Something/Anything? is the third studio album by American musician Todd Rundgren, released in February 1972 by Bearsville Records. It was Rundgren's first album released under his own name, following two records credited to the quasi-group project Runt, and was also his first double album. It was recorded in late 1971 in Los Angeles, New York City and Bearsville Studios, Woodstock. The album is divided into four sections focused on different stylistic themes; the first three parts were recorded in the studio with Rundgren playing all instruments and singing all vocals in addition to producing. The final quarter contained a number of tracks recorded live in the studio without any overdubs, save for a short snippet of archive recordings from the 1960s.
Over time, Rundgren developed proficiency on other instruments beyond guitar and keyboards, and this, coupled with a general dissatisfaction with studio musicians, led him to temporarily relocate to Los Angeles in an attempt to record an entire album single-handedly. After Rundgren created significantly more material than would fit on a standard LP, an earthquake struck Los Angeles. He decided to head back to New York for some live sessions, with the help of Moogy Klingman, to lighten the mood. These final sessions were held at Bearsville, where the remainder of the recording and mixing took place, resulting in enough material for a double album.
The album peaked at number 29 on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold three years after its release. A single taken from the album, "Hello It's Me", was a top-five hit in the US in late 1973, and it contained a further hit, "I Saw the Light". Something/Anything? later attracted critical acclaim as one of the most significant records of the 1970s. In 2003, the album was ranked number 173 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list, and later ranked at number 396 in the 2020 edition. It was voted number 797 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). After Something/Anything, Rundgren moved away from the straightforward pop ballads present on this album to more experimental and progressive rock in later releases, beginning with A Wizard, A True Star.
Background
thumb|right|By doing some of the recording at home, Rundgren was able to do more lengthy studio experiments, such as using a Putney [[EMS VCS 3|VCS3 synthesizer.]]
By the time Rundgren started recording the album, he had already achieved commercial success as a solo artist and producer, This led him to decide to record the entire album by himself using multi-tracking. He wrote the material for the album at a prolific rate. He attributed his productivity to Ritalin He found some of the other songs quick to write, too, noting "they were all basically starting out with C Major 7th, and I'd start moving my hand around in predictable patterns until a song came out."
Recording
Los Angeles sessions
The majority of backing tracks on the first three sides of the album were recorded at I.D. Sound Studios, Los Angeles, engineered by James Lowe with assistance from John Lee. Rundgren played every instrument in turn, starting with the drums, noting it "was the logical place to start," In retrospect, Rundgren felt he might have performed better with a click track, being a novice drummer at the time, but concluded that the result "sound[s] like a band". Engineering the album, Lowe recalled he was "mostly working in the dark", and that Rundgren would leave spaces for instruments during recording, spontaneously developing a song as it was being recorded. "I was never sure exactly where the song was going until we'd put down about four or five tracks." Trombonist Barry Rogers, who completed the brass section on the Record Plant recordings, had also collaborated with the Brecker brothers in the band Dreams.
A further live session was held at Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, "I Saw the Light" was placed at the start of album, as it was felt to be the most likely hit. The song was influenced by Carole King and written in approximately 20 minutes. Scott Miller's 2010 book Music: What Happened? calls the song "likely the greatest power pop recording ever made," with lyrics "somehow both desperate and lighthearted at the same time," and a guitar solo having "truly amazing dexterity and inflection."
"Hello It's Me" had been recorded by Rundgren's old band, Nazz. Rundgren explained this unique instance of his re-recording a track by one of his former groups: "I had some sentimental attraction to it as it was the first song I had written. ... during an afternoon session, the songs I really wanted to get were 'Dust in the Wind' and 'You Left Me Sore'. The sessions were going well and 'Hello It's Me' was something I had been thinking about updating. It was done as such a dirge originally, I thought that part could be addressed." As with the rest of the live tracks on side four, little preparation was done for the track. Rundgren later claimed the entire song was rehearsed and recorded in under two hours, and the horn lines and backing vocals at the end of the track were completely improvised.
Release and reception
Something/Anything was released in February 1972. White-labeled promotional DJ issues of the LP were pressed on colored vinyl—the first record on red vinyl, the second on blue. Billboard reviewed that Rundgren's songs "have an aura of being irreverent, irrelevant little ditties, while in reality they are penetratingly strident observations", and that he seemed to have had fun making the album. "Hello It's Me" was released as a single in September 1973, and reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100. The album originally peaked at No. 50 on the Billboard Top LP's & Tape chart in 1972, but following the release of the "Hello It's Me" single, it re-entered the charts, going on to peak at No. 29 in 1974.
