STATE OF LIVE

If you read my last post, you'll know that Todd Rundgren's latest effort, State, will not replace Nearly Human and my favorite Rundgren LP, and that I was experiencing some trepidation over having bought tickets to three shows prior to the album release.

However, I'd also made the comment that I anticipated the material being more palatable live.

His 2004 album, Liars, was also heavy on the electronics (albiet lighter on the dance grooves), and was not a big favorite of mine.

His 1998 effort, With A Twist, featured bossa-nova versions of his better known tunes (hits does not seem to work)-also not very heavy in my CD player rotation.

However, both shows were quite good, and I was glad to have seen them.

In fact, the only tour that after having seen the live show I would actually qualify as "bad" was the 'interactive' tour for No World Order, mainly because the tour involved very little instrument playing...it was Todd using the interactive CD as his backing band....fortunately I saw the show on a DVD, having missed the tour due to an out-of-state move.

Which brings me to last Saturday's show at the Trocadero in Philadelphia.

Yes, the songs were heavily synthesized (although Jesse Gress and Prarie Prince provide guitar and drum accompaniment, respectively. Todd actually picked up a guitar a couple of times as well.

The songs from the (re)Production CD came off better live as well. and the Liars and No World Order material fit in nicely.

Todd would not be Todd if he played it safe, so while I reserve my right to be critical about an album, I still applaud him for trying new things.

After the Philly show, I do not feel so back to having tickets for two more shows in AZ.