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He also toured during 1992 with Ringo Starr's second All-Starr band. If I get that one minute of total illumination then I don't care if my whole career goes down the drain. Todd Rundgren 'Live In Japan' DVD (BMG, 2003) 94 minutes of top class Todd! Although lesser known, "Couldn't I Just Tell You" (1972) was influential to many artists in the power pop genre. Stop here first. [47], Something/Anything?, the first album officially issued under the name "Todd Rundgren", was released in February 1972, shortly after Bearsville had signed a long-term distribution deal with Warner Bros. Ra (February 1977) was a concept album based on Egyptian mythology, which prefaced a lavish tour involving an extravagant stage set with a giant pyramid and Sphynx head. Please refresh the page and try again. Related: Something/Anything? Todd Rundgren's Utopia @ Don Kirshner's Rock Concert First concert I saw from TR, made me an instant fan. Todd Rundgren's Utopia was this most mercurial of artists' first recorded foray with a band since his (late-60s) stint with The Nazz, but it was a long way from Anglophile power-pop and winsome balladry.Four cute guys sporting Beatle cuts this was not. seen as a magnum opus due to its mix of power pop, rock n roll, and more. This line-up performed their first show at Central Park on August 25, 1973, sharing the bill with the Brecker Brothers and Hall & Oates. As the Internet gained mass acceptance, Rundgren, along with longtime manager Eric Gardner and Apple digital music exec Kelli Richards, started PatroNet, which offered fans (patrons) access to his works-in-progress and new unreleased tracks in exchange for a subscription fee, cutting out record labels. Sponsored. Wrong Planet (September 1977), recorded immediately after the tour,[90] signaled the start of a more pop-oriented direction for the group. On guitar, however, it translates to a five-fret-stretch giraffe chord.. GuitarPlayer is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. The first, Disco Jets, was a tongue-in-cheek collection of instrumental disco tracks left unreleased until 2001. F G Dm C I am here to tell you I have made my choice C Cmaj7 Am Em I've been listening to what's been going down F G Dm C There's just too much talk and gossip going 'round Chorus 1 Bb F Em Am Dm You may think that I'm a fool, but I know the answer Bb F Em Am Dm Words become a tool, anyone can use them Bb F Em Am Dm Take the golden rule, as the . Check out Todd's early and continuing experiments in video and keep up with his TV appearances. There was a problem. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. [109][110] Each song on these albums was recorded as a complete single take with no later overdubbing. Paul Myers, A Wizard, a True Star: Todd Rundgren in the Studio[112]. "[144] Buell's stated reason for claiming that Rundgren was Liv's father was that Tyler was too heavily addicted to drugs at the time of Liv's birth.[145]. [16] Tensions further increased during the recording of Nazz's second album, as the other members bridled at the formerly unassuming Rundgren asserting complete control of the sessions as the producer. [122] Rundgren performed in an eclectic variety of styles, so much so that his singles often contrasted with other tracks from the LPs from which they derived, which curtailed his mass appeal. Buell initially claimed that Todd Rundgren was the biological father and named the child Liv Rundgren. Gray had been a dancer with the Tubes and had performed with Rundgren as a backup singer on the tour for his album Nearly Human which led to a number of appearances on the David Letterman Show as one of The World's Most Dangerous Backup Singers. In April 2011, Todd Rundgren's Johnson, a collection of Robert Johnson covers, which had been recorded more than a year earlier, was released. Rundgren chose them, along with Klingman and keyboardist Ralph Shuckett, to be the new configuration of Utopia. And he's very protective and strong. Rundgren was to produce Janis Joplin's third and ultimately final album, Pearl (1971), but plans fell through, as the two artists could not get along with each other. Follow @trconnection Spirit of Harmony Foundation A section/article that has been updated in the last two weeks. Transfer the same voicing to the next lower string group and formulate the 7-root-5 and 5-root-7 inversions on both string groups.). has since been "rightly regarded as one of the landmark releases of the early 70s". But unlike the other guitarists mentioned, Todd has always had more than one chord up his sleeve, and Ive spent the better part of the past half-century translating his primarily keyboard-based voicings to the fretboard. Savor the beautiful dissonances created by those half-step rubs.. [52] "Hello It's Me", which followed late in 1973, reached number 5. (Feeling ambitious? Were in the key of A minor, so the opening F is functioning as the bVI chord, while the Fsus2#4 serves as a suspended V chord bridge to the tonic Am. