Todd Rundgren Records New Versions of Songs He Produced for Other Artists on ‘(Re)Production’ Album

Todd Rundgren is looking back on his producing career in a typically unique way, releasing a new studio album filled with his own re-recorded versions of songs from his diverse body of production work for other artists, including Grand Funk Railroad, Cheap Trick and Meat Loaf.

The album features a number of well-known tracks, including Rundgren's take on Meat Loaf’s ‘Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad,’ ‘Love My Way’ by the Psychedelic Furs, ‘Dear God’ by XTC and ‘I Can’t Take It’ by Cheap Trick.

Rundgren tells PopMatters that the album is “mostly dance versions” of “songs that I produced for other people.” He took strides to create new arrangements that would bear very little resemblance to the familiar originals. In his words, there was “no point” in “aping what I’d done already.”

Instead, he worked to find a “unique approach to them that makes them not necessarily recognizable at first.” He chose not to do revisit some of his most famous production projects because he couldn’t find a way to “reframe their material.”

The new release is the latest step in Rundgren’s always unpredictable career, and follows his recent album of Robert Johnson covers, which we spoke with him about earlier this year in an interview that you can read here.