We continue our look at the outstanding artists who have appeared on Daryl Hall's LFDH web series, focusing now on fellow Pennsylvanian Todd Rundgren.

Both Daryl Hall and Todd Rundgren achieved enormous success in the 70s music scene. Todd Rundgren was a successful solo artist under his own name, and also fronted the collaborative band Utopia.
In addition to that, Todd also had a highly lucrative gig as a music producer. For example, the Beatles Apple label hired him to finish the production of Badfingers hit album Straight Up for George Harrison when he organized the "Bangla Desh" benefit concert. In fact, Todd Rundgren even produced an early "Hall & Oates" album and many more.

In 1972 Todd released a seminal double album Something / Anything which produced his signature song, I Saw the Light. What was particularly striking about the album was that on three of the four sides, Rundgren played all the instruments, and did all the vocals and backup vocals. Here is a photo from the original album which shows the home "studio" he used.

Above -- Where Todd Rundgren Recorded Something / Anything

Todd Rundgren "I Saw the Light"

Todd is playing and singing everything you hear

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Live from Daryl's House

Todd Rundgren's first appearance on Live from Daryl's House felt like a family reunion. Todd wasn't blessed with a powerful voice with a lot of range, but it has been interesting to follow his development. Often it is the case that singers voices deteriorate over time and they aren't able to effectively cover their earlier work. They often employ various strategies to overcome limitations. In Todd's case, he has actually developed into a better singer with time. Here he is doing one of his songs with Daryl and his house band.

Sweet by Todd Rundgren

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Live from Todd's House

After his appearance on Live from Daryl's House, Todd invited Daryl to bring is show to Hawaii, to do an episode from Todd's house on the island of Kauai.

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Bill Murray Sings "I Saw the Light"

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Todd Rundgren with the Metropole Orchestra

I'll leave you with a clip I edited myself after flying to Amsterdam to see him at the Paradiso. This was five years ago, and it was an incredible concert. The Paradiso is an old church with two wrap around balconies, and in this tiny venue they managed to fit a 60 piece orchestra. It was broadcast nationally on Dutch radio, and a music buddy of mine later shared the audio with me.

I'm not much of a video editor, but I used two crowd sourced videos and synchronized the HQ radio audio. With some effects I tried to give the video a look that fit the mood of the concert during that song.

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The lead photo is from a Todd Rundgren Album Cover -- effects by @roused
Photo of Todd Rundgren Standing is from an Album Back Cover.

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