Listen to some of the music here: podcasts.progrock.com/2024/01/16/sea-of-tranquilitys-ranking-the-albums-todd-rundgren/?fbclid=IwAR2VDzOOtH7r6jjeUlWHVNzhYw7eiOyrPSvcWR2CprOWPdkhVb2ypsWP5fo

That side of "Faithful" with original songs is just wonderful. In my opinion it showcases the best Todd singing ever (Clichés, Verb to love, etc.)

Great Episode! The only TODD I own is my original copy of Something/Anything LP, a Best Of and a King Biscuit live CD which I haven't listened to in ages. I guess 2024 I will go down the Todd/Utopia rabbit hole!

Grant's in the house! Well welcome! Happy New Year. Great show and can't argue with any of this. Great show greater talent!!!

My top 1. Todd 2. Something/Anything 3. Wizard/True Star 4. Runt: Ballad 5. Runt Todd=Szulkin #STRIMBU

Man ! This episode was pretty inspiring. I've always respected Todd but now I feel like I need to dive all the way in.

By reviewing all the comments I've come to a conclusion... there is no bad TR. Everyone hears things differently and I'm totally impressed by all the comments! These rankings are all over the map!!! Love it!

1. Hermit of Mink Hollow 2. Something/Anything 3. Nearly Human 4. The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect 5. Healing 6. 2nd Wind 7. The Ballad of Todd Rundgren 8. A Cappella 9. Todd 10. Initiation

Here goes, from best to worst (the ones that I own or at least have heard): A Wizard, A True Star (1973) Runt. The Ballad of Todd Rundgren (1971) Something/Anything (1972) Todd (1974) Healing (1981, w/ "Time Heals" & "Tiny Demons" as bonus tracks) Runt (1970) Hermit of Mink Hollow (1978) Nearly Human (1989) Initiation (1975) The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect (1982) Liars (2004) Faithful (1976) Arena (2008) Happy New Year!

Looking forward to this episode but will have to return due to some holiday family time. Had to offer up a personal ranking of Todd Top Ten. List is as of today though the top two spots have held for over 50 years. 1. A Wizard, A True Star - personal favorite album of all time 2. Something/Anything 3. Hermit Of Mink Hollow 4. Todd 5. The Ballad of Todd Rundgren 6. Runt 7. Nearly Human 8. Liars 9. The Ever-Popular Tortured Artist Effect 10 Arena [a bit derivate but just a fun listen] Thanks for putting this album on the Album Ranking list, Pete. Really looking forward to watching you and Grant on this episode later today. Happy New Year to you both and all the SoT co-captains and commentators.

Wow, I just recently reunited with Todd. I lucked in with a great girl who turned me onto great prog and more albums and Wizard was my entry point. After not hearing Wizard for thirty or more years I love it more, can't get enough, and finding out what a musical Swiss army knife genius Todd is! Flawed genius, like all true geniuses.

I love that you guys did this. I’m not even 2 minutes in.

10. Healing 9. The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect 8. Initiation 7. Runt: the Ballad of Todd Rundgren 6. Todd 5. Hermit of Mink Hollow 4. Runt 3. Faithful 2. Something/Anything? 1. A Wizard, a True Star

Grant and Peter - you’ve give me the widest smile. My jaw is aching. This a just wonderful. I love Todd.

Todd Rundgren is my favourite rock star ever. Initiation is my favourite album of all time. 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

This was a good one. Thanks for the effort.

1- Initiation (and i ABSOLUTELY ADORE "A Treatise On Cosmic Fire") 2- A Wizard A True Star 3- Todd 4- Healing 5- Something/Anything 5- Runt 6- The Ballad of Todd Rundgren 7- 2nd Wind 8- The Hermit of Mink Hollow 9- Liars 10- Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect

I remember being _psyched_ when Arena came out. Forgot he played all the instruments.

Great show! He has an interesting catalog for sure!

SoT needs to start a new monthly show with Grant.

The Acapella tour was amazing!

