Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 10/25/1990
Run Time: 86:57
Others had recorded one-man albums before
Todd Rundgren, most notably
Stevie Wonder and
Paul McCartney, but with
Something/Anything? he captured the homemade ambience of
McCartney with the visionary feel of
Music of My Mind, adding an encyclopedic knowledge of pop music from
Gilbert & Sullivan through
Jimi Hendrix, plus the crazed zeal of a pioneer. Listening to
Something/Anything? is a mind-altering trip in itself, no matter how many shamelessly accessible pop songs are scattered throughout the album, since each side of the double-record is a concept unto itself. The first is "a bouquet of ear-catching melodies"; side two is "the cerebral side"; on side three "the kid gets heavy"; side four is his mock pop operetta, recorded with a full band including
the Sales Brothers. It gallops through everything --
Carole King tributes (
"I Saw the Light"), classic ballads (
"Hello It's Me," "It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference"), Motown (
"Wolfman Jack"), blinding power pop (
"Couldn't I Just Tell You"), psychedelic hard rock (
"Black Maria"), pure weirdness (
"I Went to the Mirror"), blue-eyed soul ("Dust in the Wind"), and scores of brilliant songs that don't fall into any particular style (
"Cold Morning Light," "It Takes Two to Tango"). It's an amazing journey that's remarkably unpretentious.
Rundgren peppers his writing with self-aware, self-deprecating asides, indulging his bizarre sense of humor with gross-outs (
"Piss Aaron") and sheer quirkiness, such as an aural tour of the studio at the beginning of side two. There are a ton of loose ends throughout
Something/Anything?, plenty of studio tricks, slight songs (but no filler), snippets of dialogue, and purposely botched beginnings, but all these throwaways simply add context -- they're what makes the album into a kaleidoscopic odyssey through the mind of an insanely gifted pop music obsessive.
~Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
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