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Rating: At Christmas of 1978, Todd Rundgren finally gifted himself and sold to the public his first live solo album, recorded in just three concerts. Like everything released around or during Christmas (various collections, anthologies of all kinds, albums of Christmas songs, old or unreleased, featuring the face of Albano or better yet, the thighs of Mariah Carey on the cover...) the album aims to capture the hearts of the most sentimental, those who are more inclined than others to feel the spirit of the season.
And so, even though it's not a sort of greatest hits live, Rundgren mostly offers his (irresistible, to be honest) soul repertoire, relegating rock to a corner with only "Couldn't I Just Tell You" - with this inevitably more open and "enveloping" sound - and "Love In Action", from Utopia. If one tries hard, one might classify "rock" as well the powerpop of "Black Maria" and the jazz rock of "Initiation", good for causing a stir, but we know all too well Todd has dozens of better rock songs than this one. For the rest, as we said, soul and pop, piano ballads, and the acoustic and vocal piece of "Cliché"; the vaudeville of "Zen Archer", always brilliant and praised by the crowd, and the showmanship in "Never Never Land" (song from the musical "Peter Pan") on the piano.
So far, everyone is free to propose what they want, and after all, it's wise, near Christmas, to focus on a genre more inclined towards mass commercialization, as long as the quality doesn't suffer. But there's a small issue: the setlist... (!)
We mentioned it's mostly soul pop, and this album I would recommend even to an ultra fan, say, of Barbra Streisand, recommending it even to nanny Fran from the well-known TV series, but it is true that there is an infinity of superb tracks and hits missing, and if the four sweet pieces (out of the five in total) on side B of "Faithful" are all present (confirming the high level of that half of the album), many episodes, especially from the famous "Runt. The Ballad Of Todd Rundgren", are missing.
And if we think that, out of twenty tracks (twenty-three if we section a medley of four songs), there are only five pieces from the iconic "Something/Anything?" (including the well-known "I Saw The Light", which is part of that medley, so it's not even complete) and that only four come from the enormous "A Wizard, A True Star" (to which I only gave four stars, regretting it), it is normal that the fans' wishes, with this album, remain partially unfulfilled. Considering also that there are four covers (the Peter Pan song and the remaining three-quarters of the medley), that three tracks are from the dull "Initiation" of '75 (the opening "Real Man", a single from that album, is nevertheless in a good version with more guitars and especially fewer keyboards, while "Initiation" and "Eastern Intrigue" don't live up to the rest of the repertoire at all) and that three others are from the somewhat incomprehensible (which, with Todd, is usually a good thing) and unsuccessful (which is always a bad thing) "Todd", then we've said a lot, if not all.
It's one thing to hear good versions of decent songs with a few hits in between; it's another to listen to the most beautiful songs of the career of someone nicknamed "the wizard". And since this was his first live solo LP, I don't think it would have been sacrilege to ask for more beautiful songs and fewer "Initiation-s". And the sole "The Range War" is really too little to represent the biennium (and the two albums) when Rundgren was also artistically known as Runt. Moreover, where are the tracks from the beautiful "Hermit Of Mink Hollow" from 1978, released the same year as this live album? This album was recorded in three performances, as was said, but in what year? Possibly '77, given the absence of tracks from '78 but the presence of "Love In Action" from Utopia's "Oops! Wrong Planet" album, indeed from '77. And if there's no new material, why not release this live album in the previous Christmas? Or add, to the performances to be drawn from for this LP, a more recent date, a date in which the 1978 tracks were also presented?
However, it must be acknowledged (not to Rundgren but to the stage, intended as a "living entity," capable of expressing its precise desires) that even the minor episodes sound so good as to manage, in an immensely sentimental melodic journey, to blend with the highest peaks of the "wizard's" sentimental repertoire.
In the end, this is certainly a good album, wrongly in my opinion from a project perspective because it does not adequately frame an artist, but rather addresses primarily the only easy-to-consume angle (the pop and sentimental one) and that even, ultimately, fails to fully emphasize his high melodic talent. It falters from a compositional point (the setlist!) and from an interpretative one (some songs, if the efficient line-up doesn't intervene in chorus, Todd really can't tackle).
Missed opportunity. But it was Christmas, in '78, and everyone was kinder. Or at least kinder than me.
Tracklist and Lyrics
02 Love of the Common Man (04:25)
I've been burned in my prime
The simple things in life
Seem so hard to learn sometimes
And it takes so long
Catch it while you can
Too late tomorrow
And everyone
Said we all know what comes of that
Living in your pockets and talking through your hat
But it won't take long
To turn your head around
Too late tomorrow
'cause everyone needs the love of the common man
Turn the world around
Too late tomorrow
'cause everyone
Everyone is waiting, just anticipating on you
Won't you make a showing everybody knows what to do
Take a dive from your ivory tower
And fall on everyone will catch you, everyone
I would be so pleased to spend some time
To hear a little talk about what's been on your mind
'cause it don't take long
To turn my head around
If it comes easy
'cause everyone needs the love of the common man
Turn the world around
Too late tomorrow
'cause everyone
05 A Dream Goes on Forever (02:33)
A million old soldiers will fade away
But a dream goes on forever
I'm left standing here, Ive got nothing to say
All is silent within my dream
A thousand true loves will live and die
But a dream goes on forever
The days and the years all go streaking by
But the time is stopped within my dream
We all have our everyday hopes and fears
And you'll find no exception in me
But that doesn't get me through a sea of tears
Over life's biggest tragedy
You're so long ago and so far away
But a dream goes on forever
I guess I believe that I'll see you one day
For without it there is no dream
You're so far away and so long ago
But my dream lives on forever
How much I love you you'll never know
'Till you join me within my dream
How much I love you you'll never know
'Till you join me within my dream
09 The Last Ride (06:04)
It's the last ride
Our little game is over
It's the last ride
It's time to take you home
And we can't cry 'cause we seen it coming
No use running, take it slower
It's a dangerous drive
I'm afraid to arrive
But I strive to survive
More a fool than alive
I thought I knew just everything
I had it made and I could coast
But I turned away love when I needed it most
It's the last ride
My little game is over
It's the last ride
It's time to take me home
And I can't cry 'cause I seen it coming
No use running, take it slower
And the road rolls around
And turns through the town
The depression drips down
And glazes the ground
Horizons east and skylines west
The moon, the sun, and all the rest
The loving son, the faithful wife
The burnt out wreck of a poor man's life
The father, son, and holy ghost
They all turned away love when they needed it most
It's the last ride
Their little game is over
It's the last ride
It's time to take them home
And they can't cry 'cause they seen it coming
No use running, take it slower
11 Don't You Ever Learn? (05:55)
Don't you ever listen?
Don't you ever learn?
The hand may find you
It's time to take a turn
You think this life is something strange
You're ready for another change
But don't you ever learn?
Don't you ever listen?
Don't you ever learn?
The world is on fire
Your body doesn't burn
Kill yourself before receiving
Something out of all this breathing
Don't you ever learn?
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