For his first live album, the 1978 double-LP Back to the Bars, singer/songwriter/sonic auteur Todd Rundgren returned to his roots with a collection of lean, tight, intimate performances recorded in the clubs of New York, Los Angeles, and Cleveland.  This was Rundgren at his most accessible, playing his most universally beloved songs over his first decade of music-making, with a band including Utopia veterans Mark “Moogy” Klingman, John Siegler, and Willie Wilcox, plus his old friends from musical/mime troupe The Hello People and special guests.  Among the shows tapped for Back to the Bars were his seven nights of gigs (two shows a night from May 17-22, 1978) at Los Angeles’ famed Sunset Strip nightspot, The Roxy.  In 2001, Another Side of the Roxy was released, collecting 15 additional Roxy tracks for the first time.  Now, upon the impending 40th anniversary of the concerts, Cherry Red’s Esoteric Recordings imprint is issuing the latest volume in the Todd Rundgren Archive Series: All Sides of the Roxy.  As the title would indicate, this 3-CD collection is the most complete look at Rundgren’s Roxy residency.

The first two discs of All Sides of the Roxy mark the first official release of the star-studded final concert from May 23, 1978.  At the time, this was the largest-ever FM concert simulcast in the U.S., beamed out to 24 radio stations with an estimated audience of over 10 million listeners.  A feed from the mixing desk was recorded directly to stereo tape, and that’s the master tape used for this release.  Although the background vocals sometimes get lost, the overall sound is clean and clear on this energetic run through Rundgren’s greatest hits from his first eight studio albums – the most recent of which, Hermit of Mink Hollow, was released a little over a month before the concerts took place – as well as the albums of his band Utopia.

The performances, befitting a live show, aren’t perfect; Rundgren’s voice cracks and strains on the very first song, “Real Man.”  But the star and his loose band more than compensate with feeling, both on the scorching rockers (“Love in Action,” “Black Maria”) and the sweet ballads (Something/Anything‘s always-affecting “It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference,” “Never Never Land” from the Broadway musical Peter Pan).  Rundgren could successfully juggle the conventional with the quirky on record, and he did the same in concert, finding room in the setlist for everything from power pop to prog.  The performance is alternately tender (the touching solo piano take of “A Dream Goes On Forever”) and intense (a surprisingly throat-shredding “Couldn’t I Just Tell You”).  Pushing themselves to the limit, there’s a palpable joy in Rundgren and the band’s intimate performances being broadcast to a record-breaking audience.  There’s plenty of between-song banter, including Rundgren imploring his audience to say “the dirtiest thing to come into your mind” to see if it makes the radio broadcast, and referencing the then-current hit “You Light Up My Life.”

Rundgren played a number of fresh tracks off the then-current Hermit, including “You Cried Wolf,” “Bread,” and the anthemic “Can We Still Be Friends.”  But he also looked to the past, too, with his all-encompassing soul medley, featuring guest Rick Derringer, in which he drew a line from Chicago to Detroit to Philadelphia via classic R&B anthems and his own “I Saw the Light.”

There are numerous other guest spotlights here including Moogy Klingman, at the piano for his own mellow “Lady Face.”  Spencer Davis added country-flecked harmonica for “The Range War,” from 1971’s Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren.  Utopia’s Kasim Sulton appeared for a trip back to 1975’s Initiation.  Rundgren’s old Philadelphia friends Daryl Hall and John Oates not only brought their talents to A Wizard, A True Star‘s “Sometimes I Just Don’t Know What to Feel” but reprised their own hit “She’s Gone” as a rapturously-received encore for the Roxy crowd.  The encore set is worth the price of admission alone, with Rick Derringer revisiting his days in The McCoys for a loose “Hang On Sloopy” and Stevie Nicks joining the entire cast (and singing audible harmony) on “Hello It’s Me.”

The third disc of All Sides of the Roxy is a straight reissue of Another Side of Roxy.  First released in 2001, Another Side comprises recordings from the earlier nights of the Roxy residency, including some songs not performed on the 23rd such as Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Lord Chancellor Nightmare Song” from the operetta Iolanthe (and the Todd album), “The Verb ‘To Love'” (Faithful), “Determination” (Hermit of Mink Hollow), and the timeless “Love is the Answer” (Utopia’s Oops! Wrong Planet).

All Sides of the Roxy is presented in a compact clamshell case, with each disc in its own sleeve.  A 12-page booklet includes notes from compiler Mark Powell.  Ben Wiseman has mastered this set from the original tapes.  Today as in 1978, Todd Rundgren is an electrifying and unpredictable performer.  Roxy vividly captures All Sides of the magnetic artist and his famous friends.  It’s available this Friday in the U.K., and on March 2 in the U.S., at the links below!

Todd Rundgren, All Sides of the Roxy (Esoteric/Cherry Red ECLEC 32618, 2018) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: The Roxy Simulcast – May 23, 1978 (Part 1)

1. Wolfman Jack Introduction
2. Real Man
3. It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference
4. Love of the Common Man
5. Lady Face
6. Love in Action
7. Never Never Land
8. You Cried Wolf
9. Range War
10. Bread
11. Can We Still Be Friends
12. Black Maria
13. Don’t You Ever Learn?
14. Sometimes I Don’t Know What to Feel
15. Black and White

CD 2: The Roxy Simulcast – May 23, 1978 (Part 2)

1. A Dream Goes on Forever
2. Medley: I’m So Proud/Ooh Baby Baby/La La Means I Love You/I Saw the Light
3. Eastern Intrigue
4. Initiation
5. Couldn’t I Just Tell You
6. Band Introductions
7. Hello, It’s Me
8. Hang On Sloopy
9. She’s Gone
10. Just One Victory

CD 3: Another Side of Roxy (Crown Japan 7715, 2001)

1. Real Man
2. It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference
3. Love of the Common Man
4. Lady Face
5. Love in Action
6. The Lord Chancellor’s Nightmare Song
7. You Cried Wolf
8. Can We Still Be Friends
9. Bread
10. The Verb “To Love”
11. Medley: I’m So Proud/Ooh Baby Baby/La La Means I Love You/I Saw the Light
12. Determination
13. Hello It’s Me
14. Love is the Answer
15. Just One Victory

CD 1 & 2 previously unreleased in complete form