White knight

"Rundgren's latest album seeks to represent him in a more holistic, reflective light. White Knight is a genre-spanning collection that finds him pairing up with artists new and old to highlight his myriad gifts and to demonstrate the reach of his influence. But even if "White Knight" makes for Rundgren's most marketable album in ages, it's characterized by the cozy, homemade sound that's defined all his work since 2004's Liars. This is not the music of an artist attempting to prove himself to a new audience or to reacquaint himself with old fans. Instead, it's the sound of one of music's most restless listeners inviting others into the world he built-playing off them like instruments at his disposal".

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"Todd Rundgren prides himself in defying easy categorization and while that restlessness has resulted in brilliant work, it's also led him to cut confounding records. White Knight belongs to the latter category. A star-studded affair - 12 of the 15 songs feature a collaborator - White Knight covers a lot of stylistic ground (as would be fitting on a record that features Daryl Hall, Joe Walsh, Trent Reznor, and Robyn), but it's constricted by its chintzy production ... White Knight is split fairly evenly between solid senders and odd detours, which just makes the overall package weirder: it has the bones of a good record but Rundgren seems disinterested in actually making a good record. ".

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"It's far from prime Rundgren and there's little doubt that most of this would sound better with a full band instead of Rundgren's "I'll do it alone and save some money" keyboard dominated music. But once you warm up to the concept, there are enough moments on the eclectic smorgasbord to keep most fans engaged, at least until the next track".

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