I’m reading this book about Todd Rundgren entitled "A Wizard A True Star, Todd Rundgren In The Studio".  It’s a recitation of all his productions, even albums I’d never heard of, I was stunned at how much work he did before engineering the Band’s "Stage Fright".  Everywhere you turn it’s Gladwell Time, evidence of 10,000 hours of preparation.  Yup, we may only see the tip, the success, the iconic effort, but the legends didn’t emerge fully-formed, hell, even Elton recorded demos, disbelieving he’d ever make it as a solo artist.

Not that Todd produced Elton.  That would be interesting.  Albeit a failure.  Because what made those early Elton records so great was Gus Dudgeon. "Elton John" sounded like it was cut in a church.  And "Tumbleweed Connection" sounded like it was cut in an uncompleted building on the prairie, a schoolhouse with only three sides.  Dudgeon’s productions sounded rich and deep.  Whereas Todd’s productions tend to be thin.

Then again, thin can be great.  Isn’t that the essence of garage rock?

Anyway, I’d love to recommend this book, but even I’m not reading every word.  It’s heavily researched (do I trust the research?), but it’s just not written that well.

First rule of writing a book, you’ve got to be a good writer.  Yes, sometimes a tale tells itself, you can just lay it out and it has maximum impact, but Jon Krakauer was not the only person who wrote about the ’96 Everest tragedy, but he was the only person who could make the story come alive, you felt like you were there, high up on the mountain, freezing in the blinding storm.

Todd says he concocted the final version of Badfinger’s "Day After Day" and got ripped off when George Harrison got the credit, but that’s one track I cannot ever get over.  What a sound!

And not long thereafter, there was another hit, by a band I reviled, well, I secretly loved "Closer To Home", Grand Funk Railroad.

But there was this record on the radio.  And my ’63 Chevy only had an AM radio.  And when it came pouring out of the speakers not only did I crank it up, but I banged the dashboard, I sang along at the top of my lungs, I LOVED "We’re An American Band", made me think Mark Farner was all right, after years of despising him.

And in this Paul Myers book, Mr. Farner says…

Well, let me set it up.  The band’s going to record in Miami, at Criteria, even though Todd would prefer to cut in his home studio in NYC:

"Farner says he was just excited about his band heading into new and unfamiliar territory. ‘I tend to think that anything new might inspire me to write a new song or riff.  Stuff like that can be the magic it takes to get that feel or sparkle on a record.  If you take the feel out of a song you got like 20 per cent of the song left.  And luckily for us, Todd is all about feel.’"

EUREKA!

Yesterday the announced the new "American Idol" team.  I’ve got an opinion, I’ve got thoughts, but I decided not to write anything because I just wasn’t in the correct mood.  Content is important, but feel is key.  How do the words flow together, is the reader gripped, does he get excited?

With the ability to labor over phrasing, to literally use the best syllables of a word in a track, "artists" are going for perfection, and perfection is always subsidiary to feel.

Ever meet someone beautiful who has nothing to say?

You lose interest almost immediately.

Ever meet someone ugly who rivets you, who you fantasize about laying down in bed with?

OF COURSE!

It’s their personality, it’s their feel that translates, you just want to get closer.

It’s the same with records.

It’s about nailing the performance, not perfection.

That’s one of the reasons why music is in the dumper.  In these beat-driven records you oftentimes can’t hear the humanity, they’ve got no feel!  This isn’t anti-hip-hop, some of the great early rap records have tons of feel, when they were recorded quickly, in studios by people knowing if they didn’t succeed, they’d be consigned to a life of blue collar drudgery, possibly even death.  You could hear these performers willing themselves to make it, right in the track!

We’ve all heard demos of successful songs that could never be hits on their own.  They needed production.  But that doesn’t mean overproduction is good.  The question is how do you create a cohesive sound, that translates to the listener?

In other words, rather than spend days in the studio getting it right, you’re better off playing golf and waiting for inspiration and when you get it RUNNING into the studio and laying down the track immediately.  So many great records were done this way, quickly.  They’re laden with mistakes, but we don’t care, we love them despite their flaws, just like we love human beings.

Not that it’s about golf…

But we’ve got too many people masquerading as artists who’ve got no idea what art is.  Art is conceptual.  It’s something you think about.  And after thinking about it, you can frequently construct it in the blink of an eye.  That’s true for abstract impressionists as well as songwriters.

Not that it’s got to be done quick to have feel.  Look at "Good Vibrations"!  But Brian Wilson was all about feel.  Carl’s vocal!  The theremin!

Getting it right is often missing the point.

It’s about capturing the emotion, laying down a track that grabs hold of hearts and minds and demands a place in the firmament.