It's always been a mystery to me that Todd isn't better known especially here in the UK. I got into him in the 70's and although I haven't kept up with his more recent releases he's always been a firm favourite. One of those small band of artists like Zappa or Prince who ploughed his own furrow seemingly oblivious to whether he was popular. A genuine original

The Rhino Anthology in 1989 was a revelation to me. Love the songs. 1. Something Anything; 2. Nearly Human; 3. The Hermit of Mink Hollow; 4. Healing; 5. A Wizard A True Star. 6. Initiation; 7. Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect; 8. Runt, The Ballad of TR; 9. Todd; 10. Runt.

Happy New Year gang! 🎊 🥂Looking forward to seeing what you do in 2024 Pete, you smashed it last year! Love your videos w/Martin Popoff.🙏🏻🎧

heart swore by the ovation.in the late 70,s 80,s.

Awesome episode! Todd is in my top five favorite artists of all time. Saw him in 2023 at the Wellmont Theater in NJ (opening for Daryl Hall). He still sings great and he wailed on the electric guitar on "Black Maria." Hall let him play over an hour. Great stuff! I love Something/Anything. Grew up with that album when it first came out. Love Healing, also. Happy New Year!

🌠Good one Guys ...Happy New Year Early...

Fantastic show Grant and Pete! Great to see Pete rank Arena (2008) so high. I have loved this one from the get go. So many great records from a true artist who never rests. Yes, Something/Anything? is my favorite, a desert island record for me. But like Grant, Runt. The Ballad of Todd Rundgren is a close #2 for me and A Wizard, a True Star is a crazy tour de force that is my easy #3. I have to pick up A Capella one day. And what a great episode to end 2023. Happy New Year!

Sorry Pete, not New Years day, but New Years eve. Love the show, for decades been a Todd Rundgren fan.

My favorite Todd Rundgren song is "The Verb 'To Love'" from "Faithful"

Great show guys..I'm going back to my Todd catalog its been a while...always been a fan of his album LIAR from 2004

I won’t bother with my Top 10, because that would be impossible. That said, Todd Rundgren put together the greatest 5-album run in recorded history with Runt, The Ballad…, S/A?, AWATS, and Todd. And yes, that DOES include the Beatles (whom I absolutely adore)… and considering that he did most of it as a true solo artist, and with a relative modicum of collaboration, well, it becomes mind boggling. And Grant, as a Rush fan, you may be interested in knowing that Neal Peart was a huge Todd fan, and his favorite Rundgren album was The Ballad of T.R. Who’d a thunk it? Great show guys!

been waiting for this ranking show for awhile….I just can’t stop listening to A Wizard, a True Star over the last year

A Soupy Sales reference on SOT? Yes!

todd rundgren is awesome.

The best catalog of music on the planet. Followed with relentless touring. Gift after gift , the man is MUSIC.. If nominated I will not run, if elected I' will not serve.

Great start to the new year but I'll have Todd in my head for days now ! He's up there somewhere next to the Beatles and Stevie Wonder for me. His best songs are simply breathtaking. I love the early piano ballads that feel like poems for the lonely, trapped in empty emotional space; and on these albums Todd is the only artist that ever matched the soaring beauty and the depths of soul of Laura Nyro. Then he was writing layered pop masterpieces that never feel over-written or over-produced. Most artists tend to add too much, so that the thing falls over or they lose what they had; but that's never the case with Todd. Every layer is beautifully crafted to shape the whole and enhance the message and emotion of the lyric. A song like Just One Victory is a great example; as inspiring and thrilling as anything ever written and performed. Thanks Pete and Grant for reminding us all.

Nearly Human is where I started. Good place to start.

Great job guys. You did miss 3 masterpieces. Nearly Human, Second Wind, and With a Twist. Listen to all with no preconceived notions and lights off. I think he advanced in his instrumental and vocal arrangements and with his vocals. His increase of vocal range on Second Wind is stunning.And yes, With a Twist sounds like MOR mood music , but it's done masterfully and what lush vocal arrangements! Nearly Human has the ultimate breakup song due to incompatibility , Parallel Lines.

