Todd is Godd!
Todd Rundgren is amazing and misunderstood. He needs to be in the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is a genius. Like the other reviewer
says, "just enjoy him, you don't need to understand"

Rehash
While I never understood - at the time, and much lesser scale through the ages till now - why anybody would dare attempt to recut or sttempt to top the Beach Boys' slice of acclaimed ultimate pop perfection, GOOD VIBRATIONS. Believe me - Todd Rundgren got huge amounts of airplay for his faithfull note-for-note remake, but still - what was his point other than being a fan? We're all fans. In the 70's, it was considered "cool" on both sides of the stage to 'remake' an oldie, and yes, a significant amount of the 'remakes' recharted higher than the originals and in turn created huge album sales for the respective artists involved. [I do recall that mid-70's "All This And WWIII" Compilation tribute by then current highly popular Top 40 and "up & coming" artists.] Still...TODD RUNDGREN, being the Pop Genius that he'd become by the time his SOMETHING/ANYTHING tour-de-force Lp in the early 70's, appeared to be wasting vinyl here. Half this album appears to be the predecessor to all the "remake tribute albums" many popular artists[Pop/R&B/Country] would attempt to pull off in the late 80's and throughout the 90's decade, to varying degrees of success. For some artists, it became the kiss of death. All these years[decades] later, it seems Todd Rundgren had already charted the half-baked waters in the sun, because he rarily, if at all, conquered the Top 40 Radio Charts again after his much celebrated and played at the time, 'Good Vibrations' remake.

One of my favorite albums from Rundgren
Back in the days of vinyl, the second side of this album, which is the original material, rates as one of great album sides. The songs from begining to end are top notch. As usual for Todd Rundgren, the songs move through a wide range of emotions and styles. There are two ripping rockers in this collection, "Black and White" & "Boogies (Hamburger Hell)". Todd Rundgren was so talented, in so many areas, that he never really gets the credit as truely one of the great rock and roll guitar players. These two songs are great examples of his ability to flat out shred on the guitar.

One thing to realize, is that there were two verions of his group Utopia. This album was between those two incarnations and has three of the four members from the 2nd incarnation performing on it. It is only missing Kazim Sultun (what a great addition it would be). So this shapes up as a precursor for the 2nd incarnation of Uptopia.

The four songs that make up the rest this side of the album are all solidly written songs. "Love of the Common Man" & "The Verb To Love" are as good as any of Rundgren's vast array of material and hommages to love.

As for the first side of the album, these are a collection of cover tunes. What makes it unique is the selection as well as their recording technique. The songs are from the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Vintage Beach Boys (Good Vibrations) and the Yardbirds (ala Jeff Beck & Jimmy Page!!). All of these are giants in Rock and Roll. But the songs selected all have some unusual record engineering approaches and are no small feat to repoduce "faithfully". This is what Rundgren set out to do with these songs. And he did. A testament to his abilities. As a recording engineer, I can tell you this is very impressive. And they are great selection of tunes, all time rock classics, covered by a great artist.

Covers: Meh. Originals: OMGZ!!!!!!!!!!!
"Faithful" is half covers, half new songs. Unfortunately, the point of the covers seemed to be for Todd to show off his studio wizardry. He tries to perfect them note-for-note, and does a good job. I'm not bashing them, but I've never been big on covers albums to begin with.

Luckily, there's Side 2. All Todd originals, and after the bizarre trips of "A Wizard, a True Star" and "Todd", he's surprisingly back in pop mode again.

"Black and White" is a superb rocker with strong enough hooks to keep it a pop song as well. "Love of the Common Man" is probably Todd's greatest song..ever. Downbeat, sad, beautiful..yet mid-tempo and catchy. Simply euphoric.

"When I Pray" is pretty weird, actually. Todd singing in a strange accent; Afro-Cuban instrumentation. But it's so damn catchy. 'Yah yah you..', indeed.

The accoustic based "Cliche" is another Todd classic ballad; it's heartbreaking and gorgeous. "The Verb To Love" is an epic, majestic soul ballad with slight touches of psychedelia (glistening synthesizers) and jazz (the jazzy piano break in the middle). It's another Todd classic, jeez.

Finally, "Boogies (Hamburger Hell)". Any song that features the lyric "Two all beef patties, special sauce lettuce pickle cheese onion on a sesame seed bun" cannot be taken too seriously..but it's a deliciously (no pun intended) catchy rocker.

Side 2 is so good, that I still give the album 5 stars, even though the covers are skippable. Todd churns out classics like a machine on here. Not to be missed.

Also, as a sidenote, many people mistake this as one of Todd's one man band efforts in which he did everything himself. Well, he did a lot himself as usual, but he does have his Utopia bandmates (that's Kasim Sulton, Willie Wilcox, and Roger Powell) backing him here on bass, drums, and keyboards.

Brilliant on MANY levels!
Rundgren was on a roll like no other Rocker throughout the entire 70's! While he is still, in my opinion, very relevent in 21st Century music, Something/Anything, Wizard, Todd, Faithful and Hermit (his solo recordings circa 1972/1978)ALL are Five Star records!

The name of this record is a Double Entendre. Most obvious is the reference relating to side one in which Rundgren presents us with an entire side of spot on covers. And again I think there are two meanings here...1) Rundgren pays homage to the music and musicians that have infulenced him and his music and, 2) Todd once again getting to flex his musical muscle and show everyone on the planet, "He don't need no stinkin' band mates!" No producer, Recording Engineer and probably even janitor too!LOL

The second meaning of Faithful, at least for me, is a reference to the tone of the songs on side two. In my opinion "Love of the Common Man," "Cliche" and "The Verb To Love" are three of Rundgren's strongest, and must beautiful, odes to Love. Commitment, FAITHFULness being the cornerstone of Love. Almost THIRTY years later I still CAN NOT listen to "Love of the Common Man" just once. Godd, the guitar riffs, the vocals, the MESSAGE... While Todd mastered the perfect Power Pop tune on "S/A" I think THIS song in all of Todd's canon is my favorite!

While I'm going to stick with my 5 Star rating, I think this record would have been better, NOT without the covers, but WITH more originals. I just wish that Rundgren could have given us a full LP's Worth of (original) Tunes. Because as Wonderful as the covers are, the Todd penned songs are Some of the VERY BEST this master of Rock & Roll ever created!