ALBUM REVIEW: Runt - The Ballad of Todd Rundgren

    Todd Rundgren has a long and storied history in music, dating back as far as 1967 with psychedelic rock outfit Nazz - from what I can gather, they never saw major success, and Rundgren's continuously shifting musical taste and influences sparked tension with the band. When Rundgren left in 1969, he began getting work as an engineer and producer, including his first major job on The Band's Stage Fright album, which charted at number five on the Billboard 200. He would rack up many more production credits throughout his life, even producing works like Badfinger's Straight Up the same year as this album - he was even planned to produce Janis Joplin's Pearl, but ultimately plans fell through. During that same amount of time, he formed the group Runt with The Sales Brothers (the two ultimately did little outside of bass and drum, though). The Ballad of Todd Rundgren was the second, and final, Runt album - afterwards, Todd would record an entire album-and-a-half on his own to proper begin his solo career. That's not to cast off The Ballad of Todd Rundgren, of course, as it is a pretty solid album filled with more mellow piano rock and catchy melodies throughout. While Rundgren's versatility would later be shown to the fullest on Something/Anything?, Ballad of Todd Rundgren is certainly a very good time.

     On The Ballad of Todd Rundgren, Todd showcases what I believe is one of his strongest assets - his ear for melody and a hook. This is an indispensable tool that powers the album's strongest and most enduring moments, from the clavinet-driven "Long Flowing Robe" that opens the record to the sweet sentimentality of "Be Nice to Me" to the roaring penultimate track "Parole," which easily sits as the album's greatest rocker. The album is filled with a cornucopia of distinct melodies and hooks that makes plenty of these moments excel. It helps that Rundgren is plenty versatile throughout the album; while Todd generally sticks to a piano rock sound, elements of pure and more expensive rock worm their way in, such as on the spacious "Chain Letter" that closes off the album's first half. The entire album also has an energy and driving quality that can only be described as power pop, a genre that Rundgren will prove to be hugely influential in with time. This pop sensibility is generally the album's shining strong point, as Todd's knack for writing a damn-good and catchy song infests the album.

    That isn't to say it's a completely even album - After just one listen, it was apparent to me that the album was back-loaded, as good as the first half is. I blame the slower moments, as "The Ballad (Denny & Jean" or "Wailing Wall" pretty much kill the momentum built off "Long Flowing Robe" or "Bleeding" respectively. Side B also opens a little weakly with "A Long Time, a Long Way to Go," and "Boat on the Charles" almost suffers the same fate - luckily, the powerful chorus saves this one. Even with Side B being more consistently good than the first half, it lacks a bit of the energy from THAT side, albeit the slower moments are done far better, key example being "Be Nice to Me," which may very well be my favorite song on the album. The result is an album that may lack a little bit of balance, but not so much to where it's a detriment - unfortunately, it's not an album where alack of cohesion or coherent flow would even benefit it to some extent like The Beatles' white album.

    I'm not familiar with Todd Rundgren's time with Nazz, so consider this the furthest back I've heard Todd Rundgren as an artist - he's already a shining gem. The Ballad of Todd Rundgren is filled with catchy melodies, energetic rockers, hooky pop songs, and some beautiful and warm piano ballads that all showcase Todd's skills as an instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. Runt would ultimately break up after this album, and Todd wouldn't get himself a new band until Utopia in the late 70s, but The Ballad of Todd Rundgren is a hint of the greatness that is to come from an artist as influential and prominent as Todd. It's a very catchy and fun set of tunes, and sometimes that's all you really need. 

RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Listen to The Ballad of Todd Rundgren.