This positively rocking track—his first such tune since the first half of the ‘80s—is the opener of One Long Year, which compiles odds and ends he’d heretofore shared only with subscribed members to his website. Some of the lyrics are outdated, but damn, it’s still catchy. “Buffalo Grass” has obvious canned drums, but it’s got hooks throughout for another winner. We can’t say the same for the purposely robotic “Jerk”, which sounds like a response to Neil Young’s Trans album. Speaking of novelty songs, “Bang On The Ukulele Daily” is a Hawaiian arrangement of his old hit, performed for a polite Boston audience. It’s a mere distraction before the pure perfect pop of “Where Does The Time Go”.
The tiki lounge remake of “Love Of The Common Man” must have been left off With A Twist for whatever reason, and it’s odd here, but maybe it was designed to smooth the way for “Mary And The Holy Ghost”, a mildly industrial instrumental that shows he’s no mixmaster, particularly in the faux-orchestral interludes. “Yer Fast (And I Like It)” is mostly loud and stupid, but at least it’s got a lot of guitar. “Hit Me Like A Train” isn’t the best song here, but it’s pretty well constructed and he gets to use his “soul” voice, while “The Surf Talks” sounds like a new wave refugee.
One Long Year was a very nice surprise after a long decade of experimenting. It was nice to hear he could still make an accessible album mostly on his own, just like he used to.
Todd Rundgren One Long Year (2000)—3
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