Todd Rundgren enlists Sparks, The Roots, and more for new album ‘Space Force’
Legendary singer, producer, and recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Todd Rundgren has returned to announce a brand new album, Space Force.
The LP will be a star-studded affair with Rundgren collaborating with a different artist on each track. Artists appearing on the new album include Adrian Belew, The Roots, Sparks, Rivers Cuomo, The Lemon Twigs, Steve Vai, Alfie Templeman, Thomas Dolby, Narcy, Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen, Crowded House’s Neil Finn, and You Am I’s Davey Lane.
Space Force will be Rundgren’s 26th solo studio album, and that’s not even scratching the surface of his full discography. There are also his three albums with power pop pioneers Nazz, his nine albums with progressive rockers Utopia, and his countless production credits on classic albums like The New York Dolls’ The New York Dolls, Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell, and XTC’s Skylarking. Rundgren isn’t just a busy guy – he’s one of rock and pops most prolific talents.
That’s present tense, by the way: Rundgren’s most recent album, 2017’s White Night, was just as ambitious and sonically diverse as his reputation suggests. That album also featured Rundgren collaborating with different artists, including Donald Fagen, Daryl Hall, Joe Walsh, Robyn, and Nine Inch Nails. Still, it has been half a decade since a proper Todd Rundgren studio album, which is long enough.
To preview the new LP, Rundgren has released the album’s first track, ‘Puzzle’. Featuring Belew on what I believe is appropriately spacey guitar and backing vocals, ‘Puzzle’ could easily be counted within the modern electro-indie rock scene if you didn’t know ahead of time that Rundgren was in his mid-70s. It’s a testament to Rundgren’s desire to keep moving forward in all of his work, regardless of whether any of his contemporaries want to follow him or not.
Check out the audio for ‘Puzzle’, plus the tracklisting for Space Force, down below. Space Force is set for an October 14th release.
Space Force tracklisting:
- ‘Puzzle’ (Feat. Adrian Belew)
- ‘Down With The Ship’ (Feat. Rivers Cuomo)
- ‘Artist In Residence’ (Feat. Neil Finn)
- ‘Godiva Girl’ (Feat. The Roots)
- ‘Your Fandango’ (Feat. Sparks)
- ‘Someday’ (Feat. Davey Lane)
- ‘I’m Not Your Dog’ (Feat. Thomas Dolby)
- ‘Espionage’ (Feat. Narcy)
- ‘STFU’ (Feat. Rick Nielsen)
- ‘Head In The Ocean’ (Feat. Alfie Templeman)
- ‘I’m Leaving’ (Feat. The Lemon Twigs)
- ‘Eco Warrior Goddess’ (Feat. Steve Vai)
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