Todd Rundgren
Reconstructed

Let's be clear right away: in no way can a remix album further enhance, in my opinion, the artist's repertoire and image, nor can it stand on par with "official" works. Moreover, I prefer tribute albums to remix ones because I usually prefer dealing with artists rather than technicians and engineers.

That said, this "Reconstructed," like almost all remix albums, alternates between moments of quality and others that are not at all exciting. It's the fault of the difference, as already mentioned, between an artist and an engineer: in the end, the musician will seek beauty, and to do so, they will let instinct guide them, while the engineer will often risk getting lost chasing their de-structuring purpose, rather than focusing on the true objective: re-structuring.

Having said that, it's important to highlight that the album is not titled "Rebuilt" or "Deconstructed" but "Reconstructed," meaning redone from scratch. It's as if they were saying to dismantle a house brick by brick until it disappears, hand over all the material to an expert, and ask them not to restore (if it's been razed to the ground, how could one do that?), nor to leave everything as it is, i.e., razed to the ground (thus deconstructed), but to "reconstruct" a new house, without copying the first one and according to their very personal taste.

From the tracklist already, however, there's a sense that good (and challenging) intentions do not translate into equally positive results: there are two "Hello, It's Me" and two "Bang The Drum All Day," among the most famous pieces of an entire career, but many other flagship songs are missing. For the record, there are remixes that work, albeit not in abundance, from the hypnotic and minimal "Drive" to one of the two "Bang The Drum All Day," the one that becomes a convincing industrial rock, up to "Tiny Demons," transformed into a lunar ballad of absolute value. "Lord Chancellor's Nightmare Sons" is also interesting: the DJ known as Flow ties all the verses of this verbose vaudeville, preventing Rundgren, and us as we listen, from catching a breath; amusing.

On the other hand, "Hello, It's Me" doesn't convince me either in electropop or reggae style, where the offbeat rhythm is held by a trombone sample. A black base is not enough to make me enjoy "Love Is The Answer" (the track, moreover, will turn towards trance after a couple of minutes!), nor does turning "Time Heals" and "Secret Society" into songs suitable for spinning help. Then there are the unlistenable "Emperor Of The Highway," the non-sound of "A Dream Goes On Forever," the pointless "Mated"...

A gift-album that Rundgren makes for himself (if he chose it, it means he likes it a lot!) and to the increasingly impatient fans, who, while knowing it is "only" a remix album, would have had the pleasure of dealing with something better, but ultimately, would not have added anything to Rundgren's forty-year career, even if it had been a fully successful work.

It is certain that there are ways and ways to emerge in the market, and especially when the material is not original, one must strive to make an album of crystalline quality, to always stand on one's own. And even if this error of superficiality, specifically with regards to remixes, was not only his, and that many other artists, even those who are "technological" and synthetic by birth, have missed the mark in this field, I don't feel like promoting Rundgren this time either.

Hooray for detuned pianos and guitars. Sounds that, in fact, the best DJs adore.