This is Rundgren’s 19th album and finds him returning to the guitar heavy rock of his earlier albums, inspired by his stint with The Cars’ Elliot Easton and Greg Hakes in The New Cars!
American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. Hailed in the early stages of his career for both his own material and for his production of other artists, supported by the certified gold solo double LP “Something/Anything?” in 1972, his career has produced a diverse and eclectic range of recordings often both as a solo artist and as a member of the band Utopia
If ever a title explained an album’s intent, it’s Todd Rundgren’s “Arena“, an explicit return to the extravagantly theatrical guitar rock he abandoned, largely out of boredom, some 25 years ago. During that quarter century, Rundgren touched upon almost all of his other obsessions, spending a considerable amount of time fixated upon technology, but deliberately avoided anything resembling Utopia until he stepped in for an absent Ric Ocasek for the 2005 Cars reunion which followed on the heels of “Liars”, Todd’s strongest and poppiest album in years. The New Cars — as the reunited band was wittily dubbed — returned Rundgren to arenas and reignited his interest in outsized rock & roll, so he threw himself into a project that gave him an excuse to sing skyscraper hooks and play too much guitar, which is exactly what “Arena” promises and delivers. Apart from an occasional glimpse of computer-stitched seams, the album is an uncanny recreation of Todd’s late-’70s/early-’80s period
Ever the multi-talented artist, Rundgren performs every note, drum fill and vocal harmony on this album!
Like several of his earlier albums, this was entirely a solo effort, with Rundgren playing all the instruments. In contrast to his earlier albums, he produced this album entirely on an Apple laptop computer using Propellerhead’s Reason software for composition and Sonoma Wire Works’ RiffWorks for recording.
released November 1st, 2024
The Fat Angel Sings 