Rundgren's fault?

For the first time, I own a copy of Something / Anything by Todd Rundgren. This archetypal "solo" project is legendary among studio types, since it's got some great pop hits (Hello, It's Me is one you may have heard) and was constructed track-by-track, overdub at a time, by one guy. For these reasons this record has piqued my curiosity for some time, but finally now I can hear if it lives up to expectations.

Well, so far, so good! I was talking with my studio partner about the record and mentioned that he might like it, but there's a tendency to blame the creator of a style for later abominations. For instance, can you fault Harry Nilsson for the later, lame wanna-be's? Can you blame James Taylor for lite rock? Likewise, it's perhaps useful to remember that when this record was made, it was a new sound, not a cash-in on the current trends.

One interesting thing to me is the "live" sound to the record. I haven't sat with a metronome, but it's my guess that the tempi are all over the map. Songs seem to speed up and slow down, but in a good, natural organic feeling way. And the vocals are amazing. What I had imagined were a trio of female singers were, of course, TR multi-tracked. Good stuff.

On to side two!