Lost/Forgotten Album #170

[Jon]

Nope, no Halloween stuff from me, considering it's now in the past. 

Yep, it is another first weekend of a new month which means another anniversary post. This time I'm going way, way, way back.........5 years ago.

This week's pick in "Arena" from Todd Rundgren. If you read about this album before it came out, the claim was that it would be a geetar album. A rock album.

I'm never one to doubt, but then again.....I mean how many times have you heard or read about an artist or group stating that they were going to go back to their rock roots, or rock heavier on their next album, only to find out that it was mostly a lie?

Well, rest assured with this album. There's geetar-aplenty. Lots and lots of that glorious geetar. Now, Todd has a tendency to get really artsy on some of his albums, but this album is plain ole rock.

I revisited this album on my portable music player a year or so ago and had forgotten about most of the tracks. Some of these sound like Pat Travers so I had to check to see exactly what I was listening to. Not an exact clone of PT, but you'll see what I mean.

Crank this mutha UP!

Hey, this would be a nice album to add to your November Music Challenge list! Geetar and a slot filler? Can't get any better than that!

Arena

1. Mad
2. Afraid
3. Mercenary
4. Gun
5. Courage
6. Weakness
7. Strike
8. Pissin
9. Today
10. Bardo
11. Mountaintop
12. Panic
13. Manup

   

Availability: $5 new. Probably cheaper used, but $5 NEW!

[Scott]

I have a greatest hits package from him, I like most of it. Would love to explore some Utopia (Yes I know you've posted them at least once before)...

This guy is all over the place, recording, production, directing, helping reform the Cars, raising Steven Tylers daughter, and who knows what else...

Can't say that the cover is anything to look at, in fact once I seen it I was afraid to look again! Thanks goodness theres music on the inside... I did enjoy that opening track, I love it when the opening track sets a tone! It makes for great anticipation, and through the first 5 tracks this will not dissapoint! It does deviate a bit at track 6 and then continues to slip until Today (track 9) which is quirky but good. The last 3 tracks finish the album really strong... I did love the geetar/riffage that was a surprise, and the expected Cars-like vocals were expected and he still sounds pretty good. I need to listen to this again to see if it sticks!

Nice work this week!

[Jon]

Raising Steven Tyler's daughter. That's funny.

[RJhog (Admin)]

Once again, I must echo Scott's comments.  I'm really not familiar with Rundgren other that just by name and a song here and there.  Other than the vocals, this is pretty good.  The songwriting that is.  And really, some of the vocals are okay, but some are a little too "out there" for me.  But the thirteen songs seemed to go by fairly quickly, which means it definitely wasn't boring.

I'll give you a "nice post" award for this one.  It was new to me, which fits in well with my overall theme that I'm trying to incorporate for my November Music Challenge.