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Digitally re-mastered edition in case-bound book packaging. When it was issued in 1975, at 68 minutes, INITIATION was the longest album ever on one piece of vinyl. It starts with Todd's classic Philly Soul single 'Real Man' and continues with the a cappella' Born to Synthesize'. Soul ballad 'Fair Warning' features Edgar Winter, Rick Derringer and Dan Hartman, while the title track features an amazing solo from sax legend David Sanborn. The entirety of side two was taken up with the 36 minute synthesizer extravaganza 'A Treatise on Cosmic Fire', which broke new ground in it's use of technology for creating music. It also marked the first appearance of future Utopia keyboard player Roger Powell. This new deluxe case-bound book edition contains all the lyrics, and extensive notes by Paul Myers, extracted from his definitive book a Wizard, a True Star: Todd Rundgren in the Studio.
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5.71 x 5.08 x 0.31 inches; 3.53 Ounces
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After the somewhat scattered sound of the 1974 album Todd this album was not only a huge creative return but a more focused one. During this period Rundgren's productions became much brighter and ahead of their time. "Real Man" is a great example-musically it's an extension of Todd's melodic rock/soul combination but the sound wise it sounds more like a re-recording from a decade or so later-it isn't and that's the beauty of it. "Born To Synthesize" also looks to ten a decade into Todd's musical future as it merely presents Todd's voice as the instrument,sometimes wonderful lead vocals and othertimes abstract and sometimes hammy harmony parts. Musically these two songs begin an exploration of the albums overall theme of spirtituality. Rundgren is a man of very clear headed ideas but at the same time he expressess so many of them at the same time that is gives off the appearance of being overwelming.Actually,it isn't. The general theme of the this album seems to be philosophically close to unitarianism and/or the idea of the "one world under many gods" kind of concepts.Considering all of the people turning to Hari Krishna,EST,Moonies and one guru to another throughout the 70's for some sort of insight to life Rundgren was apparently taking it upon himself to try and make some sense of it for people and come to a desicive answer rather than indulge himself in,say one of his own spiritual journey's. The song on this album that explores this idea most is the title song,a very keyboard led jazz-funk-rock-pop type tune featuring a great David Sanborn sax solo. "The Death Of Rock N Roll" is the one hard rock song on the album and the one tune that closley resembles the rockier previous album. "Eastern Intrigue" is another very spiritually inclined song,whose lyrics pretty much follow the lead of it's title and is a potent combination of progressive jazz with a sort of Asian type melody. "Fair Warning" is a great slow fusion style number featuring members of The Edgar Winter Group;Winter's sax solo's throughout are worth it by themselves. The 34 minute "A Treatise On Cosmic Fire" has some of the flavors of the first couple of Utopia albums but are not exactly the same. The suite starts and concludes on this keyboard-led funk-jazz note sandwiching a lot of synthesizer......noodling in the middle. I don't enjoy using that term especially when applied to someone as talented as Rundgren but this was a guy who was able to take any kind of sound and make it sound musical. A lot of times here it just doesn't go anywhere. But it terms of using sound to engender different emotions it's enough to qualify this album as a five star album. For the most part this is one of Rundgren's most focused releases,speaking for the first six songs and presents him as a creative and very soulful artist of a very high caliber.
I followed young Todd when I was a teenager. He had an alluring mystique. His songwriting, singing, playing, and production prowess drew me in to his world, which, in Initiation, is that of Eastern mysticism.
This album combines pop sensibilities with progressive rock and not a little humor. (Todd is impish.) The long-form, "Treatise on Cosmic Fire," is named after a book by Alice A. Bailey, a prolific medium and occultist. Todd's music was influenced by Bailey in the early stages of his band, Utopia. The tune, "I was born to synthesize" is autobiographical and grandiose. I think it consists entirely of Todd's voice synthesized and overdubbed in many ways. I also saw a music video where Todd sat in a yoga posture and sang the song.
I first listened to "Initiation" the summer before going off to college. This kind of multi-layered and synthesizer heavy music is best heard through headphones, and I did--through my giant Stanton headphones.I listened to "Treatise on Cosmic Fire" while reading Jonathan Livingstone Seagul, a popular novella (or extended parable) at the time. The gull's quest was that of a mystical ascent. I finished the book just as the music stopped. It seemed significant in an ill-defined way. Was I on to something spiritual? I did have the Todd tee-shirt.
During my first year in college, I studied philosophy and religions. I began to understand more of what was behind Todd's music. I was still attracted to it and played it often. However, I was also learning about Christianity from friends and was reading Soren Kierkegaard, whose worldview was the opposite of Todd's pantheistic mysticism.
When I returned home that summer, I had I dream in which Todd was in lotus position singing, "I was born to hypnotize." It clicked. Despite his musical genius, Todd, and the mystical worldview he represented, were on the wrong side of the truth. Since 1976, I have written four books challenging this worldview and offering a better alternative: Christianity.
Yet, I still listen to Todd and appreciate his musical abilities. On that basis, I give four stars. But I hope you don't follow the path he advocated at the time, now long ago.
This is one of my all time favorite Todd albums. There isn't a bad song on here and it's unfortunate that at it's release was widely panned. The album also lasts 67 and 1/2 minutes which in the days of lps was quite long. Side one features six songs played mostly with Utopia which was going thru a lineup change at the time. In fact, it was during these sessions that Roger Powell and John "Willie" Wilcox were "asked" to join the band. Side two is made up of the Cosmic Fire segment running 36 minutes. The most known song on here is Real Man which beings the album in fine fashion followed by Born To Synthisize(think of the Grateful Dead's What's Become Of The Baby).Eastern Intrigue is fun which runs into the title track which smokes with some help from early midi stuff. Fair Warning is a cool ballad with great lyrics about an individual's choice in the way things are(I don't like to call it fate as it releaves the person's responsibility for their actions like the song suggests).
I should add that all the songs on here have meaning.Side two is given to an instrumental piece called Cosmic Fire. The best sounding version is again the Japan import
Great Todd lp! IMO this is his first Utopia album "session two". Liner notes state Real Man has same line up as first Utopia (could have been left off)and the rest are guest artists along with a couple Utopia members. Rea Man, Initiation and Fair Warning are stand outs. And the 36 minute A Treatise On Cosmic Fire another Todd sound painting. This is the end of the highly experiment Todd, after this lp he went back to producing arena rock with Utopia and soulful solo records and every record has a Todd gem on it! One has to think this guy has a pretty large vault of music that never made it to market! Not for Todd Newbie's unless you can open your mind.
Super album encore de ce "touche-à-tout" musical qu'est mister Todd Rundgren !.... Production, expérimentations (morceau "A Treatise On Cosmic Fire" de plus de 35mn, où le synthetizer est utilisé avec toutes ses possibilités ), compositions, parties vocales et/ou instrumentales ( seul ou accompagné ), tout dans cet album est de haute facture . J'ai la chance d'avoir l'édition CD en forme de livret ( avec paroles, musiciens qui ont collaborés sur chaque titre et commentaires (Paul Myers). Encore de super morceaux tels que "Initiation", "Real Man", "Eastern Intrigue" .... Un avant goût de ce qui va advenir avec la future formation du groupe UTOPIA ( cf: collaboration - "creative assistance"- avec mister Roger Powell ).
Bought this again after first buying it ......er.......40........that's forty...........years ago, ugh! This was when Todd could do no wrong for me (and still can't really). It's been a fantastic eclectic journey and hope there's still a lot more to come.
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