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021. A popular rumor is that Prince, before achieving fame, would attend Rundgren's concerts and attempt to meet him backstage. He knew that there was a chance that I might not be his, but" He paid to put her through private school, and she visited him several times a year. "[93] He intended the songs on his next solo album to be performed on piano with minimal arrangements, apart from the bass, drums and voices. Records. Wrong Planet wrote the blueprint for Utopia Mach II, but the group didn't deliver the polished, radio-ready follow-up Adventures in Utopia until two and a half years had elapsed. 8b, which outlines the songs repetitive 12-bar progression. Its a remarkably clever take on the timeworn F-C-G progression. A live album/greatest hits collection, The New Cars: It's Alive, was released in June 2006. Triads over bass notes became nearly formulaic by the time TR recorded his 1972 opus, Something/Anything? [126] Biographer Paul Myers attributes the recording studio to be Rundgren's "ultimate instrument". 11bs voicings down an octave and transfers them to the next lower string group. The Ballad of Todd Rundgren 1972 - Something/Anything? calls the song "likely the greatest power pop recording ever made," with lyrics "somehow both desperate and lighthearted at the same time," and a guitar solo having "truly amazing dexterity and inflection". [80] When asked about the Melody Maker feud, Chapman stated he was not aware of the musicians' interactions in the press until years after they occurred. The book contains 181 chapters, each one page long, and each consisting of three paragraphs. [92] Rundgren recalled leaving his home in New York City and sequestering himself at Mink Hollow, "after I discovered that I didn't want to cohabit any longer with Bebe, in any sense of the word A fortunate by-product of being so out of everything all the time and always being the odd man out is that you have plenty of time for self-examination. $39.98. Included among straightforward pop songs are extended jams and studio banter, such as the spoken-word track "Intro", in which he teaches the listener about recording flaws for an egg hunt-type game he calls "Sounds of the Studio". To unlock those, youll have to listen, listen and then listen some more, just as I still do! If I needed cash, I would show up at the accountants and they would just give me hundreds or thousands of dollars. While initial reviews of Ballad were mixed, it came to be regarded as one of the greatest singer-songwriter albums of the era. Immediately afterward, he said, "the Band asked me to engineer their Stage Fright sessions. For total authenticity, play through a Uni-Vibe, pick the F#5 and slide into the G5. And while you're playing your guitar, why not try these alternate lyrics to Part prog-rock homage to the Mahavishnu Orchestra, part extension of TRs newfound harmonic awareness, the song quite possibly contains the first prototype of the T-chord as played on guitar rather than keyboard. To keep up the pace, he installed an eight-track recorder, mixer, and synthesizers into his living room so that he could continue recording after leaving the studio. Somewhere online there is a video of Professor Rundgren giving a lecture at Indiana on how he came to employ the major and minor seventh chords so elegantly. Check it out at, Warner Brothers "Loss Leaders" That Feature Todd Rundgren, The International Todd Rundgren Fan Database, I've Been Trying To Get A Message Through The Air To You, TR/Utopia/Nazz Reviews and Magazine articles, Haiku Review of Todd Rundgren's solo albums, Okay Ill Admit It, Ive Got a Man-crush on Todd Rundgren, Metaphysical Interpretations of Todd's Songs, If I Listen to the Radio, I'll Hear About the Latest Things, Differences between Japanese and US/UK releases of "Liars", I Heard It At The Coffee Shop and on the Radio, http://rednoise.x10host.com/toddstuff/tabs/, Baby Let's Swing/The Last Thing You Said/Don't Tie My Hands, I'm Looking At You But I'm Talking To Myself. In 2004, Rundgren released Liars, a concept album about "paucity of truth", that features a mixture of his older and newer sounds. When a T-chord appears on guitar, as it often does, it is usually in the guise of a major triad with its b7 in the bass. [64], A Wizard, a True Star was released in March 1973. [115], In December 2018, Cleopatra Press published his self-penned memoir, The Individualist: Digressions, Dreams, and Dissertations. [104][nb 5], The new wave-tinged The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect (1982) included a cover of the Small Faces' hit "Tin Soldier". The next 25 grids provide nearly everything you need to play the chorus figures in Todds gorgeous ballad Compassion (from 1981s Healing (opens in new tab)), a self-contained textbook study in slash chords and upper-structure triads in all three inversions (as well as suspensions, which well come to soon). Complex and compound suspensions loom large throughout the Rundgren catalog, and our final three examples bear this out. But I am allowed to sing about anything I want! [86], Following the completion of Faithful, Rundgren spent two months on an eastern spiritual retreat, visiting Iran, Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bali, Thailand, Japan, and Hawaii. The songs main vocal and instrumental theme (Ex. [18] Engineer James Lowe, who Rundgren recruited for his involvement with arranger Van Dyke Parks, believed that Rundgren had become the de facto leader of Nazz, and that a producer's credit was wrongfully withheld from him.[19]. In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, Rundgren created the score for the film A Face to a Name, directed by Douglas Sloan. Plans for Rundgren to produce their fourth album fell through after tracking a few songs in January 1972. This functions as a Gsus2#4 suspension that resolves to the following G chord, all framing Todds sublime City in my head lyric in a moment that personifies that signature Lydian Rundgren sound. I actually had arranged a meeting, just because I was so infatuated with her and I wanted to meet the person who had produced all this music. [18] Michael Friedman, formerly the assistant of Nazz manager John Kurland, offered Rundgren a job as staff engineer and producer under Albert Grossman, which Rundgren accepted. The full song is on the part 1 video. 11b and then to the really high two-note inversions in Ex. There has been confusion as to which date is correct, because the performance date was erroneously listed as November 8, 1973 on the original broadcast LP from the radio show Retrorock that aired in 1983 that features a reworked version of "Utopia". [23], After departing Nazz, the 21-year-old Rundgren briefly considered working as a computer programmer, and then decided that his calling was as a producer. is the subject of a new tribute album Rundgren penned the liner notes himself and made it clear at the outset what the listener should expect. Later, he set up a company to produce 3D animation using the Toaster; this company's first demo, "Theology" (a look at religious architecture through the ages featuring music by former Utopia bandmate Roger Powell) also became a widely circulated item among Toaster users. Just starting out on the Road to Utopia? Your guide to other external and Todd-related information. [48] The album included many songs that would become his best-known. You know, when he holds me it feels like Daddy. Bearsville soon became its own record imprint. Get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into TRs harmonic architecture. Some studio tricks, flubs, interactivity and that International Feel. [3] Magazine ads depicted a smiling Rundgren daring the reader to "ignore me". [60] In 2017, while giving a commencement speech at the Berklee College of Music, he described the record as: my act of tyranny after having achieved commercial success. 11e adds bass notes to Ex. These shows resulted in the double live album Back to the Bars, which featured a mixture of material from his solo work and Utopia, performed with backing musicians including Utopia,[95] Spencer Davis, Daryl Hall and John Oates and Stevie Nicks. [95] Popularly viewed as his most immediately accessible work since Something/Anything?, it received more public attention and radio airplay than most of Rundgren's efforts since A Wizard, a True Star[96] and was heralded as a "return to form" after the string of prog records with Utopia. [30], Following a period where he thought he would never return to being a performing artist, Rundgren approached Grossman with the idea of what would become his debut solo record, Runt. The mid-1990s saw Rundgren recording under the pseudonym TR-i ("Todd Rundgren interactive") for two albums. [citation needed]. [61], The sound and structure of Wizard was heavily informed by Rundgren's hallucinogenic experiences. "[130], Rundgren's production work for other artists were largely one-off affairs. Rundgren returned to recording under his own name for With a Twist (1997), an album of bossa-nova covers of his older material. Once again the original LP issue saw Rundgren pushing the medium to its physical limits, with the side-long suite "A Treatise on Cosmic Fire" clocking in at over 35minutes. [4] Of his early incorporation of digital technology, he said "I wasn't the first to start recording digitally, because it was so expensive. 