Written, Produced & Performed by TODD RUNDGREN
Released April 9, 2013
It is more than fitting that my first official music posting would focus on the latest release from Todd Rundgren, a musical hero beyond muscial heroes and one third of my personal musical "Holy Trinity," with the other two thirds consisting of The Beatles and Prince. I have always said that the world would be a much better place if absolutely every single person on the planet knew at least one Todd Rundgren song, and not even the same song at that. But even so, and even after a staggering sense musical adventurousness and a creative odyssey that has endured him for over 40 years, people still present to me a confused or quizzical gaze of non-recognition whenever I mention his name.
Todd Rundgren is a musical pioneer in the greatest sense of the expression. He is a world class songwriter, one of rock's finest vocalists, a studio and technological wizard, guitar superman, multi-instrumental virtuoso, production and engineering master of the soundboard, a heart on sleeve romantic, brutal political satirist, and crucially possesses a "hope springs eternal" vision for a brighter and better utopian future for humanity. Within his vast catalog, no two albums are alike and he is boldly unafraid to toss musical curve balls to challenge even his most devoted fans. Patience, an open mind and heart and a sense of humor are definitely required.
At this time we arrive with "State," Rundgren's 24th studio release (and not counting the three albums recorded with his former band Nazz, the nine albums recorded with Utopia or the myriad of guest appearances and productions he oversaw throughout the years), is an album that is presented with the same passion and vision as the majority of his massive output and requires the same amount of committed attention from his audience. While the aesthetics of "State" exist in the similar synthetic technological spaces begun with "No World Order" (1993), the album is an uncharacteristically dark and even claustrophobic experience that feels as if you are falling down a sonic rabbit hole and emerging through the other side in an unfamiliar world--even though it is indeed the very world in which we all co-exist.
On the surface, the album may sound and feel like Rundgren's latest stab at electronica and dance music. But underneath the beats and rhythms, "State," on which Rundgren handles every single sound (aside from one verse sung by Rachel Haden) on his own, is an album of cultural commentary presented through a series of juxtapositions that always leave you off guard and upended. The nature of dance music is to create a sense of release but this album feels introspective and intensely so throughout. Songs that may begin as the latest track to get you onto the dance floor may be interrupted by blasts of metal guitars. Other tracks may lead you to think that you are about to hear something more industrial but then phase into something more airy. Rundgren's singing, which remains superior throughout, is never really quite locked into the beats he creates. His voice snakes around the beat, slides behind them, skates beside them, all the while conveying the sound of humanity trying to find its way in a more technological world.
This is immediately apparent on the album's eight minute plus opening track "Imagination," which begins with the percolating sounds of gently ethereal keyboards but is then shattered with the arrival of heavy drums and doom laden guitar power chords. "I am what I am and that's all that I am. I tell myself," Rundgren sings. "I have no demands. I have no plans to sell myself," he continues. Initially, that statement seems to be a perfect existence for such an idiosyncratic artist as he is but then his vocals bemoan the following: "Every day's the same old song." As his guitar begins to spiral through the electronic walls of sounds, his vocals begin to rage as Rundgren questions the nature of hell and death itself which may arrive through a lack of imagination, a fear of being unable to create as he has been able to do for so long. Will his creative well run dry and if it ever did, what would become of him, despite everything he has accomplished before?
The juxtapositions continue as the frivolous and dance floor ready "Serious" belies a bitter lyric that sounds like a follow up to his track "Mad" from the "Arena" (2008) album, and is augmented by guttural bass lines, an equally guttural talkbox guitar solo and warnings to stand "CLEAR!!" The slinky "In My Mouth" could be suggesting something that is either lascivious or philosophical. The flowing ballad "Something From Nothing" meshes the necessity of faith against its utter uselessness and the jaunty "Party Liquor," which features sports arena chants and also seems to be borrowing its synth pattern from Rundgren's novelty classic "Bang The Drum All Day" (1982), unfolds a grim tale of alcoholic excess that ends with gang rape. The album's stunning conclusion (and one, which to my ears, seems to function as this album's "A Day In The Life") arrives with "Sir Reality," a track that opens with the strains of pouring liquid (perhaps the final bubbles from the horrific debauchery of "Party Liquor"), sobering you up as you face a world filled with Orwellian untruths ("All science is a ploy. A gun is just a toy. Man is born, not made. It's good to be afraid.") that are being touted as absolutes of 21st century reality.
Then, there is the strong ballad "Ping Me," which features the voicing of a solitary man who has pushed away all contact from humanity but deeply, urgently desires someone to contact him, ensuring him of their affection through a social media electronic tone. I think that my favorite track from the album just may be what seems to be its natural centerpiece, the dizzying "Collide-A-Scope," a track which sounds to me like humanity being hurled through the interstellar vortex at the end of Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968), with its skittering drums, the return of those ethereal keyboards and Rundgren's soaring voice collecting and clashing together all of life's contradictions as he sings "I sleep, I wake. I'm real, I'm fake. I walk, I ride. I seek, I hide. I'm fast, I'm slow. I'm high, I'm low." But, as with all things Rundgren, there needs to be some sense of levity and leave it to Todd to discover the true feminist subtext to a current video game phenomenon in "Angry Bird," a track which sounds like it contains leftover sound effects from a "Space Invaders" arcade game. Check out the lyrics: "She's as mad as a soakin' chicken. At alert level orange. Some pig is trying to control her eggs. Time to take her revenge." For some bizarre reason, it all begins to make sense and I wonder if Todd is onto something that has eluded the masses as he is always ahead of the curve!
Todd Rundgren's "State" continues his left of center approach of utilizing the furthest reaches of technology and synthetic sounds to discuss our collective humanity and spiritual core. He has been there before through works like "Initiation" (1975), "Healing" (1981), "The Individualist" (1995), "Liars" (2004) and here we are again. Yet, this is no retread as our philosophical state (a ha!) of being is something to always be examined and re-examined. "State" finds Todd Rundgren working at the very peak of his creative powers and with no signs of drying up. While his releases have slowed down considerably since his superhuman prolific period during the 1970s and 1980s, "State" arrives as if it was a long awaited letter from a treasured friend, detailing how life has been treating him these days and somehow, he is all the while describing how life has been treating YOU as well.
So...how are you these days? What is the state of your existence in 2013? As you ponder, I urge you to grab a copy of this album and let the discussion with Todd Rundgren carry you away.
WSPC BONUS TRACK:
The juxtapositions of "State" continue if you even buy the deluxe version of the album which contains a second disc of Todd Rundgren performing selections from the entirety of his career with the Metropole Orchestra in Amsterdam. After all of the electronics of "State," to be given another disc filled with strings, woodwinds, and brass, as well as the key instruments of a rock band, and all held together through the power of Rundgren's voice is truly special indeed!
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