Tag Archives: Todd Rundgren

Song of the Week – Chain Letter, Todd Rundgren

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Ignored             Obscured              Restored

In 1971 — well before the release of her first indie single (“Hey Joe”/”Piss Factory”) or her 1975 debut album Horses — the aspiring poet and author Patti Smith wrote a handful of articles for Creem and Rolling Stone.  One of them was a Rolling Stone review of the album Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren.

Smith was clearly a fan of Rundgren, the former Nazz member, and a vocal champion of his early solo career.  Some sources even claim that Patti was the one who gave him the nickname “Runt,” though that can’t be definitively proven.  She later went on to induct him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.

In her review, Smith raved about the album, singling out one track in particular: “Chain Letter.”

Here’s what she had to say about Rundgren’s song:

“Though he has always created from the best of a pre-formed world, he is slowly enveloping these sources with his personal vision. “Chain Letter” is the cut which most seems to reflect this vision. The lyrics have his typical left-handed optimism and just when they get jaded the track opens up; and multiplies, as “Hey Jude” did. But “Chain Letter” has more balls and goes through several changes while “Hey Jude” never went past spirited repetition.”

Better than the Beatles’ “Hey Jude”?  That is high praise indeed.  Give the song a listen and decide for yourself.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Future Shock, Hello People

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Ignored            Obscured             Restored

The ultimate evidence that mime acts should not be allowed to make records.  Especially if they don’t know enough to keep their mouths shut.

  • Dave Marsh

That snarky review is all that Marsh had to say about Hello People in The Rolling Stone Record Guide (1979).  I agree that the mime thing was ridiculous.  Why combine mime – which is based on silence – with performing rock music with vocals?  But dismissing their music outright is a bit harsh.

Wikipedia has a great summary of how the band’s concept was conceived:

The idea for creating the group stemmed from Marcel Carné‘s 1945 film Children of Paradise (Les Enfants du Paradis). Etienne Decroux, the father of French mime, plays the part of Bapties’s father in the film. During the sixties, Decroux taught painting to a group of musicians. Since these musicians learned to paint so quickly, Decroux reasoned that musicians could also learn mime and apply it in some new way to create a new form. The manager of the musicians Decroux taught, Lou Futterman, decided he would implement this new concept, and put together a new group of musicians who would perform in mime makeup and do mime routines between songs, never speaking a word to the audience.

Hello People had two distinct phases, albeit with (mostly) the same lineup.  The ‘60s version was more psychedelic and political.  By the mid ‘70s, the band was touring as Todd Rundgren’s backing band and making more pop-oriented, though eclectic, records.

Today’s SotW is “Future Shock” from The Hansome Devils (1974).

“Future Shock” was the band’s only single to chart, though it stalled at an unimpressive #71.

The Handsome Devils was produced by Rundgren, who also produced other gems like New York Dolls, Bat Out of Hell (Meatloaf), Felix Cavaliere, Straight Up (Badfinger), We’re an American Band (Grand Funk), Wave (Patti Smith), Remote Control (The Tubes), and Skylarking (XTC).

Though “Future Shock” was the single, I recommend giving the whole album a listen – especially if you enjoy albums that take you on a journey through different and diverse musical styles.  Don’t let Dave Marsh scare you away.

Enjoy… until next week.