11d transposes Ex. [147] Together, they have a son, named Rebop. Utopia (or Todd Rundgren's Utopia) Todd Rundgren is an American singer-songwriter and producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as founder of the band Utopia. and Wizard after a solo opening set by Rundgren on piano playing along to a pre-recorded track. As the extended outro chorus progresses, the same chords are inverted up the fretboard, first to the ones shown in Ex. [83][84], Released in May 1976, Faithful saw Rundgren celebrating his tenth year as a professional musician. With his 1972 release 'Something/Anything?' But beyond the elements of her composition, I always thought it was the way she played her own material that really sold it. Interviews and other articles with the wizard. [37] Members Ron and Russell Mael later credited Rundgren with launching Sparks' career. Although the family was unharmed, the men stole some valuable items including a custom-made Alembic bass guitar. I met her right after Eli and the Thirteenth Confession. [24] Grossman promised to Rundgren that he would become the "highest-paid producer in the world", which later came true. (Notice how the top voice remains the same while the bottom two notes drop a whole step.). Use short videos (shots), guitar pro. The songs from Rundgren's first PatroNet run were later released as the album One Long Year. The arrangements of the covers were intended to sound as close to the originals as possible, and Rundgren's original songs were written as a reflection of his 1960s influences. The first time I considered any guitar chords as being uniquely Todds occurred upon hearing the main guitar figure in Broke Down and Busted, the opening cut from his 1970 solo debut, Runt (opens in new tab), which is represented in Ex. WANNASIN. Many of his solo albums, including Something/Anything?]' Lyrics, lyric parodies, guitar tabs and MIDI of Todd's songs. Initially this was limited to marijuana. This forms the basis for TRs first major foray into making T-chords the foundation of an entire song, namely The Spark of Life, the opening cut from Todd. Hit the G three times in bar 2, and then follow up in bars 3 and 4 with the uniquely voiced Gsus4 and G resolution (U-to-pi-a!). Note: "Utopia" is titled "Utopia Theme" on later editions. [45] For the first time in his career, Rundgren recorded every part by himself, including bass, drums, and vocals. [77] Keyboardist Roger Powell recalled that Bearsville wished Utopia would have "just gone away", however, "Todd's contract called for a certain number of albums over a certain number of years, so he decided that every other album would be a solo album and the next one a Utopia album. [144] As of 2012, Tyler maintains a close relationship with Rundgren. Get the latest news, reviews and product advice straight to your inbox. Bar 4 drops the T-chords bottom two notes a whole step over a D bass note to form A/D (a.k.a. I think Jesse Winchester was a kind of run-through for that, because I was pretty quick to get the sounds and they liked that. 2003 - Last of the New Wave Riders (live box set) Read more on Last.fm. [Chorus] B F# F# E One world Whoa, E B B F# it's our world yeah, yeah B F# F# E One world Whoa, E B B F# it's our world yeah, yeah [Verse 1] B F# F# E When I walk on the street, I feel glad I was born E B B F# Music comes a-ringing out of every door B F# F# E I see faces I know and they give me a sign E B B We got . [59][nb 3] His music tastes also started to lean toward the progressive rock of Frank Zappa, Yes, and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Bar 3 features a broken Am7 chord and shift to D6 over A-to-D bass motion before the same D6 is recast as Gmaj7 and arpeggiated along with the previous Am7 in bar 4. Try pedaling them over any static bass note from the key of D. Typical Todd usage includes shifting F#m, Em and G triads over a pedal A bass ( la Boat on the Charles, from his 1971 album, The Ballad of Todd Rundgren (opens in new tab)), as shown in Ex. Rundgren is considered a pioneer in the fields of electronic music, progressive rock, music videos, computer software, and Internet music delivery. When Todd formed the first incarnation of Utopia in 1973, the first piece the band recorded was a live version of the Utopia Theme.. [43] Rundgren said that the song "didn't sound much like what [Harrison had] done" and speculated that the credit to Harrison "may or may not have been something purposeful, just some by-product of a general Beatle hubris". The final Bm7 leads back to Ex. Ex. [106], Rundgren signed with Warner Bros. Records, who issued his next album, A Cappella (1985), which was recorded using Rundgren's multi-tracked voice, accompanied