Released April 7, 1978 Producer Todd Rundgren Release date 7 April 1978 Genres Pop rock, Power pop | Length 34:50 Artist Todd Rundgren Label Bearsville Records | |
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Recorded Utopia Sound Studios, Lake Hill, NY Hermit of Mink Hollow
(1978) Back to the Bars
(1978) Similar Todd Rundgren albums, Pop rock albums |
Hermit of Mink Hollow is Todd Rundgren's eighth solo album, released in 1978. It was his first album to be written and recorded entirely by Rundgren alone, though large portions of earlier albums also had been recorded alone (such as the first three sides of the double-LP Something/Anything).
Contents
- Conception
- Track listing
- Side one The Easy Side
- Side two The Difficult Side
- Personnel
- In popular culture
- Charts
- Songs
- References
The album is reminiscent of the artist's earlier, more pop-oriented records and marks a lyrical return to the subject of relationships (as in the single "Can We Still Be Friends"), as well as his views on social inequality (as in the songs "Bag Lady" and "Bread"). It remains one of his most popular albums.
Mink Hollow refers to a valley, and the road that runs through it, in Lake Hill, New York just west of Woodstock, NY. Rundgren recorded this album while living in a house on Mink Hollow Road. While many think that the hermit referred to in the title is Todd, it actually originated and refers to the character and events from a local legend centered on Mink Hill Road in Lake Hill, NY. The legend involved a 3-legged dog, a missing girl and an escaped mental patient hiding in the surrounding forested mountains. Yet, Rundgren himself acknowledged being a "studio hermit", working in an "insular little 24-hour-a-day think tank", and declared that prior to this experience he wasn't aware that "too much social interaction [had] affected [his] overall creativity."
Conception
Rundgren intended the songs on the album to be performed on piano with minimal arrangements, apart from the bass, drums and voices. In that sense, he stated that the songwriting process appeared to be "fairly conventional". Most of the songs on the record didn't have lyrics until completed.
Track listing
The original track listing for the album, which can be found on the back of the album jacket, was rejected by Bearsville as being too haphazard. Bearsville re-listed the songs in a more "Pop Friendly" sequence, comprising the lighter poppy songs on "The Easy Side" and the more cerebral or harder rock songs on "The Difficult Side".
All songs written by Todd Rundgren.
Side one - The Easy Side
- "All the Children Sing" - 3:08
- "Can We Still Be Friends" - 3:34
- "Hurting for You" - 3:20
- "Too Far Gone" - 2:38
- "Onomatopoeia" - 1:34
- "Determination" - 3:11
Side two - The Difficult Side
- "Bread" - 2:48
- "Bag Lady" - 3:13
- "You Cried Wolf" - 2:20
- "Lucky Guy" - 2:04
- "Out of Control" - 3:56
- "Fade Away" - 3:04
Personnel
In popular culture
Charts
Album
Single
Songs
1All the Children Sing3:12
2Can We Still Be Friends3:38
3Hurting for You3:22