A CAPPELLA

Hmmm, how to rate this album ?? For Mr Rundgren's 11th studio album as a solo artist, 'A-Cappella' has taken on an (almost) all vocal approach, composed of 10 songs which utilise his voice in all manner of tones and timbres. Save for some sparsely employed instrumentation, most of the 'music' comes straight from Rundgren's (ahem) throat !! As usual, he builds up some stunning harmonies, and I'm talking with the precision of The Beach Boys, and creates some of those wonderful, typical Rundgren melodies (whatever you take that to mean - his melodies are often so tasteful...). There are a few duds amongst this lot - 'Hodja' (with its rather Gospel-like arrangement) and 'Mighty Love' (which really lacks a decent melody, and Gospel again) I do find them a tad irritating, 'Johnny Jingo' has a great melody, though Todd's mock-Irish accent was totally un-necessary. Of course there was a minor hit here with 'Something To Fall Back On', a quality pop-song if there ever was one. 'Blue Orpheus' opens the album and show-cases what Todd's new phase is all about (which is 'the voice', and how it can be manipulated and strategically arranged to create a complete sounding piece of music). The most interesting piece on the album is the Middle-Eastern sounding 'Miracle In The Bazaar', full of really strange sounds and edits, with an ambient drone as a backdrop (not unlike 10CC's I'm Not In Love). I think a vocoder has been used, too. A highly creative peak on the album. There are, as always, some 'lovely' ballads, 'Lost Horizon' is very classy, smooth and ethereal, and 'Pretending To Care' is also quite pretty. The Folky sounding 'Honest Work' is also something different from Todd. 'Lockjaw's Coming' is a bit corny, but probably the 'heaviest' song on the record. A good album it is, but nothing more. 3 stars. Incidentally, my LP is titled Runt - Acappella, on the Catsville (!) label with a totally different cover. Odd bootleg, perhaps ?? Sounds like a rough mix when compared to the original 'mask' cover......always puzzled me, that......