Every time there’s a new Todd Rundgren album, some critic somewhere hails it as a “return to form.”
This always brings a chuckle from the artist, who prides himself on not having a “form.” In his mind, the writer is probably referring to the sweet, carefully layered pop music that made Rundgren famous in the early days; that, or his guitar-heavy glam-rock gems.
Either way, Rundgren says, “It’s only gonna be temporary anyway. Once I return to form, I can’t help but wander off in some other direction shortly after that.”
DO THIS: TODD RUNDGREN AT MAHAFFEY THEATER 05.27.17
The phrase has reappeared with the release of White Knight, Rundgren’s 25th solo album. Featuring collaborations with a cross-section of genre-bending artists, it’s richly melodic, a rewarding audio adventure. And it’s “accessible” — not one of Rundgren’s favorite words — in a way that his last record, 2015’s dance-party platter Global, wasn’t.
“I tend not to do the same thing twice because I don’t feel like it’s my purpose to do that,” he explains. “Some artists spend their whole lives trying to find a formula that brings them success, and then they’ll mine that formula until the cows come home. And I always felt that I have to be different — not only different from other artists, but also different from myself. So that I don’t get in a rut by doing the same thing over and over again.”
Rundgren, who claims he’s never in all these years been tempted to repeat himself, simply doesn’t want to get bored. “It starts with my own sense of satisfaction,” he says. “It’s kind of selfish, in a way, but if I don’t have fun doing it I don’t think anybody’s gonna have fun listening to it.”
There’s fun aplenty on White Knight, as long as the listener isn’t holding out hope for another catchy singalong like “Hello, It’s Me” or “Can We Still Be Friends” or “Bang the Drum All Day.” Although the native Philadelphian’s melodic gifts haven’t abandoned him, his preference these days is to create a dense, rhythm-drenched groove for the songs — from ballads (“Fiction,” “Wouldn’t You Like to Know”) to gauzy R&B (“Chance For Us,” with Daryl Hall; “That Could Have Been Me,” featuring Robyn) to rich pop baubles (“Sleep,” driven by a snappy Joe Walsh guitar line, and “Let’s Do This,” a duet with Moe Berg of The Pursuit of Happiness).
Although it’s not pure, throbbing electronica like Global, the new record’s extremely synth-heavy.
That, Rundgren claims, was due to his ongoing obsession with the latest electronic gadgets and gizmos. He is unable to help himself — why use drums and bass when you can use synthesized drums-and-bass?
The other reason was logistical. Rundgren lives — and works — in Hawaii. “It’s far away from everything, so it’s difficult for me to call up the players that I’m used to working with and having them just drop over for a session,” he explains. “This collaboration was a way to get other artists involved without having to really physically transport them. File-sharing makes it a lot easier to do this kind of thing.”
Which means that virtually none of the artists — not Trent Reznor, Dam Funk, Joe Satriani or Bettye LeVette — was ever in the same room at the same time as Rundgren, who recorded the basic tracks himself. The lone exception was Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen, who co-wrote (and sings lead on) “Tin Foil Hat,” a less-than-subtle dig at our 45th president. With its languid groove, “Tin Foil Hat” sounds like an outtake from Steely Dan’s Gaucho.
For “Deaf Ears,” Rundgren worked — across cyberspace — with Nine Inch Nails founder Reznor. “He gave me a whole album’s worth of stuff to choose from,” he says. “He works with his partner, Atticus Ross, doing soundtracks a lot nowadays. They collect all these ideas in a library, and when they get a project they pull ‘em out and use them as appropriate.
“They gave me my choice of what to pick from a big chunk of that library. And a lot of it might have sounded a little more typically like Nine Inch Nails. I just happened to pick this one because I heard something I could do with it. And often when people hear that song, they don’t immediately think of Nine Inch Nails. In fact, a lot of people said the Joe Satriani song sounds more like Nine Inch Nails than ‘Deaf Ears’ does!”
White Knight is the first time in a nearly 50-year career that Todd Rundgren — a legendary, do-it-yourself studio hermit — has so thoroughly shared his soundspace with other artists.
“It’s an interesting thing when you collaborate,” he muses. “Sometimes the middle ground you arrive at doesn’t sound like either of you. It sounds like something unique.”
For the White Knight tour, which will stop at St. Petersburg’s Mahaffey Theater Saturday, May 27, Rundgren will be accompanied by his regular cast of touring characters, including bassist Kasim Sultan, drummer Prairie Prince, synthesizer wizard Greg Hawkes (formerly of The Cars) and guitarist Jesse Gress.
It won’t be a “greatest hits” show (Rundgren doesn’t actually do those; besides, he hasn’t had too many actual hits to speak of); nor will it be the disco-rama that was Global on the road (although the pair of female singers from that highly choreographed show are part of this one, too).
“This is everything mashed together,” the artist says gleefully. You can almost hear him rubbing his hands together.
“It’s the best of all possible worlds, in that we’re doing older material that people often request, and some stuff from the recent records… and we’ve got the biggest production that I’ve ever taken out as a solo artist. The entire stage is a video screen, and behind that is another video screen that covers the entire stage.
“With the band in between the two of them, and me and the girls in front. It’s a multi-layered, almost holographic kind of effect.”
And yes, he will play “Hello, It’s Me,” by far his most-requested song.
Well, probably. Maybe.
“A lot of fans measure the show by whether I play that song or not,” Rundgren says. “Whatever else happens in the show, if I don’t play ‘Hello, It’s Me,’ they’re somewhat dissatisfied. And if I do play it, they essentially have nothing to complain about. It’s always lurking there somewhere in the background.”
Listen to White Knight below. Get more information on the show via local.cltampa.com.
This article appears in May 25 – Jun 1, 2017.