For three decades Todd Rundgren has balanced precariously on music's cutting edge, enjoying a loyal following but also getting nicked up along the way.
This month, 30 years after his first solo top 10 hit, "We Gotta Get You a Woman," the cult hero will release a CD that should prove not only his music remains razor sharp, but his delivery method is creative, fresh and uniquely Todd.
Many of the songs contained on "One Long Year," scheduled for a June 20 release date, were heard prior to the album's release by subscribers to Rundgren's TR-i subscription. Subscriptions to the members-only area of his official website (www.tr-i.com) allow users to preview and download new music as it is created. Instead of waiting for the technically brilliant artist's multi-layered masterpieces, impatient fans pay $25 to $60 per year to hear the tunes' humble beginnings. Six packages offer various amenities - downloads, custom CDs, postcards from Todd, and online chats with the True Star himself.
Even Rundgren's new album contains references to the Internet. The CD begins with "I Hate My Frickin' ISP" (What web surfer doesn't at times?) and ends with "The Surf Talks." Rundgren also throws in a remake of "Love of the Common Man" from his 1976 album "Faithful."
Perhaps Rundgren's fan base is more computer savvy than most. Amazon.com, which is taking orders for "One Long Year," last Friday listed the CD as having a sales ranking of 459.
While not a top 10 seller as was Rundgren 1972 album "Something/Anything?" the ranking puts him ahead of many household names. On Amazon.com Todd's pre-sales are ahead of Garth Brooks' 1998 "Double Live Box Set," which on Friday was ranked 1,348, and the Beatles' 1967 "White Album," which was ranking 751 on the web retailer's charts, for comparison.
One of the most dynamic, yet relatively unheralded artists of the 1970s, Rundgren's off-beat career and personal life will be chronicled in a soon-to-be-released autobiography.
Forging a new trail has been a Rundgren hallmark. A precocious (some say difficult) teenage phenom who headed the Monkees-esque group Nazz, he was one of the first to produce a highly acclaimed rock album in which the artist played all the instruments. Three songs from "Something/Any-thing?" hit the charts including "I Saw The Light," "Couldn't I Just Tell You" and the classic "Hello, It's Me."
Many observers believe Rundgren could have churned out hit after hit, but he decided to completely change the course of his career. "Wizard, A True Star" in 1973 was a synthesizer-laden record that alienated the majority of his record buyers but enticed his die-hard fans. "Wizard" was the first of a three-record series that many of his fans believe represented the most adventurous music of the rock era.
In the late 1970s, he scored a No. 1 hit as producer of Meat Loaf's "Bat Out of Hell." However, since then his high volume record sales, both as artist and as producer, has gradually declined ...
but his artistic reputation is firmly intact.
That's because of musical explorations into unchartered territory like the all-vocal "Acapella" (1985), frenetic synthesizer "No World Order" (1994) or bossa-nova best-of-Todd-songs album, "Twist of Todd Rundgren" (1998).
By the end of 2000, "One Long Year" may prove to be relatively short on sales numbers - the fate of most Rundgren albums. But the CD will undoubtedly continue to add to his Todd-the-god persona and lead loyal fans down Rundgren's journey into the musical unknown.