Something/Anything?

Prior to this I have never heard of Todd, and I could have happily gone on that way, based on this album. The songs on the first side are nice enough, with tunes such as It Wouldn’t Have Made A Difference (a stand out track), sounding like a Bee Gees cut prior to their disco pivot. The album is designed as four sides, but once the spoken word Intro started, and he described a game to play, I found myself completely removed from the record. After that I listened to a few of the more well known tracks, which were underwhelming. Couldn’t finish, not for me…

Not much worked for me, which is unfortunate given the 90 minute runtime.

Todd Rundgren has the distinguished talent of making an absurdely long album where every song sucks, but sucks in a completely unique way.

This was a slog. A very long record full of self-indulgent studio wankery. Get this out of there.

Not my cup of Tea

This went from OK to bad to very bad over the course of way too long. 1.5

Couldn't even finish it. Not my thing.

I was bored with this mediocrity after 4 songs, so I gave up on it. Then I checked the reviews from listeners, some of which indicated it changes as it runs along. So I skipped around, and, sure, there's some variation musically. But it still feels empty and soulless, and none of them could hold my attention long enough to stick with it. It didn't help that several songs have at least 30 seconds of jabbering that should've been cut. Y'all have fun with it though.

This could have been a solid little pop rock album, nothing special but just a good enough album to listen to. But no, it could never be that easy. It just *had* to be an hour and a half didn't it? The sad thing is that the actual music is perfectly ok, it just doesn't need to be so damn long.

I really wasn't in a mood for yacht rock so didn't give this one a fair shake, only got a few songs in. I'll give it another try if I ever go back through all these a second time

you motherfuckers get out of my face

Really really bad - cheesy 70s rubbish

LESS IS MORE. This shouldn't have been a double-length album. It made me angrier the further into it I got.

Too hippy-ish and slow for me. Turned it off about 4 songs in. Listen again: no Purchase for my collection: no Favourite Song: none

Todd Rundgren is a great musician, but god damn this was an infuriating listen. Waaaay too long with waaaay too many gimmicks along the way.

- viel zu lang für das, was es bietet - vieles ging mir leider auf den Sack, war oft davor zu skippen oder sogar abzubrechen

What is it with 70s double albums? Interminably self-indulgent nonsense is not something I need or want to hear before I die.

Boring.

1 stern

Couldn't make it through this one--a pity, since I really like A Wizard/A True Star. This was unbearably cheesy yacht rock, for the 1970s dental waiting room. I got most of the way through and listened to the first 5-10 seconds of the last 5 songs.

One song does not an album make. This makes elevator music sound like heavy metal.

You get given your randomly selected album of the day, you read a little bit about it and you see those two words no one wants to see: 'Double album'. It must be hard enough to write a 45 minute long album that is consistently great and stands the test of time. But to write one that's over 80 minutes in length? I'm sure it's been done but this certainly isn't one of them. Each side is something a bit different. Side one is mainly pop music, side two turns slightly more psychedelic. Sides three and four are more rock focused. Quite a cool thing to do but overall there's nothing that grabs me and makes me want to listen to the whole thing again. For an album that's an hour and a half long you want it to be worth it, and this just isn't. Potentially a solid three if you cut the album in half and keep the best tracks. But the odd decent track here and there doesn't save this from the lowest rating I can give I'm afraid.

Boring

This album was a real struggle - must be the blandest piece of music on this list. Some years ago the generator generated A Wizard / A True Star, his other famous album, which was apparently 3 stars for me. Did some backtracking and believe that that album might indeed be the better album.

This record really was all over the place... it had a handful of ok songs spread out over the different sides, but mostly it is either mediocre or garbage. This is simply not acceptable for such a long record in my opinion. Better to make it tight and short than to have much material with a few decent songs. There were some wit around, but I can't really see myself recommending this to anyone.

Would have made an okay single album, if you like smooth Seventies rock (I Saw The Light is a nice tune, albeit I was disappointed it wasn't a Hank Williams cover). But this just gets messier and messier, and way too indulgent. I lost the thread of this after 'Intro', and it feels like Todd did a bit too.

1+ Stars (3/15)

I assume this ended at some point... Needs a Mr Steinman and Mr Loaf to carry this kind of thing off.

Mais um psicodélico que começa bem e depois acaba virando uma passagem enrolada e chata.

This album felt like an eternity! I know very little about this dude's music. So little so that the first song "I Saw the Light" I've always just assumed it was Carole King, or Carley Simon or Anne Murray. All I knew was he did that 'I don't wanna work I just wanna bang on my drum all day' song. (Not for me) And that Liv Tyler thought he was her dad until she was 11. I hope this is the only album of his on this list.

