INITIATION

The last review I made for Todd Rundgren's music was nearly 2 years ago. Good lord that was a while ago. I still fully believe A Wizard / A True Star isn't really a good album after all this time, and even stated that I'll not touch another Todd Rundgren album again. However, conveniently enough I manage to still lay a finger on one of his works due to an album swap, and, well, let's just say I kinda back peddled on my statements a bit, since now I am fairly interested in what he has made.

Initiation, the sixth album within Todd Rundgren's studio discography is much like any other record he has made, featuring lots of music crafted with the intent of adding as much space to a vinyl as possible. This time, though, instead of putting a lot of filler onto one record, he decided to strip things back a bit, and only add 7 full-on tracks. 6 tracks with more normal lengths that showcase his more prog pop rock sides, similar in vein to bands like Supertramp and ELO, and 1 massive 30+ minute electronic epic on the second side.

Right off the bat I already liked this a lot more than A Wizard / A True Star, since now I find there are less mediocre tracks here to sit through to get to some of the more better stuff. In fact, this record only really has one bad track on here, being Born to Synthesize. I will get to that later, but most of the tracks here are a lot more dedicated, and may even rival some stuff off of his Utopia project.

My favorite tracks are more on the first side, with my particular favorite being Eastern Intrigue and The Death of Rock and Roll, being these very fun progressive pop-like tracks that combine the prog with elements of more commercial genres (The Death of Rock and Roll being classic rock n' roll, and Eastern Intrigue having elements of soul and funk). I also really dig the epic of A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, which I think gets very close to being my favorite Todd Rundgren epic, aside from The Ikon of course. It feels like proto-80s prog electronic music, where I can hear stuff that can be related to some 80s Tangerine Dream albums, and funnily enough with the second movement, III - The Fire of Spirit - Or Electric Fire, Frank Zappa's album of Francesco Zappa. I guess Todd is certainly a man who tries to be quite innovative with his works, and it all does work out very well in my opinion.

Though I won't say this album is a masterpiece. For one, Born to Synthesize feels like one of the biggest missed potentials on this record. It is merely Todd singing with a filter on. That's it. I don't mind Todd's singing; I think as a vocalist he is pretty good, but I don't wanna hear a 3 minute 'song' of just his voice through some crappy wobbly effect. If the track had some synths in the back, it probably still wouldn't be my favorite but I wouldn't mind hearing it, and it could be a nice song that could tease a bit of Cosmic Fire, kind of like how the beginning of A New Career in a New Town by David Bowie teases a bit of the more ambient side off of Low. Unfortunately, the track doesn't do that and all we get is a very mediocre song.

Also, like all the other Rundgren albums I have heard, this album drags a lot. This is kind of a problem I see with the albums I have heard from him, especially when it comes to his epics. I do enjoy his more long, proggy stuff, but a lot of times it feels like he doesn't quite know when to stop until he realizes he is recording an album and not performing a live jam session. At least on here it is a bit more understandable as it is more electronic based than rock, and I have become a bit more used to the long winded epics thanks to bands like The Flower Kings, Echolyn, and Moon Safari, so I can get quite used to Cosmic Fire quite quickly, but still sometimes I wonder if, for its time, 38 minutes verges on the line of fun proggy goodness, or overly pretentious musicianship. Not quite sure still, but it does make things rather overbearing.

Still, I did very much enjoy this record. I am certainly willing to check more of Todd's music out, and maybe a bit more Utopia albums too. If you like a mix of pop, prog, and electronic in your life, check no further than here as it is a very good offering of just that.

Best tracks: The Death of Rock and Roll, Eastern Intrigue, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire

Worst track: Born to Synthesize