RA

I saw RA listed on a thread a few days back. The thread was a poll asking for a list of the top 10 progressive albums of 1977. Several people listed this one. Other than some of the Italian listings, I recognized pretty much all the albums, except this one. Curious, I decided to troll through my vinyl collection and dig out some old Rundgren music, maybe A Wizard/A True Star or Deface the Music. Imagine my surprise to discover that, not only do I own the RA album, but I have a pristine original pressing, complete with the calligraphy-laden inner sleeve (ornately hand- lettered by artist Hal Fiedler - Hal went on the do the same for the Kinks on their Give the People What They Want LP). The album also features an insert with a pyramid cut-out covered with photos of the "band" on each face of the pyramid, along with these instructions:

"Pyramid assembly instructions:

Cut along the outside edge of the pyramid (do not cut off tab 'a'). Gently fold the edges of each panel into a pyramid shape. Tape or glue tab 'a' under the edge of 'b'.

Experiments have been done with pyramids that have the same proportions as the one you are now holding in your hand. The findings of these experiments suggest that the energy within the pyramid is transformed in such a way that it slows down the rate at which organic matter deteriorates and decomposes. The flavor of foods confined in the pyramid's center was noticeably enhanced, and the freshness of the food itself was preserved for a surprisingly long time. If you would like to try an experiment of your own, find an area free of electromagnetic interference (away from t.v. set, etc.) ~ outside is real good. Using a compass, align one of the faces to magnetic north, place some object inside the pyramid for a while, and observe. Let us know what happens."

So if there were any doubt that Rundgren spent the majority of the 1970's stoned, this answered the question for me at least.

Still, I must admit about all I can clearly remember of Rundgren and of Utopia from my teenage years are "Hello, It's Me", "Bang the Drum all Day", and the uncharacteristic Motown medley from A Wizard. The rest of his music has faded with the dense smoke many years ago. I certainly don't remember purchasing this album some 28 years ago, but there it was. So I played it - three times, as often is suggested on this site.

Turns out it's actually a pretty decent album, although it probably came out about five years too late for the progressive heyday of the early 70's (not that Rundgren was ever much of a slave to fashion anyway). It must have been quite funny to see this on the record shelves next to some of the early Fear, Black Flag, and X recordings.

The quality of the record on the whole is a bit uneven, with "Hiroshima" being the one song I think could easily have been left off the album. Unlike most Rundgren tunes, this one doesn't seem to flow all that well. The guitar work is basically an uneven power-chord progression, punctuated occasionally with Oriental percussion and keyboard-type sounds. Rundgren and the young bassist Kasim Sulton alternate on vocals, which only serves to exacerbate the uneven delivery. The abrupt "nuclear explosion" at the end sounds more like a firecracker going off in a toilet.

The rest of the recording is quite interesting, even listening to it for (apparently) the first time nearly three decades after I paid $6 US for it (the price tag is still on the cover too).

The opening track, "Communion with the Sun", is prefaced by a short overture ("Mountain Top" and "Sunrise") by the late Bernard Hermann, composer of memorable film scores for Vertigo, Psycho, and Citizen Kane. The delivery is spirited and precise, with the harmonizing vocals of the four band members setting a solid tone for the rest of the album. Like several other songs on the album, the subject matter is the Sun ("Ra"), in this case a hippy-like ditty about communing with said Sun .

"Magic Dragon Theatre" is a typical Rundgren composition, with a circus-like delivery and lyrics that surely made more sense to him than they do to anyone else, then or now. I gather the song is about the spectacle of a stage show, complete with dancing girls, monkeys in top hats, and a freak parade. Sounds like Todd is reminiscing about getting wasted and going to the carnival (lol!). The intermittent wailing saxophone is an interesting touch.

"Jealousy" features drummer John "Willie" Wilcox on vocals and harmony guitar, but lack of harmony is basically what this song is about. Apparently someone's significant other grew green eyes, and the bloom is off the rose of that relationship.

"Eternal Love" finds Sulton again on vocals, and apparently Rundgren and the green- eyed monster made up.

"Sunburst Finish" has some really interesting vocals, as keyboardist Roger Powell, Sulton, and Rundgren alternate on the lyrics throughout. The lyrics themselves are pure bong-water - "traveling down the sandy track, compass in hand guitar on my back, trying to find the secret truth inside the pyramid", but the drums are crisp, Rundgren's guitar work is actually pretty upbeat and strong, and the song as a whole is a solid close to the first side of the album.

The final cut on Side B is the 18:24 tome "Singring and the Glass Guitar", the most ambitious effort on the album. Sound engineer John Holbrook gets all hopped up on helium and delivers some kind of Tolkienish spoken-word tale about a guy who's frolicking around in a Land called Honalee and.wait, wrong story. Anyway, the guy is wandering around looking for these golden keys that will unlock a glass guitar so he can smash it and release the "spirit of harmony". If it hadn't been written in 1977 I'd have sworn this was a half-decent plot for a cutout-bin Playstation game. The music itself is very good though, with intermittent solos and extended play by each instrument, along with some fairly strident but aggressive vocals by all four band members. It's a very well-constructed song which, if not taken too seriously, is well worth 18-plus minutes of your life.

All told, this has to be a four star album simply because it represents the only true attempt the venerable Todd Rundgren makes at employing an actual band, as opposed to a group of backing musicians. This in itself makes it an excellent addition to any prog music collection. The overall quality of the music suffers somewhat as a result of Rundgren's democratic approach perhaps, but the variety of sounds is something he would never subsequently achieve on his own. Worth a listen, and who knows - you may already have it and were too busy living in the 70's to remember!

peace