"Treatise on Cosmic Fire" was sped up to make it fit on a side of vinyl. The single "Prana" however was released at the original speed. I took my DAW and restored "Treatise" to its original recorded speed. I'm surprised Todd has not released 5.1 mixes of these albums or remastered them for digital release.

I started with Something/Anything? in 1972 when I was stationed @ Ramey AFB in Puerto Rico. I also remember hearing We Gotta Get You A Woman in Eureka California but had no clue it was Todd because the dj said it was by a band called Runt. So I didn’t know that was Todd for at least 2 decades. I also love side 2 of Initiation which I think inspired my improvisational videos on KZfaq. It never seems like 36 minutes to me. In fact I always say Is it over already? 😂

Sorry to see "Nearly Human" & "Second Wind" get ignored or forgotten by yet another ranking show. IMO, two of Todd's greatest works that came back to back, along with two of his best tours.

A Wizard/A True Star is an absolute masterpiece. Way ahead of its time it sounds fresher today than ever. I was lucky enough to have a friend who had this LP at home in high school and we would listen almost every weekend under the influence of whatever we could get our hands on at the time

1) AWATS 2) Todd, Initiation, TR's Utopia, Healing 3) Ballad, Something, Hermit, Liars, Nearly Human, TEPTAE 4) Runt, Faithful, A Cappella, NWO, Individualist, Space Force, White Knight, State, Arena, Second Wind, Repro, Up Against It 5) Twist, OLY, BTW, Healing did appear in the top 50 upon its release. 48 or something.

Great review guys! My big brother bought the first Nazz album and once I heard it, I kept it and refused to give it back. Being a beginning drummer, I thought Thom Mooney was as good as any one famous. Long story short, Todd was/is a huge inspiration to my playing and recording. I play all the instruments and vocals on our music although do have a songwriting partner. I really enjoyed your video and agree with your selections. Looking forward to more👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Fantastic show, Grant and Pete. I've got Something/Anything and Wizard, and wanted to know what to get next, so thank you.

Great choices all around, guys. Only one minor quibble...I would replace "A Capella" with 2004's "Liars," which is soooo good. Tracks like "Sweet", " Future", "Past", "Afterlife" and "God Said", just chock full of really great songs. This was a true return to form for Todd.

"Nearly Human" from 1989 is my runner up at # 11. "The Want Of A Nail" (with the late R&B singer Bobby Womack) got rock airplay!! (the what, what, what)

The only time I've been lucky enough to see Todd was on the Arena tour. The set consisted of the album in full and I Saw The Light (if I remember rightly). That might have disappointed some people but I loved it. Todd was rockin'!

Massive Todd Rundgren fan and so hard to categorize or rank such a stellar catalog of music so for today the top 5 is Todd, a wizard a true star, something, anything, healing and nearly human.this can definitely change at anytime

It would have been nice to just include all of his albums for the heck of it. I would rank Liars above Arena, personally. Yes, that would make for a longer show and more confusion, but true Todd fans (and many who sort of know him) know how important S/A and Hermit are. We want to see the merit in the later, more obscure releases. I have been loving Space Force since it came out, which is all collaborations but still has his name on it. Ok, 26 albums (Wikipedia) may be too many. Too much Todd? That does not compute! Great show nonetheless!

