The Complete Bearsville Albums Collection

• Track Listing

Few artists defied convention while also proving to be effortless masters of pop craftsmanship like Rundgren did on his ’70s/’80s Bearsville recordings. This 13-CD set (great price for all this) is like no other journey through one musician’s catalog you’ll ever take. We begin with the sprawling set of psychedelic blues, hard rock, soft ballads, satire and sincerity you’ll find on "Runt" and "Runt. The Ballad of Todd Rundgren." His early-’70s experiments take an even more adventurous turn on "Something/Anything?" and "A Wizard, a True Star," two brilliantly bizarre trips from shiny hooks to harrowing descents. The mid-’70s LPs "Todd" and "Initiation" find him vacillating between horn-powered soul and synth-driven prog, then "Faithful" mixes new pop songs and covers and "Back to the Bars" captures Todd doing a heap of his ’70s classics on stage. Rundgren takes a reflective turn on "Hermit of Mink Hollow" (’78) and "Healing" (’81), then the set closes with 1983 pop-soul gem "The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect." There are way too many diverse delights to list, but rest assured: you’ll hear his hits "Hello It’s Me," "I Saw the Light," "Couldn’t I Just Tell You," "Can We Still Be Friends," "Bang the Drum All Day," "Be Nice to Me," "Real Man" and scores of other creations of the wonderfully multidimensional mind of Todd Rundgren! Bearsville.