Todd Rundgren - Live in Japan

Rating:
Summary: The true stars are hard to keep up with
Review: Todd Rundgren's a brilliant composer, arranger, singer producer and musician who's moved effortlessly through many musical identities over the years. Psychedelic rocker, blue eyed soulman, composer and one man band, art rocker, brooding introspective genius and most recently sort of a rock & roll Andrew Lloyd Webber(his mid 90's Broadway rock musical unfortunately never got off the ground). It's from this rock meets broadway phase that the Almost Human album emerged and Live in Japan documents the accompanying tour. Since it's Todd the songs are tight and well arranged and his band is first rate. The material is mostly drawn from the Almost Human album with a few hits thrown in and even a few moments when Todd and Band really rock(on Love in Action and Rock Love)but there's just not enough rockin' for my tastes in this polished but restrained performance. The really brilliant ones like Todd, Bowie and Neil Young change styles and go through phases and that's what makes them interesting. Problem is, some phases you like more than others. When it comes to Todd I'll just have to wait for the next one...