Tag Archives: Todd Rundgren

The 12 MixTapes of Christmas [2018 version]

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12mix-02-carStereo

These 12 Mixtapes of Christmas have got nothing to do with Randophonic’s other 12 Mixtapes of Christmas from two years ago, or even with Christmas (beyond being a gift to you). And they’re not actually mix tapes, or CDs for that matter – just mixes, each 49-minutes long, one posted to Randophonic’s Mixcloud for each day of Twelvetide (aka the Twelve Days of Christmas).

There’s no particular genre, no particular theme or agenda being pursued, beyond all selections coming from Randophonic’s ever expanding collection of used vinyl, which continues to simultaneously draw us back and propel us forward (sonically speaking) — music and noise and whatever else the world famous Randophonic Jukebox deems (or perhaps dreams) necessary toward our long term goal of solving all the world’s problems.

Bottom line: it’s five hundred eighty-eight minutes of music covering all manner of ground, from Roy Orbison to Curtis Mayfield to Can, Bob Dylan, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, Kraftwerk, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and beyond (and that’s just from the first mix) — anything and everything, as long as it’s good.

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350. “international never never zen”

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“This first showed up in my life on a homemade cassette somebody gave me subtitled International Never Never Zen, because to write down all the twelve tracks jammed into side one of Todd Rundgren‘s A Wizard, A True Star would be to induce writer’s cramp, I guess. And it all flows together as one anyway, or certainly tries to. Because this stuff is nothing if not mad (as opposed to insane), overblown and over-reaching in the best possible way, jamming tape experiments up against instrumental freakouts, recurring themes, a cover of a Peter Pan song (from the Broadway play) and at least one proper standalone epic (concerning a Zen Archer) … and overall, just wow. Not perfect at all, but what do you expect from a guy who had recently given up on his straight edge lifestyle to more or less embrace everything from cannabis to DMT, magic mushrooms, peyote, even Ritalin … all toward abstracting his creative process in such a way that the music ultimately flowed out of him like a painting, spilling directly from his brain and/or soul onto the metaphorical canvas of our ears. Or something like that.” (PR)

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012. The Final Countdown*

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Installment #12. of The Final Countdown aired Saturday-June-16-2018 (c/o CiTR.FM.101.9).

Tracks available on this Youtube playlist (somewhat inaccurate).

The Final Countdown* is Randophonic’s longest and, if we’re doing it right, most relevant countdown yet – the end of result of a complex process that’s still evolving such is the strangely existential nature of the project: the 1297 Greatest Records of All Time right now right here, whatever that means. What it means is over a year of radio, if all goes to plan, and when has that ever happened?

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Installment #12 of The Final Countdown* went like this.

1070. Temptations – masterpiece
1069. Blues Project – flute thing
1068. Simon & Garfunkel – we’ve got a groovey thing goin
1067. Prince – automatic
1066. Peter Hammill – the Institute of Mental Health [burning]
1065. Aphrodite’s Child – Aegean
1064. Howard Shore – The Black Meat
1063. Ill Gotten Gains – spirit of 67
1062. John Zorn – the little lieutenant of the loving god
1061. Shadows – wonderful land
1060. Bob Dylan – blue moon
1059. Ultramarine – saratoga (upstate mix)
1058. Keltic Electric – Wild Mountain Thyme
1057. My Bloody Valentine – loomer
1056. John Klemmer – third stone from the sun
1055. Animal Collective – Who Could Win a Rabbit
1054. Grateful Dead – cosmic Charlie
1053. DS Crew – frontier
1052. Todd Rundgren – healing [part 1]

Randophonic airs pretty much every Saturday night, starting 11 pm (Pacific time) c/o CiTR.FM.101.9, with streaming and/or download options usually available within twenty-four hours via our Facebook page.

006. The Final Countdown*

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Installment #56 of The Final Countdown aired Saturday-April-21-2018 (c/o CiTR.FM.101.9).

Tracks available on this Youtube playlist (somewhat inaccurate).

The Final Countdown* is Randophonic’s longest, most random and (if we’re doing it right) relevant countdown yet – the end of result of a long and convoluted process that finally evolved into something halfway tangible in early 2018. The 1297 Greatest Records of All Time right now right here, if that makes sense. And even if it doesn’t, we’re doing it anyway for as long as it takes, and it will take a while.

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Installment #6 of The Final Countdown* went like this.

1191. Malcolm McLaren – do you like scratchin’
1190. Neil Young – Mr Soul [trans]
1189. Stranglers – just like nothing on earth
1188. Uberzone vs Martin Denny – hypnotique
1187. Stone Roses – one love [the jam part]
1186. Sigur Ros – Gobbledigook
1185. Pentangle – Light Flight
1184. Dali’s Car – his box
1183. Negativland – cara mia
1182. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Raleigh-Durham reel
1181. Salvador Santana – Under The Sun
1180. Screaming Eagles – doodoodoodoo
1179. Gabor Csupo – Hungarian Dance #1 (Pozsony)
1178. Grateful Dead – new speedway boogie
1177. Ultravox – Mr X
1176. Todd Rundgren – the spark of life
1175. Egg Head – I hate fluorescent lights
1174. Booker T & the MGs – she’s so heavy
1173. Eugene Chadbourne – wild horses
1172. Rolling Stones – let’s sing this all together [see what happens]
1171. Massive Professor Attack etc – bumper ball dub

Randophonic airs pretty much every Saturday night, starting 11 pm (Pacific time) c/o CiTR.FM.101.9, with streaming and/or download options usually available within twenty-four hours via our Facebook page.

