Todd Rundgren's last major-label album was recorded in July 1990, at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre in San Francisco before a live audience, although under recording studio conditions, with a backup band that included some local talent:
Roger Powell of
Utopia,
Vince Welnick (who would join
the Grateful Dead later in the year),
Prairie Prince of
the Tubes,
Ross Valory of
Journey, and
Jenni Muldaur. It's a mixed set, including three songs
Rundgren wrote for the off-Broadway musical Up Against It, which was based on an unproduced screenplay British playwright Joe Orton wrote in the 1960s for
the Beatles. Those songs have a
Kurt Weill-ish tone, while songs like "Love Science" are up-tempo R&B and the leadoff track, "Change Myself," is in
Rundgren's familiar pop/rock style. On the whole, though, there's nothing to get excited about here. ~ William Ruhlmann