Todd Rundgren - Todd Rundgren: Reconstructed (CD)

Izzat Love?

By eric  Oct 27, 2000

The brand-spankin' new Todd Rundgren affair is... a tribute album! Well, RECONSTRUCTED does feature The Kid on vocals, but everything else has been remixed and noodled around with by several prominent DJ-engineer-producer types. Who new A CAPPELLA could have been so influential?
The fact that most of the chosen tunes are of the lighter variety (too light, if you ask me...do we really need two versions of "Bang The drum All Day"?)saves RECONSTRUCTED from NO WORLD ORDER-style bombast.
I dunno if Fredco's "Love Is The Answer" will find a new audience among the rave set, but here's hoping. Hey- Toto's "Georgy Porgy" made a comeback of sorts!
The only offering that didn't at least capture some of the original's spirit for me was Switchblade Symphony's remix of "Mated", one of POV's strongest tunes. That's a minor quibble, though.
Interesting, though, how the bulk of RECONSTRUCTED comes from Mr. Rundgren's less human '80s releases? Maybe it's easier to concentrate on the button-pushing when the soul's not distracted by heartfelt songwriting. I guess it would've been hard to slice-and-dice "Wailing Wall".