TODD RUNDGREN - 'LIARS'
(album/ SANCTUARY RECORDS)
'All of these songs are about a paucity of truth. At first they may seem to be about other things, but that is just a reflection of how much dishonesty we have accepted in our daily lives. We are raised from birth to believe things that cannot be proven or that are plainly not true. People will often brag of their honesty, when there is so much they have simply chosen to ignore or leave unexamined. The fact is, we are terrified of the truth,' theorizes Todd in the press release for his breathtaking new 14-track album that makes the most of every last minute of the good old compact disc's capacity, sprinting in with a running time of 74-minutes.
Predictably, not one of those minutes is a wasted one and 'Liars' is yet another classic album from the man who has been widely described as 'the most influential and innovative music artist of his generation.' Long has the long-haired and ever pretty-youthful-looking Todd been obsessed with the ways in which the artform of music and the medium of technology can successfully merge in order to make musical experiences as interactive as possible, and he's pioneered many 'music-meets-technology' firsts ever since 1978 when he set-up the first interactive TV concert which allowed viewers at home choose the songs he played: in real time.
Todd, away from his own songwriting, is also one of the world's most well-known and respected record producers, having produced music for Badfinger, The Band and even Meatloaf's global-smash 'Bat Out of Hell' album. Todd's own music, meanwhile, has always revolved around a vibrant mish-mash of musical instruments and original ideas. His music is Prog-Rock in style, plus everything thereafter, and Todd consistently pushes boundaries and proudly violates all manner of musical territories, not least the 'pop' music genre in order to make some of his tunes as catchy as possible.
'Liars' is no different, starting out with 'Truth' - however ironically - which is pumped to the max by Dance-jibed synths. 'Sweet,' immediately after, couldn't be more different - and is a lovely, chilled-out and Soul-styled number.
One of the outstanding highlights of this album is 'The Wondering,' which was the first song he wrote for the album, and penned in response to the Y2K Presidential Election, with Todd contemplating: 'We could change our minds, but what's the use of it?'
It was almost a year before he got another song written for the LP, and that came in the form of 'Afterlife,' which deals with divided religious beliefs about what happens when we die. As with the rest of the songs, it kicks up an exhilarating stink of fresh questions - just as intended - to get us to re-question everything and to take nothing for granted. That's exactly what Todd wants is to do.
The same goes for the act of approaching Todd's music. Never take anything for granted.
He's been in the music biz for some 35 years and still his mind is crammed full of zestful originality. Whilst some of these tunes might remind of the music of Genesis or even Sting in bit-parts (especially because of Todd's vocal style), tunes such as 'Happy Anniversary' (with its tongue-in-cheek 'Men are stupid, women are evil' chant in the style of Brit-nutters Antiproduct), the epic moodswings of 'Mammon' and the crazily upbeat 'Living' are unparalleled example of Rundgren's unique creative muse through and through, and they gloriously ring true like only Todd's music can do.
5/ 5
(Steve Rudd)
www.tr-i.com
Release Date: April 5th