MUSICAL VISIONARY TODD RUNDGREN
TO RELEASE FIRST ALBUM OF ALL NEW MATERIAL
IN NEARLY A DECADE
WITTY AND DELIBERATE LIARS
IN STORES
APRIL 6th ON SANCTUARY RECORDS
After dedicating the past 25 years to constructing a bridge between music and multimedia, Todd Rundgren announces the release of a new album that is a work of sophisticated songwriting and musical brilliance. Liars, in stores April 6th (Sanctuary Records), is an orchestral, complex, and cleverly witty collection of songs all built around an ambitious central concept that weaves seamlessly throughout the album.
From the frenetic opening track, “Truth,” to the blue-eyed soul in “Sweet” and “Soul Brother,” to his signature guitar howling on “Liars,” Rundgren exposes white lies, happy lies, lies with dire consequences, and lies so woven into the fabric of our lives that we don’t even notice them anymore.
“Most of my recent albums have been either collections from recent and old recordings. Liars is an album of all brand new material that I’ve been thinking about for about 10 years,” says Rundgren. “When I started writing material for this record, I didn’t have a whole concept yet, but the first song I did was ‘The Wondering.’ It was my reaction to the 2000 presidential election, and the completely surreal nature of it. It really made me see that we go through life thinking certain things are true, and then reality is thrust upon you and you realize you’ve been living a lie, a complete lie. That you don’t seem to be able to count on anything anymore.”
Almost a year passed before Rundgren found the inspiration to write another song. “Afterlife” was a reaction to religious beliefs about what happens when we die, despite a complete lack of proof on the matter. “I don’t expect the afterlife to be much different than what it is now,” he laughs. While writing the song, he realized that there was a rich load of material to be found in examining human beings as dishonest creatures. “Either you are compelled by society or sometimes by morals to be dishonest,” he explains. “Self-delusion, dishonesty, its all there even if you don’t realize it.” The album’s cover captures the concept in its simplest form – the Easter Bunny. “It’s a myth and everyone knows it’s a myth. It doesn’t even have the history like Santa Claus - there was never a giant bunny that delivered Easter eggs and candy. But we’re asked to perpetuate this myth.”
While Rundgren is renown for his guitar performances, it’s his dexterity as a multi-instrumentalist that shines through on Liars. The keyboard and piano often take center stage, so much so that “Mammon” is as much a piano concerto as it is a Gothic chant.
“I was going for a certain kind of sound,” describes Rundgren, who played all the instruments on the album. “I did start to gravitate toward a B3 and Fender Rhodes piano for the central element. To me it’s old fashioned, and I wanted it to resemble all my influences….some Mose Allison, semi-Beatles things. And there’s always a bit of Marvin Gaye in there somewhere. But I’ll always make a point of re-interpreting their sound, not imitating it.”
Rundgren may be best known to music fans for his hit singles (“Hello, It’s Me,” “Bang The Drum All Day,” “Can We Still Be Friends,” and “I Saw The Light”) and his work as a record producer (Meat Loaf’s “Bat Out Of Hell,” XTC’s “Skylarking,” Hall & Oates’ “War Babies,” Patti Smith’s “Wave,” Grand Funk Railraods’ “We’re An American Band”). But it’s his work behind the scenes in multimedia and the early days of interactive entertainment that have been his true life’s passion. Anticipating the merger of music and technology that is today a part of mainstream culture, Rundgren’s many firsts include:
1978: The first interactive television concert, broadcast live over the Warner/QUBE system in Columbus, Ohio (the home audience chose each song.in real time during the concert by voting via QUBE’s 2-way operating system).
1978: The first live nationally broadcast stereo radio concert (by microwave), linking 40 cities around the country.
1979: The opening of Utopia Video Studios, a multi-million dollar state-of-the-art facility, where he produced the first demonstration software for RCA’s new Videodisc format, the precursor to the DVD.
1980: Creation of the first color graphics tablet, which was licensed to Apple.
1981: “Time Heals,” the first music video to utilize state-of-the-art compositing of live action and computer graphics, becomes the second video ever to be played on MTV (after “Video Killed the Radio Star”).
1982: The first live national cablecast of a rock concert (on the USA Network), simulcast in stereo to over 120 radio stations.
1982: The first two commercially released music videos ever, one of which was nominated for the first-ever Grammy awarded for “Best Short Form Video.”
1992: The release of “No World Order,” the world’s first interactive record album.
1994: The release of “The Individualist,” the world’s first full length Enhanced CD.
1995: The world’s first interactive concert tour.
1998: Launches PatroNet, the world’s first direct artist subscription and digital delivery service
With Liars, Rundgren returns to his first love – music. Along with his band, “The Liars,” he will launch a nationwide tour beginning on April 8th in Milwaukee, taking time out to perform on The Late Show with David Letterman on April 28th.
TRACKLIST
1. Truth
2. Sweet
3. Happy Anniversary
4. Soul Brother
5. Stood Up
6. Mammon
7. Future
8. Past
9. Wondering
10. Flaw
11. Afterlife
12. Living
13. God Said
14. Liar
After dedicating the past 25 years to constructing a bridge between music and multimedia, Todd Rundgren announces the release of a new album that is a work of sophisticated songwriting and musical brilliance. Liars, in stores April 6th (Sanctuary Records), is an orchestral, complex, and cleverly witty collection of songs all built around an ambitious central concept that weaves seamlessly throughout the album. 
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