The Very Best Of Todd Rundgren

Performer: Todd Rundgren
Artist: Utopia; Bobby Womack
Producer: Todd Rundgren; Utopia; Gary Peterson (Compilation)
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Personnel includes: Todd Rundgren, Utopia, Bobby Womack. Personnel: Todd Rundgren (vocals, guitar, piano, synthesizer, percussion); Bobby Womack (vocals); Tom Cosgrove, Lyle Workman (guitar); Barbara Imhoff (harp); Roberta Freier, Paul Brancato, Stephen Gehl, Nathan Rubin, John Tenney (strings); Bobby Strickland , Michael Brecker (tenor saxophone); Mike Rose, Randy Brecker (trumpet); Jim Blinn, Barry Rogers (trombone); Vince Welnick (piano); Ralph Schuckett (Clavinet, organ, keyboards); Mark "Moogy" Klingman (organ, keyboards); Roger Powell (keyboards, background vocals); Jon Wilcox (drums, percussion, background vocals); Hunt Sales (drums, percussion); Kevin Ellman, John Guerin, John Siomos, Michael Urbano (drums); Gary Yost (tambourine); Tony Sales (percussion); Michele Gray, Richard Corey, Hope Ruff, Dennis Cooley, Cecilia Norfleet, Jeanie Tracy, Kasim Sulton, N.D. Smart II, Vicki Randle, Vicki Sue Robinson, Brent Bourgeois (background vocals). Audio Remasterers: Dan Hersch; Bill Inglot. Liner Note Author: Brett Milano. Photographers: Lynn Goldsmith; Michael Ochs. For all intents and purposes, THE VERY BEST OF TODD RUNDGREN is a one-disc condensation of Rhino's 1989 two-disc history ANTHOLOGY 1968-85. Wisely, this 16-track version de-emphasizes both Rundgren's spotty later career and his '70s jazz-rock band Utopia, whose thematic records and suitelike songs need to be heard in context to fully make sense. Instead, THE VERY BEST OF TODD RUNDGREN focuses on the early days of the Philadelphia native's career, when he was effortlessly turning out soul-tinged pop classics like "We Gotta Get You a Woman," the impossibly wistful "Hello It's Me," and his two dead-perfect, impossible-to-improve-upon AM radio classics, the slinky "I Saw the Light" and the power-pop archetype "Couldn't I Just Tell You." In the context of these gems, even quirky later cuts like "The Want of a Nail" and "Bang the Drum All Day" sound stronger than before.

Todd Rundgren first surfaced with 1960s psych-pop group the Nazz, but quickly launched a solo career marked by unprecedented eclecticism. Continually straddling the line between experimentalism and pop accessibility, Rundgren's releases dart from pop-rock to blue-eyed soul to art rock. Though much of his mid-period work came under the group banner of Utopia, Rundgren is best known as a multi-instrumentalist/one-man-band studio whiz (he parlayed his studio skills into a lucrative production career, working with everyone from Meat Loaf to the Psychedelic Furs).

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