Starts out fine enough two stars but hits 1 around "I WENT TO THE MIRROR" where it's just random keyboard clumps and muttering. I quit there with over half the album to go.

So bad

Shite

This 1h30 thing felt so bland and uninspired. What the hell happened there? Who would want to listen to that for 1h30 straight?

Crap

boring like it felt like time was moving slower and i was trapped listening to this just desperately wanting to do something else but I signed up for this

A couple of marginal hits in the mix, but the rest is aimless. Barely enough decent material for a single album much less the double release.

The 70s produced some of the greatest music ever made. Todd Rundgren was there, too.

carino all'inizio,stile pop rock opera, stavo tra il 2 e 3. Do uno perché estremamente lungo e a fine ascolto ero tediato all'inverosimile

Not sure why likes this stuff? Continental Europe?

C'est beaucoup mais beaucoup trop long. J'ai enduré 45min de cet album double et je voulais presque mourir tout le long. C'est ennuyeux à mourir.

Self indulgent crap, it's hard enough to make a good 40min album let alone a 90min one. Slogged through 5 tracks to see another 20+ to come and felt miserable.

Speaking of albums that feel like they go on forever

This album is the reason why punk had to happen. So pretentious. Ugh.

I like only his hits. Otherwise, not my cup of tea.

Boring as fuck.

Probably a 2 star album but losing a point for being so long. Nothing really of note here and this goes on for 90 MINUTES??? Definitely not worth your while. Spinal Tap is only 82 minutes. Watch Spinal Tap instead 👍🏾

Wat een saaie bende zeg! Ik zie nu pas dat ik deze belege plaat van deze lapzwans al gedraaid had zelfs. Totaal geen indruk gemaakt.

Far too long, far too not good. Very little quality to write home about, all the hallmarks of a bad album.

So dull…so long…

Not sure why, but this album kinda gave me the creeps. 2/5.

No-one needs 1 hour 27 minutes of this. Stop it Todd.

So what's 25 track double album basically? One of substance 2 or 3 others the 2 singles are OK. Little red lights is great and some folks are wider than me is a notable track.

So many great albums came out in the 1970s... but this is not one of those. In fact, if you were to take all that was bad about 70s rock - the cheesy soft ballads, the "blue-eyed" soul, the unnecessary saxophones - and distill it into one album, it would be this album. This album smells like stale tobacco and cracked jukebox buttons.

Cheesy kutnummers

Repetitive soft rock

awful and obsolete.

It starts pleasant enough, then it gets a little weird, then it overstays its welcome.

The album was long. All over the place, inconsistent and not good. It is probably better than a one but not much.

Didn’t enjoy this at all. Except the “Intro” song was interesting

Ok side 1 is kinda bullshit. Side two is a more Steely Dan vibe, just without the goove. It's like someone put music of the era and put it in a blender and then portioned it back out. The really banal hooks are what kill me, see "Saving Grace". Black Maria sucks. This album sucks and it will not leave. This part 4 is like souless Billy Joel and that is saying something.

1.5 Our previous Rundgren album, A Wizard/A True Star, was a fun musical journey through the audible equivalent of an LSD trip. This one is a bit more of a musical marathon, where you’re out of breath and ready for the finish line by the end. I’m really glad he decided to get a bit more experimental with his follow-up, as this one just feels like safe pop song after lame soft rock song… after safe pop song after lame soft rock song after safe pop song after lame soft rock song. Really don’t think this needed to be 25 tracks, and I think the fact that not one jumped out to me makes it seem like Rundgren was going for quantity over quality. I guess I’ll give him kudos for playing almost all of the instrument tracks on the album, but still, it doesn’t make the listening any more interesting to me. Since I didn’t outright hate any tracks in particular, I was feeling a strong 2 at first, but I ultimately decided to deduct a half point for runtime, as that would most likely deter me from listening again in the future.

I am a fan of Todd and seen him a few times, I just don't like this album. Sounds like he fell in love for the first time and wanted to sing about it

You suck and this sucks. It drove me up a wall. Stupid double albums.

Not my speed at all.

2/18/23

Got about 3 songs in and had to abandon it. Nothing about it captured my imagination or stirred emotion. The sound of unsweetened rice pudding with cloves in it. Spyak.

1.5

I saw the light está OK, el resto es una mierda.

I didn't care for this. Not my taste in music at all.

Not into it

This guy again. Probably not as bad as his drugs are so interesting album but not good either.

I'm so mad I got distracted and let this play for an hour. Corny shit. "Intro" was pretty funny.

Cannot rate this - wouldn’t listen again

Terrible. I'm not sure how this made the list. I could only make it half way through.

This really sucks