by arrangements constructed entirely from programmed vocal samples. It was that extra layer that made her influential. [105] Tortured Artist marked the end of Rundgren's tenure with Bearsville Records. Ex. He then decided to stretch the project into a double LP and quickly recorded the last few tracks with musicians, live in the studio. was ranked number 173 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[56]. [103], Rundgren's Mink Hollow home was burglarized on August 13, 1980. Ex. Shortly after Liv's birth, Rundgren and Buell ended their romantic relationship, but Rundgren remained committed to Liv. [124][122] Slate writer Marc Weingarten identified A Cappella as the precedent for Bjrk's "all vocals, all the time" experiment Medlla (2004) and said that, overall, "The two [artists] share more common ground than their fans might think. [51][pageneeded] Lead single "I Saw the Light" peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. [63] He said: "With drugs I could suddenly abstract my thought processes in a certain way, and I wanted to see if I could put them on a record. Maybe you don't like music with lots of major and minor seventh chords. 8a transposes Cmaj7(T) down four whole steps to Emaj7(T) to facilitate the use of open strings, and assigns an alternating-bass-and-chord rhythmic motif. TODD RUNDGREN 3 DVD BOX SET ( Live in Japan San Francisco Desktop Collection ) 16.75 Well wrap up with Ex. I'd know there was an answer to everythingto existence, to death. [41], In late 1971, Rundgren was recruited to finish Badfinger's third album Straight Up, a project George Harrison had abandoned to organize the Concert for Bangladesh, in London. Todd Rundgren Reveals Enough in Candid, Funny New Memoir", "Dolenz, Rundgren, Molland Begin Beatles Tribute Tour", "Todd Rundgren and Rivers Cuomo Join Forces on Ska Song 'Down With The Ship', "Todd Rundgren covert Flappie van Youp van 't Hek", "Sparks and Todd Rundgren Team Up for Their First New Song in 50 Years", "Todd Rundgren hates the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, loves EDM, and might be a techno psychic", "Five Reasons Todd Rundgren Should Be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame", "Rundgren Radio with Waymon Boone by Todd Rundgren Talk Radio A podcast on Anchor", "Rundgren still bangs the drum all day Rock and roll titan to play at Music Hall", "Steven Rosen, "Legendary Guitar: The Saga of Eric Clapton's Famous Fool SG", "Rex Rundgren Stats, Bio, Photos, Highlights | MiLB.com Stats | The Official Site of Minor League Baseball", "Lionel Richie, Lucinda Williams, Todd Rundgren, Neil Portnow, and Shin Joong Hyun Receive Honorary Degrees | Berklee College of Music", "Local News: Rundgren left speechless by DePauw honorary degree (5/21/17) | Greencastle Banner-Graphic", "Rock & Roll Hall of Fame voters goofed by leaving Todd Rundgren out of the Class of 2019: Chuck Yarborough", "Class of 2021 Inductees | Rock & Roll Hall of Fame", "Todd Rundgren's 'Space Force' Album Moved to 2022", Substitution Mass Confusion: A Tribute to The Cars, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Todd_Rundgren&oldid=1141938870, People from Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from November 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, 1984: Grammy Award nomination for Best Music Video Videosyncracy, 1995: Berkeley Lifetime Achievement Award from the Popular Culture Society at. [42] The album was a hit and its two singles were similarly successful, although Rundgren was not credited for the first ("Day After Day") and thus did not receive production royalties for that single. "[31], Released in mid-1970, Runt was not originally credited to Rundgren due to his anxieties about starting a full-fledged solo career, and instead bore the moniker "Runt". Please disable ad blocker to use Yalp, thanks. A section/article that has been updated in the last 24 hours. Im getting to the point where I could at some point not be able to do it myself, and then someone else would do it and I wouldnt be happy with the result. It included "Everybody Else Is Wrong", another song perceived to have been aimed at Lennon. Most of the album was recorded in the studio except "Utopia", the opening track, which was recorded live in concert in 1974. Having discovered them on the white piano keys as root-position inversions in the key of C he once described the major-seven chord as sounding so melancholy Todd figured out how to transpose them to other keys. Like Rundgren's solo albums A Wizard, a True Star (1973) and Initiation (1975), the album pushed the limits of vinyl. [40] Released June 1971, The Ballad of Todd Rundgren bore two singles, "Be Nice to Me" and "A Long Time, a Long Way To Go", neither of which repeated the success of "We Gotta Get You a Woman". 