My favorites: 1. Hermit of Mink Hollow 2. A Wizard, a True Star 3. Initiation 4. Something/Anything? 5. Healing 6. Faithful 7. Todd 8. Liars 9. Arena 10. 2nd Wind

Initiation was my introduction to Todd Rundgren, and I totally agree with Pete’s synopsis of that album. That said, here is my list: #1 No World Order #2 Nearly Human #3 A Cappella #4 2nd Wind #5 Something/Anything #6 Liars #7 Arena #8 Initiation #9 Space Force #10 One Long Year #10a The Individualist

One album of Todd's that I may be the only fan of is "TR-I". I absolutely love this album. So different, so catchy, so much going on. Not my favorite Todd album by any means, but damn is it a fun ride. Got it day of release and still listen to it semi-regularly to this day.

rundgren, a kind of a true artist for a certain reason

Hey guys thanks so much for doing this! Todd is one of my three major music heroes and influences. I have to say I was shocked the only more current recording you highlighted was Arena! So much more amazing stuff in the 90’s to the present. Individualist, No world order, Liars,White Night, and the current colab recording Space Force. Same quality, same experiments with current tech, and his break from doing everything on the recording and working with others! Todd has frequently mentioned his disappointment that such top ten list don’t include the more current recordings during which he was inducted in the R&R Hall of Fame and received the Les Paul award!

This was allot of fun! In the late 70's my first Todd album was Hermit of Mink Hollow that I first heard my sister listening to, then I found a Runt reissue, then Adventures in Utopia. I then went back to the rest of the Todd discography and then later to the rest of the Utopia catalog. I spent allot of money buying all this stuff on LP then spent even more money buying them all on cd.

Great show 🎉🎈🥳🥂🍾 Happy New Year Grant makes great point You can tell Todd by the period of the new cutting edge equipment he used at the time.. I pretty much agree with most of all your choices as far as the top 10 very good show I always entertaining when Grant comes on he brings a lot of knowledge. It was neat to see Pete bring out a cappella into his list that was very cool too. I'm definitely in the arena camp with Pete too that is one kick ass album when Todd went back to rockin

Awesome show! I love Todd so much, and Wizard was my first album I ever heard, right when it came out, so wow! Also, I’m curious as to no comments to the one producer who really has a the most unique Snare sound ever. Some people love it, some people don’t, either way it’s an interesting choice! TIG

Great one, when you two team up it always feels like an issue of the West Coast Avengers

You guys! This is a great discussion! Todd is one of the most important musical artists, ever, in my book. Period. It’s the diversity that makes his catalogue so wonderful, at least for me. Sorry, Pete, I’m not much a fan of Arena, but the last time I tried to listen to it, it was a few months after it was released … I need to spin it again. 😳 Favorites of mine are Liars, Second Wind, The Individualist, and I LOVE With A Twist, with a tip of the hat to No World Order. Oh geez, and Nearly Human! One of his best! PS: Side 2 of S/A is magical! Are they in the top 10? I don’t know! I find it impossible to rate his catalogue down to 10 … I love his stuff so much. Both you guys made a lotta sense - even when you didn’t agree. Great video, both of you! ✌🏼

The late Robert Palmer did "Can We Still Be Friends?" (from his 1979 "Secrets"). British singer Kim Wilde (of 1982 "Kids In America") did "Lucky Guy" (from 1988 "Close"). Palmer: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/i95gpKZ2ndeznp8.html & Wilde: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/e7mJlbV0qaurj6c.html

Great analysis.

Loved this episode! Todd is God

When I was 14 I heard the Todd lp from my older sister who thought she was getting the poppy Something /Anything Todd and just didn’t get It .That record changed my life and is still my favorite. You get every aspect of his personality on this record and that’s what is special about him. It can also get in his way as can bad luck with labels and promotion. He and Utopia deserved more Hits.Nice to see him getting some props later in his life.Long overdue.

As a 68 year old long time Todd fan, I found this very interesting & enjoyed it very much... The one thing you guy's are missing though is having grown up during the era all these albums were first released. I was 14 when I bought my first NAZZ album in 1969 & also first discovered pot. During the early to mid 70's there was a lot of good psychedelics around that many of my generation were using, so Todd's- Wiz/Todd/Initiation albums were many times enjoyed under the influence, so we saw them in a totally different light. lol. Glad to see they made your top 10 though. Peace.

