Todd Rundgren
One Long Year

THE REVIEW

How can one make such a poor, unhappy, shameless record?

Todd Rundgren compiles the compositions from his Patronet and combines them into a single CD, and what is this? Basically the songs from "TRTV" volumes I and II, some other track that has nothing special, and the record is ready. No adaptations, no improvements to the DIY arrangements; even, as in "TRTV", there's the same outtake from the album "With A Twist...", made of bossa nova versions of his classic hits. In addition, there's a disconcerting voice and ukulele version of "Bang On The Drum All Day" titled "Bang On The Ukelele Daily"...

The good points are those from "TRTV", a record I criticized precisely because, beyond the quality of the tracks, Todd decided to transform a niche work for Patronet members only into an official album. So what to make of this "One Long Year"? But above all, why gather and keep the two assembled "TRTV" versions on the market when the sum of the two EPs has been brought back in this record? Perhaps to allow non-Patronet members (company closed in 2001) to listen to what was not included in "One Long Year," like jingles, ringtones, weird noises, various nonsense?

We can say this was the lowest point in Todd Rundgren's entire career, who fortunately closed Patronet, decided to make fewer records (aside from the New Cars experience, he only released "Liars," an excellent product reviewed here by Socrates) and above all, didn't take advantage (at least until now) of the considerable credit his fans provided him with. Better late than never.