[rating=8.00]
In a recent interview, Todd Rundgren declared his desire to make himself more visible, apparently a reference to the fact that he’s strayed out of the mainstream of late. Not that he’s about to reclaim the status of pop purist that he attained with songs like “Hello, It’s Me” or “It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference,” early outings that catapulted him to fame following his departure from the Nazz, his early point of ascent. Yet in the years since, he’s often veered out of that orb, both on his own and with his former group Utopia, offering adventurous experimental music that sometime subjugated tunefulness in favor of eccentricity and invention.
True to his current designs, White Knight seeks to remedy that dilemma. It’s overarched melodies still echo a sense of grandeur and ambition, but the accessibility factor also weighs heavily, particularly on songs such as “I Got Your Back (which surprisingly and somewhat surprisingly concedes to a rap courtesy of Dam Funk), “Chance For Us,”“Beginning (Of the End),” “Let’s Do This,” and the Steely Dan-soundalike “Tin Foil Hat.” And while Todd may be feign to admit, the appearance of notable guest stars like Darryl Hall, with whom he once worked back in the day, along with Trent Reznor, Joe Walsh, Joe Satriani, Bettye LaVette and Donald Fagen turns this into a superstar summit; a tack commonly employed when an artist seeks to reap attention by surrounding himself with his famous friends.
Fortunately, that’s not the extent of Rundgren’s efforts to reconnect with former fans who may have alienated along the way. The songs themselves find a happy middle ground between allure and ambition, likening several of them to early Utopia in terms of their flights of fancy. Todd occasionally concedes the spotlight to his guest stars, turning the proceedings into a kind of passing revue, but with an agreeable set of songs to consider, the ear candy conceit remains intact. Who exactly this White Knight is seems uncertain, but if the intent was to rescue his career from ambiguity, he’s clearly succeeded.
