TODD RUNDGREN -- With a Twist (Guardian)

Imagine this... You walk into a grocery store. You hear the usual 'grocery store music.' This time though, it sounds slightly familiar. Suddenly, you recognize the lyrics as one of your favorite Todd tunes. You stop for a minute and ask yourself--"who in the hell is butchering this song?" Then you recognize the singer - it's Todd, butchering his own song! You ask yourself why, but all you can do is shake your head in disbelief. How can he do this to his own song?

Normally, Rundgren is always on the cutting edge of music. This time though, he's been sucked into believing that people really want to hear lounge versions of some of his biggest hits (and a few misses too). It just doesn't work. Two of the songs--"Never Never Land" and "A Dream Goes On Forever"--actually sound pretty good. However, aside from those, it's all you can do to keep from hitting the eject button. For completists only.