Up Against It! (Todd Rundgren Album)
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Up Against It! (Todd Rundgren Album)
''Up Against It!'' is a 1997 album by Todd Rundgren consisting mostly of song demos he wrote and recorded between 1986 and 1989 for the musical theater adaptation of the never-produced screenplay ''Up Against It''. The play was originally written in 1967 by Joe Orton for the Beatles. Background This album is Rundgren's score to the stage adaptation of playwright Joe Orton's Up Against It, the unfilmed screenplay originally mooted as the third Beatles film (after ''A Hard Day's Night'' and ''Help!''). They declined it, so he reworked it to lessen their presence, successfully sold it to the producer Oscar Lewenstein, and then was violently murdered by boyfriend Kenneth Halliwell in a notorious murder-suicide. With Orton no longer around to help push it along, development stalled, and the script was never filmed. It was published in book form a couple of times, however, and in the 1980s Joseph Papp decided to give the script a new lease on life as a piece of musical theater - hence th ...
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Album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual Phonograph record#78 rpm disc developments, 78 rpm records collected in a bound book resembling a photograph album; this format evolved after 1948 into single vinyl LP record, long-playing (LP) records played at  revolutions per minute, rpm. The album was the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption from the mid-1960s to the early 21st century, a period known as the album era. Vinyl LPs are still issued, though album sales in the 21st-century have mostly focused on CD and MP3 formats. The 8-track tape was the first tape format widely used alongside vinyl from 1965 until being phased out by 1983 and was gradually supplanted by the cassette tape during the 1970s and early 1980s; the populari ...
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Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Utopia. He is known for his sophisticated and often unorthodox music, his occasionally lavish stage shows, and his later experiments with interactive entertainment. He also produced music videos and was an early adopter and promoter of various computer technologies, such as using the Internet as a means of music distribution in the late 1990s. A native of Philadelphia, Rundgren began his professional career in the mid 1960s, forming the psychedelic band Nazz in 1967. Two years later, he left Nazz to pursue a solo career and immediately scored his first US top 40 hit with "We Gotta Get You a Woman" (1970). His best-known songs include "Hello It's Me" and " I Saw the Light" from ''Something/Anything?'' (1972), which get frequent air time on ...
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Rock Opera
A rock opera is a collection of rock music songs with lyrics that relate to a common story. Rock operas are typically released as concept albums and are not scripted for acting, which distinguishes them from operas, although several have been adapted as rock musicals. The use of various character roles within the song lyrics is a common storytelling device. The success of the rock opera genre has inspired similar works in other musical styles, such as rap opera. History A number of rock artists became interested in the idea of creating a rock opera in the 1960s. In an early use of the term, the July 4, 1966, edition of ''RPM Magazine'' (published in Toronto) reported that "Bruce Cockburn and Mr illiamHawkins are working on a Rock Opera, operating on the premise that to write you need only 'something to say'." Mark Wirtz explored the idea in a project ''A Teenage Opera'', from which an early song " Excerpt from A Teenage Opera (Grocer Jack)" recorded by Keith West was release ...
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Pop Music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describes all music that is popular and includes many disparate styles. During the 1950s and 1960s, pop music encompassed rock and roll and the youth-oriented styles it influenced. ''Rock'' and ''pop'' music remained roughly synonymous until the late 1960s, after which ''pop'' became associated with music that was more commercial, ephemeral, and accessible. Although much of the music that appears on record charts is considered to be pop music, the genre is distinguished from chart music. Identifying factors usually include repeated choruses and hooks, short to medium-length songs written in a basic format (often the verse-chorus structure), and rhythms or tempos that can be easily danced to. Much pop music also borrows elements from other styles ...
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With A Twist
With a Twist may refer to: * A twist, a type of cocktail garnish * ''With a Twist'' (Todd Rundgren album) * ''With a Twist'' (Straight No Chaser album) *''With a Twist'', album by Alison Limerick Alison T. Limerick (born 1959, Stepney) is a British singer who scored success in the 1990s with the club anthem " Where Love Lives", which was her solo debut and a No. 3 hit on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play in 1991. Biography Limerick attended ...
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One Long Year
''One Long Year'' is Todd Rundgren's seventeenth album, released in 2000. It is composed of recordings that were released initially only to subscribers to Rundgren's online PatroNet facility, as well as other miscellany. To promote the album Rundgren performed "I Hate My Frickin' I.S.P." on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''. Track listing All tracks are written by Todd Rundgren. #"I Hate My Frickin' I.S.P." - 3:47 #"Buffalo Grass" - 4:32 #"Jerk" - 4:40 #" Bang on the Ukulele Daily" (live) - 3:05 #"Where Does the Time Go?" - 4:48 #"Love of the Common Man" - 3:28 #"Mary and the Holy Ghost" - 4:22 #"Yer Fast (And I Like It)" - 3:15 #"Hit Me Like a Train" - 5:02 #"The Surf Talks" - 5:49 Personnel *Todd Rundgren - all vocals and instruments, producer, engineer ; additional performers on "Love of the Common Man" *Ken Emerson - guitar *Jesse Gress - guitar *Kasim Sulton - bass *John Ferenzik - keyboards *Prairie Prince Charles Lempriere "Prairie" Prince (born May 7, 1950) is an Ame ...