Todd's guitar soloing skills were stunning on 'Nazz Nazz', with 'Kiddie Boy' and particulary 'A Beautiful Song', which is both ripping and stunning, a tune that is all guitar soloing aside from a middle vocal interlude. It is also worth checking him out guesting with John Mayall on KZfaq. He plays 'All Your Lovin'', the opening track from the Mayall & Clapton 'Blues Breakers' (aka Beano) album. He plays and sounds great. And the expressions on the faces of Mayall and the bassist are confirmation of the Wow! they were feeling. I mean, this is the 'Hello, It's Me Guy' riffing like early Clapton on a cruise ship...with a Strat sounding like a Les Paul. The best Todd record? 'Something/Anything'. The ultimate desert island disc. Mind, a two-disc version of 'A Wizard, A True Star' would be a potential contender. Or a 10-disc 'best of'. Cheers from chilly Canada.

todd is godd! thx guys.

"A Wizard, A True Star" is my favorite. Followed by the debut "Runt" and "Something/Anything?". The "Todd" album has a lot of great stuff on it too, but it gets a bit too much chaotic, in some places.

My favourite is The Ballad Of Todd Rundgren. Tight catchy beautiful pop tunes. I'm a sucker for piano.

I’ve heard ‘Hideaway’ on the radio before, and yes it’s one of his best tunes of the past 40 plus years

For me it's A Wizard, A True Star...by far! It's just got everything of Todd's best attributes and aspects, all in one album. Some of the great songwriting and power-pop ballads of Something/Anything continued, but then the psychedelic wierdness and avante-guard experimentation and serious bold risk taking, some hard-rocking tunes too, soul Motown covers, you name it! So well produced and engineered, has to be one of the most influential albums of all time in a production and engineering sense. For me A Wizard is on par with the first Utopia album (Todd Rundgren's Utopia) as the best record Todd ever did....but that is officially a Utopia album, so in terms of his solo records, it's A Wizard at number 1 for sure. 2. Something/Anything 3. Todd 4. Initiation 5. Hermit of Mink Hollow

I would certainly include Healing high up on my list, probably 3 or 4, I saw Todd perform Todd and Healing in their entirety 10ish years ago and it was excellent, they had a choir for the Healing part. I also would have Liars and No World Order in my top 10. I am also happy to see the love for A Capella, really brilliant.

Todd Rundgren is such a genius and I dare say under appreciated. I don't even think you could really explore him enough. Ovation wasn't new in the 80s, they were around in the late 60s. Glen Campbell used one.

I’ve been saying that, for years, "Real Man", side, one and "Faithful" side two if it was on one album would be the equivalent to Sergeant Pepper. Or Or something of that ilk.

I'm happy to see Runt: The Ballad of.. getting a bit of love. Check out A Long Time and A Long Way To Go and then listen to one of the biggest tunes on YT: See You Again by Charlie Puth and Wiz Khalifa.

I couldn't properly do a top 10 for Todd because I admittedly am a bit fair-weather with him in that I haven't gone beyond Healing, but my top 3 definitely contains Something/Anything?, A Wizard, A True Star and Todd and I honestly don't know how to rank them. My current state presently wants to put Todd at #1 because of the unfettered invention that's going on and I really enjoy how he eases on the content compression that he had on Wizard eg he lets things breathe more on it. Then again, the fever dream of Wizard's A-side is absolutely amazing and touches the manic alchemy that Frank Zappa was able to utilize so effortlessly. In fact, I really look at Todd and Frank as sort of yin and yang, Shem and Sean or Adam and Cain to each other in that they exemplify the same approach to artistry, but while Zappa does it in his razor-sharp turning-the-mirror-on-society way, Todd does it in his soul-searching transcendentalist way and I find both approaches to be incredibly useful to the human condition. And the cherry on top is that they both have a sense of humor about it! Anyway, great lists and thank you because I'm now getting the itch to go over some Todd material.

Great episode! I guess it's a tribute to Todd that you guys didn't even mention four of my favs. Nearly Human, Liars, 2nd wind and the Individualist. His catalogue is so vast!!

Two albums in my top 5 would be Second Wind and Nearly Human. I loved that full ensemble with all the layered vocals. I saw him on both those tours at The Ritz in New York.

