Todd Rundgren

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Forty Years Ago Today – March 1973 Album Highlights

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on March 24, 2013
Posted in: Forty Years Ago Today, Rock History. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Johnny Winter

Although Dark Side of the Moon is the most widely remember album released in March of 1973, there were actually quite a few additional albums of note that were released that month.  My overview of a few those albums is provided below.  I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane.

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Johnny Winter – Still Alive and Well

Johnny Winter 1973

Still Alive and Well was a comeback album of sorts for Johnny.  It served as a notice to the world that he was still a force to be reckoned with after he recovered from an addiction to heroin and the album kicked ass.  I loved the single of the same name which was written for Johnny by Rick Derringer.  Rick had played with Johnny earlier in the 1970s as part of And.  Let’s listen…..

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Tower of Power – Tower of Power

Tower Of Power

Tower of Power was an Oakland, California based, horn-driven, R&B band.  They released their self titled first album in March of 1973.  That album produced a number of hit singles and kicked off a successful career that continues today.  Interesting enough, the Tower of Power horn section achieved a level of fame as a stand-alone unit by playing on a huge variety of albums from other artists in the 1970s.  The song I have for you today is a great 1973 live Soul Train performance of their hit single So Very Hard To Go.

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Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy

Houses Of The Holy

Houses of the Holy was Led Zeppelin’s fifth album.  With Led Zeppelin IV already achieving legendary status, Houses of the Holy did not disappoint.  It is the source of multiple great additions to the Led Zeppelin catalog and, strangely enough, the song for which the album is named did not make it onto the album.  (It finally appeared on Physical Graffiti their next album)  To give you a taste of Houses of the Holy, I offer up a wonderful live performance of Song Remains The Same, the lead off track for the album.

Coming Attractions – If you liked the Song Remains The Same video above, be sure to tune in next Sunday for our Sunday Sessions #3 Post which will feature the entire concert that the above video was extracted from.

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There are a other albums from March 1973 (see below) that I have already discussed in earlier posts. If you are interested, I encourage you to use the blog search feature to find and read these earlier posts.

Todd Rundgren – A Wizard A True Star

A Wizard

Beck, Bogert, and Appice – Beck, Bogert, and Appice

BBA

Two’fer Tuesday – Second Chances (Hello It’s Me/Dream On)

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on January 15, 2013
Posted in: Two'fer Tuesday. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

NazzThe Nazz, Todd Rungren’s first band, was formed in Philadelphia in 1967.  Their self titled first album was released in 1968 and Open My Eyes was released as the first single from the album.  Neither the album nor the single achieved significant sales but a Boston DJ liked the B-side of the single, Hello It’s Me, and put it on his stations playlist.  Hello It’s Me got picked up by other stations and the Open My Eyes/Hello It’s Me single ended up reaching #66 on the singles chart.  Let’s listen….

While the Nazz version of Hello It’s Me achieved moderate success Todd was not satisfied.  It was the first song he had written and he knew it could be a really big hit.

Move forward four years to 1972.  Todd is in the middle of recording his amazing double album Something/Anything? and he decides to resurrect a reworked Hello It’s Me.  Let’s listen to the reworked song…..

Todd decided to give Hello It’s Me a second chance as a single in 1973.  This time the song sprinted up the charts to #5 and to this day it is Todd’s only hit single!

While we are on the subject of second chances, let’s briefly revisit Sunday’s post about Aerosmith’s first album.  As you will recall, Aerosmith thought they had a hit single in Dream On but in 1973 it was a bust on the singles chart.  Move forward three years to 1976: Aerosmith is now a huge band, has put out several hit albums, and they have still not given up on Dream On being a hit.  An edited version of the song is released and this time it steadily climbs the singles chart topping out at #6.   Let’s listen……

I don’t want to get philosophical on you but I think there is an important life lesson in this post…..don’t ever give up on your dreams.

As always, let me know what you think.

My Final Playlist Candidate #2 – Remember Me

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on September 6, 2012
Posted in: My Final Playlist. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

So….here is another candidate for “My Final Playlist”.  This one is from Todd Rundgren….have I mentioned that he deserves to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame???

I don’t think I need to do a lot of explaining about why this song is under consideration, give it a listen and I think you will understand.  It has been a favorite of mine since I first heard it on Todd’s second solo album, Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren in 1971.

Short and to the point………as always let me know what you think?

Long Song Tuesday #31 – A Philly Soul Medley

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on September 3, 2012
Posted in: Long Song Tuesday. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

In my opinion, Todd Rungren is a pop genius but unfortunately he is a virtual unknown to most folks today.  With today’s long song Tuesday post I am beginning a two post effort to get him the recognition that he deserves.  Our long song offering today is Todd’s homage to Philly Soul, in the form of a medley of  I’m So Proud, Ooh Baby Baby, La La Means I Love You, and Cool Jerk.  Let’s listen….

This medley was from Todd’s fourth album, A Wizard, A True Star (1973).   (Note: I said he was a genius, I never claimed he was modest.)

Later this week we will feature Todd’s third album, Something/Anything, as our album of the week.  That album is Todd’s masterpiece and it is something to look forward to if you haven’t heard it before.  After listening to it, I hope you will agree with me that the term genius definitely applies to Todd!  I can’t believe that he is not yet in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!  If you want to help, go to the following site and sign the petition to get him inducted:

http://www.petitiononline.com/toddrund/petition.html

Before I sign off today let me leave you with a couple of additional tracks from A Wizard, A True Star.

If you like what you hear, the entire A Wizard, A True Star album is provided below.