According to The Encyclopedia of Popular Music writer Colin Larkin, the album has since been "rightly regarded as one of the landmark releases of the early 70s".
Rundgren himself has been more ambivalent about the album's success and critical acclaim. He has stated several times that since he had already become successful as a producer, he was not as interested in straight commercial pop success as other artists. In particular, he rejected a tag of being "a male Carole King". "With all due respect," he later stated, "I took no comfort in merely being labeled a 'singer / songwriter'." The New Yorker deems Something/Anything? to be the first in a sequence of avant-pop albums by Rundgren, but "more pop" where A Wizard, a True Star is "more avant". The singer John Lydon commented that "Something/Anything? is wonderful. So superb, the way he could take a song and then just half-finish it 'cos what's the point, it's already been done, it don't need a repeat of the first verse. I liked that attitude, like Mozart when he didn't finish Requiem."
Track listing
Personnel
Todd Rundgren performs all instruments and vocals, except for the following tracks on side four:
- "Money (That's What I Want)”
- Todd Rundgren – lead guitar
- Rick Valente – lead vocals
- Randy Read – rhythm guitar
- Collie Read – bass
- Stockman – drums
- "Messin' with the Kid”
- No personnel credited
- "Dust in the Wind" (Recorded at the Record Plant, New York)
- Todd Rundgren – lead vocals, piano
- Mark Klingman – organ
- Rick Derringer – guitar
- John Siegler – bass
- John Siomos – drums
- Randy Brecker – trumpet
- Michael Brecker – tenor sax
- Barry Rogers – trombone
- Hope Ruff, Richard Corey, Vicki Robinson, Dennis Cooley, Cecilia Norfleet – backing vocals
- "Piss Aaron” (Recorded at Bearsville Studios, Woodstock)
- Todd Rundgren – lead vocals, electric piano
- Amos Garrett – guitar
- Ben Keith – pedal steel
- Jim Colgrove – bass
- Billy Mundi – drums
- "Hello It's Me” (Recorded at the Record Plant, New York)
- Todd Rundgren – lead vocals, piano
- Mark Klingman – organ
- Robbie Kogale – guitar
- Stu Woods – bass
- John Siomos – drums
- Randy Brecker – trumpet
- Michael Brecker – tenor sax
- Barry Rogers – trombone
- Hope Ruff, Richard Corey, Vicki Robinson, Dennis Cooley, Cecilia Norfleet – backing vocals
- "Some Folks Is Even Whiter Than Me” (Recorded at Bearsville Studios, Woodstock)
- Todd Rundgren – lead vocals, guitar
- Mark Klingman – piano
- Ralph Walsh – guitar
- Bugsy Maugh – bass
- Billy Mundi – drums
- Serge Katzen – conga
- Gene Dinwiddie – tenor sax
- "You Left Me Sore” (Recorded at the Record Plant, New York)
- Todd Rundgren – lead vocals, piano
- Mark Klingman – organ
- Robbie Kogale – guitar
- Stu Woods – bass
- John Siomos – drums
- Hope Ruff, Richard Corey – backing vocals
- "Slut” (Recorded at I.D. Sound Studios, Los Angeles)
- Todd Rundgren – lead vocals, guitar
- Rick Vito – guitar
- Charlie Schoning – piano
- Tony Sales – bass
- Hunt Sales – drums
- Jim Horn – tenor sax
- John Kelson – tenor sax
- Brook Baxes, Anthony Carrubba, Henry Fanton, Edward Olmos – backing vocals
Charts
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! scope="col"|Chart (1972–1974)
! scope="col"|Peak<br />position
|-
! scope="row" | Canadian RPM 100 Albums
|34
|-
! scope="row"|US Billboard Top LP's & Tape
|37
|-
! scope="row" | US Record World Album Chart
|29
|}
Singles
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!align="left"|Year
!align="left"|Single
!align="left"|Chart
!align="left"|Position
|-
|1972
|"I Saw the Light"
|Canada RPM Singles Chart
|align="center"|15
|-
|1972
|"I Saw the Light"
|UK Singles Chart
|align="center"|36
|-
|1972
|"I Saw the Light"
|Billboard Pop Singles
|align="center"|16
|-
|1972
|"I Saw the Light"
|Billboard Adult Contemporary
|}