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Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the database was first made available on the Internet in 1994. AllMusic is owned by RhythmOne. History AllMusic was launched as ''All Music Guide'' by Michael Erlewine, a "compulsive archivist, noted astrologer, Buddhist scholar and musician". He became interested in using computers for his astrological work in the mid-1970s and founded a software company, Matrix, in 1977. In the early 1990s, as CDs replaced LPs as the dominant format for recorded music, Erlewine purchased what he thought was a CD of early recordings by Little Richard. After buying it he discovered it was a "flaccid latter-day rehash". Frustrated with the labeling, he researched using metadata to create a music guide. In 1990, in Big Rapids, Michigan, he founded ''All Music Guide' ...
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Up Against It
''Up Against It'' is an unproduced script by Joe Orton, written in 1967 for The Beatles at the height of their fame. Background Orton's screenplay was a revised version of a 1966 script called ''Shades of a Personality'', by Owen Holder, which producer Walter Shenson wanted Orton to "punch-up", in his words; Orton incorporated portions of this prior draft, but used, as the opening of the story, a concept he and his companion Kenneth Halliwell had explored in a now-lost novel from 1957, ''The Silver Bucket''. The story's skeleton also borrowed liberally from Orton's final novel, written in 1959, called ''The Vision of Gombold Provol'' (posthumously published as ''Head to Toe''). After a proper contract had been drawn up, allowing Orton to buy back the rights to his script should it be refused, Orton submitted the script to the Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein; after a long period without hearing from either Epstein or the Beatles on the subject, his screenplay was returned to ...
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Joe Orton
John Kingsley Orton (1 January 1933 – 9 August 1967), known by the pen name of Joe Orton, was an English playwright, author, and diarist. His public career, from 1964 until his death in 1967, was short but highly influential. During this brief period he shocked, outraged, and amused audiences with his scandalous black comedies. The adjective ''Ortonesque'' refers to work characterised by a similarly dark yet farcical cynicism. Early life Orton was born on 1 January 1933 at Causeway Lane Maternity Hospital, Leicester, to William Arthur Orton and Elsie Mary Orton (née Bentley). William worked for Leicester County Borough Council as a gardener and Elsie worked in the local footwear industry until tuberculosis cost her a lung. At the time of Joe's birth William and Mary were living with William's family at 261 Avenue Road Extension in Clarendon Park, Leicester. The same year that Joe's younger brother Douglas was born, 1935, the Ortons moved to 9 Fayrhurst Road on the Saffron Lan ...
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The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of all time and were integral to the development of counterculture of the 1960s, 1960s counterculture and popular music's recognition as an art form. Rooted in skiffle, beat music, beat and 1950s rock and roll, rock 'n' roll, their sound incorporated elements of classical music and traditional pop in innovative ways; the band also explored music styles ranging from folk music, folk and Music of India, Indian music to Psychedelic music, psychedelia and hard rock. As Recording practices of the Beatles, pioneers in recording, songwriting and artistic presentation, the Beatles revolutionised many aspects of the music industry and were often publicised as leaders of the era's Baby boomers, youth and sociocultural movements. Led by primary songwriter ...
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2nd Wind
''2nd Wind'' is the thirteenth album by American musician Todd Rundgren, released in 1991 on Warner Bros. Records. It reached number 118 on the ''Billboard'' 200 album chart. ''2nd Wind'' includes the single "Change Myself" and was Rundgren's final album on a major label until 2004's '' Liars''. Background As with its predecessor, '' Nearly Human'', Rundgren chose to record the album with a full band, as opposed to playing all of the instruments himself. The album was recorded live in front of an audience at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, California, over the course of a week. The album includes three songs ("The Smell of Money", "If I Have to Be Alone" and "Love in Disguise") written for Rundgren's musical version of the Joe Orton play/screenplay ''Up Against It''. "Gaya's Eyes" continues the new, more mature sound introduced on the preceding album '' Nearly Human''. Rundgren used the video for the album's only single, "Change Myself," as a showcase for the NewTe ...
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Nearly Human
''Nearly Human'' is a 1989 album by the rock musician Todd Rundgren, released by Warner Bros. Records. It was his first release in four years, although he had been active as a producer in the intervening years. Many of the album's songs deal with loss, self-doubt, jealousy and spiritual recovery. It was also the first collaboration between Rundgren and Michele Gray, a singer and ex-model who helped to organize the sessions. Gray sang backing vocals, both on the record and on subsequent tours, and the pair later married. Recording The song "Parallel Lines" was originally written for Rundgren's musical theater Off Broadway production of Joe Orton's ''Up Against It''. The original version is rather slow and can be found on Rundgren's Japan-only album, '' Up Against It!''. The song was re-recorded here with an uptempo and lusher arrangement. Unlike a large portion of Rundgren's solo albums on which he played all the instruments and sang all lead and backing vocals, ''Nearly Human'' was ...
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