40. The Solid Time Of Change

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Installment #40 of the Solid Time of Change aired on Saturday June-10-2017 (c/o CiTR.FM.101.9).

Podcast (Solid Time begins a few minutes in). Youtube playlist (not entirely accurate).

The Solid Time of Change is our overlong yet incomplete history of the so-called Prog Rock era – 661 selections from 1965 through 1979 with which we hope to do justice to a strange and ambitious time indeed, musically speaking.

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Part Forty of the journey went as follows:

  1. Yes – yours is no disgrace
  2. Richard Harris – MacArthur Park
  3. Todd Rundgren – international feel
  4. Todd Rundgren – never never land
  5. Todd Rundgren – tic tic tic it wears off
  6. Todd Rundgren – Zen Archer
  7. Todd Rundgren -Le Feel Internacìonále
  8. Pretty Things – Baron Saturday
  9. Pretty Things – the journey
  10. Pretty Things – I see you
  11. Pink Floyd – astronomy domine
  12. Peter Hammill – modern
  13. Van Der Graaf Generator – a plague of lighthouse keepers
  14. Mothers of Invention- eat that question
  15. King Crimson – Asbury Park

Fresh episodes air pretty much every Saturday night, starting 11 pm (Pacific time) c/o CiTR.FM.101.9, with streaming and download options available within twenty-four hours via our Facebook page.

746. healing

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The genius of Todd Rundgren is that he can do anything – pop, soul, rock, prog, abstract avant whatever. The worst thing about Todd Rundgren is that’s exactly what he does a little too often — anything and everything all at the same time, and it all just ends up getting in the way of itself. But not so the title track of Healing (which ends up filling all of side two). It’s 1981 and drum machines and synths and sequencers are the cool new toys of the moment, and, genius that he is, Todd knows exactly how to play with them, to genuine therapeutic effect.

837. Hiroshima

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Utopia was initially formed because Todd Rundgren felt a need to rock progressively, some would argue excessively. Which was definitely the case come 1977’s Ra, their third album, with material ranging from an overlong children’s fantasy concerning a glass guitar to a genuine communion with the sun god of ancient Egypt. The singular highlight was Hiroshima, a blistering, metal-infused ode (with guitar and keyboard freakouts) to the worst split second in the history of mankind (also Nagasaki, three days later). Don’t you ever f***ing forget.

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26. The Solid Time Of Change

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After a few weeks off for seasonal festivities and concerns, the Solid Time of Change returned on Saturday January-14-2016 (c/o CiTR.FM.101.9).

Podcast (Solid Time begins a few minutes in). Youtube playlist (incomplete and not entirely accurate).

Presented in countdown form, the Solid Time of Change is our overlong yet incomplete history of the so-called Prog Rock era – 661 selections from 1965 through 1979 with which we hope to do justice to a strange and ambitious time indeed, musically speaking.

solid-crop-26

Part Twenty-Six of the journey went as follows:

  1. Queen – liar
  2. King Crimson – easy money
  3. Utopia – Hiroshima
  4. Roxy Music – end of the line
  5. Roxy Music – sentimental fool
  6. Roxy Music – mother of pearl
  7. John Martyn – I’d rather be the devil
  8. Led Zeppelin – Achilles last stand
  9. Neil Diamond – Soolaimon + Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show
  10. Allman Brothers – of Elizabeth Reed’s Mountain Jam

Fresh episodes air pretty much every Saturday night, starting 11 pm (Pacific time) c/o CiTR.FM.101.9, with streaming and download options available within twenty-four hours via our Facebook page.

19. The Solid Time Of Change

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Part nineteen of the Solid Time of Change aired Saturday October-22-2016 c/o CiTR.FM.101.9.

Podcast (Solid Time starts about five minutes in). Youtube playlist (incomplete and not entirely accurate).

This continues to be Randophonic’s main focus, our overlong yet incomplete history of the so-called Prog Rock era (presented in countdown form) – 661 selections from 1965 through 1979 with which we hope to do justice to a strange and ambitious time indeed, musically speaking.

solid-crop-19

Part nineteen of the journey went as follows:

  1. King Crimson – pictures of the city
  2. Todd Rundgren – how about a little fanfare?
  3. Todd Rundren – I think you know
  4. Todd Rundgren – the spark of life
  5. Utopia – [fragments of] the Ikon
  6. PFM – il banchetto
  7. PFM – is my face on straight
  8. Rush – La Villa Strangiato
  9. Led Zeppelin – four sticks
  10. Supertramp – the meaning
  11. Man – c’mon [edit]
  12. 361. Nektar – finale [to the centre of the eye]

Fresh episodes air pretty much every Saturday night, starting 11 pm (Pacific time) c/o CiTR.FM.101.9, with streaming and download options available within twenty-four hours via our Facebook.