I think you guys said it best, if you love Todd, and we all do, almost everything works. I’m a bit older and was in my sophomore year at UAlbany when i bought S/A…Todd had me at Hello…it’s me!

Todd, the renaissance man 🙌 yeah 10 is difficult, Nearly Human would have hit my top 10

I'm finishing weeding out all of my Rundgren. Off to the Goodwill. No Slap Happy Here.

Yes, Tiny Demons was definitely featured in Miami Vice. The episode was called, "Little Prince".

I started listening to popular music in 1966 with Georgy Girl. When I discovered Laura Nyro in 2015, my lifelong favourite artists fell like flies. Todd chose brilliantly, as did David Geffen as Nyro was his first artist under management. How I missed Nyro for decades is still a mystery to me, given that I discovered Deep Purple etc in 1971, and Joni Mitchell in 1975.

AWATS is the ultimate stream of consciousness album

I did go back and revisit A Capella after watching this. It’s better than I remember. Would still take Nearly Human over it to make the bottom of my Top 10. Agreed with both of you for the most part other than Faithful is still in my top 5 despite the covers which are great

Thank you Pete and Grant. I am looking forward to this ranking. My top 10 Todd Rundgren solo albums are: 1. A Wizard A True Star 2. Something/Anything 3. A Capella 4. Initiation 5. Liars 6. Healing 7. Hermit of Mink Hollow 8. State 9. Nearly Human 10. Space Force Ranking is very subjective imho ... can be ranked by sales popularity or by aesthetics. After his popular sales pop oriented work of the early 70s he focused on making his artistic/aesthetic growth as or more important than sales in his work imho. Todd is probably the most unique and progressive North American artist who is even more respected in Europe than North America.

Wow, Pablo Cruise ranking is gonna be fun!

Love Todd

Fun Todd Fact…In 1981, he performed “Healer” on Saturday Night Live. SNL must have decided Todd wasn’t enough, as a very-pre “Purple Rain” Prince also performed on the same show.

No one mentions the TR-i years

As a major Todd-Head, here's my probably unique list: 1. A Capella -- It's the one I reach for more often than not. Every song is different but great. 2. Nearly Human -- I love the strength of his voice and some of his best melodies. 3. Hermit of Mink Hollow -- Very catchy pop 4. A Wizard a True Star -- Love the trippy ride 5. Something/Anything -- Classic songwriting but voice not as strong as it would become 6. 2nd Wind -- Baroque pop, love the 3 broadway tunes 7 The Ever Popular Tortured Artis Effect -- Fun poppy tunes that run on too long but still fun 8. Runt -- Great eclectic debut with some of his best guitar playing 9. Healing -- Synth-laden, dreamy pop -- the 2nd side suite is transcendent 10. Liars -- Nice late return to form, several killer tunes

Tony and Hunt Sales also worked with Iggy Pop. The song Lust For Life? That's Tony and Hunt on the rhythm section.

Tiny Demons was on a Miami Vice episode. Great memory!

One of my besties even though he's so far left." .Faithful" is probably my favorite but "Todd" isnt very far behind.".Something/ Anything" is right up there too!

10) A Capella, 9) Todd, 8) Faithful, 7) Wizard, 6) The Individualist, 5) Nearly Human, 4) Liars, 3) Hermit, 2) Healing, 1) Something/Anything

If I were to rank Todd’s lp’s , my higher ones would have to include a lot of his great guitars riffs and solos!

A Capella! I had that cd stuck in my car stereo. Literally. Had to replace car stereo. Threw the disc out with the stereo as I got so sick of it! Will rebuy as many years have passed.

Ranking The Studio Albums of Utopia: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rZlyqMqIva-3pZc.html

Pete, your opinion of A Treatise On Cosmic Fire definitely seems to have improved after your most recent listens. I remember when you did the Epic Length Songs That Suck episode with Martin Popoff where you indicated that you found it to be unlistenable.