Faithful (Todd Rundgren album)

Faithful is Todd Rundgren's seventh album, released in 1976.

Faithful
Studio album by
Todd Rundgren
ReleasedMay 1976
Genre
Length50:04
LabelBearsville
Rhino
ProducerTodd Rundgren
Todd Rundgren chronology
Initiation
(1975)		 Faithful
(1976)		 Hermit of Mink Hollow
(1978)
Singles from Faithful
  1. "Good Vibrations"
    Released: May 1976
  2. "Love of the Common Man"
    Released: June 25, 1976
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic [1]
Christgau's Record GuideB[2]
Rolling Stone(Not rated) [3]

Origins

Rundgren explained the motivation of the first side as treating rock music like European classical music, where a piece is performed over and over again in essentially the same way. The album's core group of musicians—Rundgren, Wilcox, Siegler and Powell (all members of Utopia)—makes this a Utopia album in all but name, though other official Utopia albums featured songs written by other members of the band and not just by Rundgren.

The first side is dedicated to "faithful" re-recordings—near-replications of the originals—of some classic 1960s psychedelic-era songs, while side two comprised original material. Critic Robert Christgau called the second side Rundgren's "clearest and most interesting set of songs since Something/Anything?" [4] and magazine Rolling Stone's rock critic John Milward said "the original material that fills side two is a more ambitious tribute to his influences and his strongest collection of pop tunes since his classic "Something/Anything"."

The closing song, "Boogies (Hamburger Hell)", opens with a reference to Beefsteak Charlie's, which former Utopia drummer Kevin Ellman was currently operating along with his family.

Release

The album was released in May 1976 with virtually no advertising. Bearsville Records' president Paul Fiskin believed Rundgren fans would purchase just as many albums as his previous releases based on word of mouth. The remake of The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" and One Rundgren tune "Love of the Common Man" were released as singles and charted briefly but the album itself made it to #54 on the Billboard Album Charts.

Track listing

Side one
  1. "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" (Jeff Beck, Jim McCarty, Jimmy Page, Keith Relf) – 3:12
  2. "Good Vibrations" (Mike Love, Brian Wilson) – 3:44
  3. "Rain" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) – 3:16
  4. "Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine" (Bob Dylan) – 3:24
  5. "If Six Was Nine" (Jimi Hendrix) – 4:55
  6. "Strawberry Fields Forever" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) – 3:53

Side two

All songs written by Todd Rundgren

  1. "Black and White" – 4:42
  2. "Love of the Common Man" – 3:35
  3. "When I Pray" – 2:58
  4. "Cliché" – 4:00
  5. "The Verb "To Love"" – 7:25
  6. "Boogies (Hamburger Hell)" – 5:00

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts
Year Chart Position
1976 Billboard Pop Albums[5] 54

Single
Year Single Chart Position
1976 "Good Vibrations" Canada RPM Singles Chart 28
1976 "Good Vibrations" Billboard Pop Singles[6] 34
1976 "Good Vibrations" Billboard Adult Contemporary[6] 32

References
  1. "Faithful". Allmusic. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
  2. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: R". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 12, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  3. "Rolling Stone Music | Album Reviews". Rollingstone.com. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
  4. Robert Christgau, Rock Albums of the '70s
  5. "allmusic (((Todd Rundgren > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums)))". Billboard. Retrieved 2012-04-27.
  6. "allmusic (((Todd Rundgren > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles)))". Billboard. Retrieved 2011-12-17.
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