3 further this concept by surrounding the previous F#m and G triads with four others that are indigenous to the key of D. Weve got Bm (the VI chord), A (the V), G (the IV), F#m (the III), Em (the II) and D (the I). [16] Nazz III, which included leftover tracks from the Nazz Nazz sessions, was likewise released without Rundgren's involvement. [61] In 2003, music journalist Barney Hoskyns called the record "the greatest album of all time a dizzying, intoxicating rollercoaster ride of emotions and genre mutations [that] still sounds more bravely futuristic than any ostensibly cutting-edge electro-pop being made in the 21st Century. [73], During the making of Todd, Rundgren took note of the "fusion jazz sensibility" between session musicians Kevin Ellman (drums) and John Siegler (bass). In late 2005, the Boston-based band the Cars were planning to re-form despite bassist Benjamin Orr's death and lack of interest on the part of former lead singer Ric Ocasek. But once the technology came down to where I could afford it, then I went digital. seen as a magnum opus due to its mix of power pop, rock n roll, and more. After a bootleg of the entire concert circulated amongst collectors for many years, the recording was officially released as Live at the Fox 1973 in 2015 by RockBeat Records. Music journalist Paul Lester called the recording a "masterclass in compression" and said that Rundgren "staked his claim to powerpop immortality [and] set the whole ball rolling". The film was part of a special screening at the Woodstock Film Festival in 2002.[113]. A section/article that has been updated in the last 24 hours. As of 2022, the PatroNet.com website was not active. [119] In December, he released his English translation of the 1978 song "Flappie", originally by Dutch comedian Youp van 't Hek. Two years later, he left Nazz to pursue a solo career and immediately scored his first US top 40 hit with "We Gotta Get You a Woman" (1970). was largely formulaic and borne from laziness, and sought to create a "more eclectic and more experimental" follow-up album. Free shipping. $30.20. I used this figure as the basis for my nylon-string accompaniment while recording the song Fidelity, for TRs 1997 album With a Twist (opens in new tab). But the Nazz had just signed a record contract and I couldn't skip out on the band, even though it was incredibly tempting. His experience with computer graphics dates back to 1981, when he developed one of the first computer paint programs, dubbed the Utopia Graphics System; it ran on an Apple II with Apple's digitizer tablet. He began a course through uncharted musical territory, becoming a pioneer not only in electronic music and prog rock, but in music video, computer software, and Internet music delivery as well. [135] The album is sometimes regarded as both the pinnacle of Rundgren's production career and of the career of XTC. [140], Rundgren began a relationship with model Bebe Buell in 1972. They subsequently released three albums: Nazz (October 1968), Nazz Nazz (April 1969), and Nazz III (1971). [74][nb 4] Utopia played more shows throughout November and December, performing material from Something/Anything? were made completely by himself. [118], Rundgren collaborated with Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo in 2020, releasing the single "Down With The Ship". Learn how to play 42 songs by Todd Rundgren easily. "Bang The Drum All Day" was also featured in a Carnival Cruise television advertising campaign. etc. Two-chord modal vamps over any diatonic bass note can be created by following Cmaj7(T) with the F triad voicing shown in bar 2. He said that the drug gave him "a whole different sensibility about time and space and order" that influenced the writing for his second album, Runt. The chord say Cmaj7(T) functions differently when rooted over each note of its parent C major scale. In 1972, after meeting at a recording session, Lomax sold the guitar to Rundgren for $500 with an option to buy it back, which he never took up. 1968, Clapton gave the guitar to George Harrison, who subsequently 'loaned' it to British singer Jackie Lomax. [25], Rundgren said he was initially relegated to "various old folk artists that they had who needed an upgrade: people like Ian & Sylvia, James Cotton, and other artists in Albert's stable. It was pretty much trial and error. After a thirty-year-plus hiatus, Todd Rundgren's Utopia graced the Chicago Theater stage, with the hopes of promising fans an extraordinary, other-worldly concert experie. He and his girlfriend (who was pregnant at the time) were tied up while the house was ransacked by a group of armed men. He is known for his sophisticated and often unorthodox music, his occasionally lavish stage shows, and his later experiments with interactive entertainment.