht rock it’s clear that this record by no means hold up. It wears thinner and thinner as the whole thing develops and as a double album only having two memorable tracks just doesn’t work.
Certainly more tolerable than our last Todd Rundgren space exploration album. I Saw the Light and Hello It's Me are officially good, but so much of the rest just sounds like filler with the occasional quirky song that tends to be less so. Given the slog it is to get through a double album of this, it takes a star penalty for not having enough to come back for.