Music Babble

My gf is a fan but hadn't heard "Wizard" or that one so I played her side 1 of "Wizard" and "Todd" in its entirety. Had been awhile since I'd listened to any T-Rund in general. Mostly enjoyed revisiting him but was also sorta reminded of why I don't listen to him much anymore- always seems contrived and mostly lacks emotional resonance. But on a technical level it's still good stuff and FWIW "Todd" was always my favorite of his *because* of how messy/goofy/self-indulgent it is.

I definitely like "Absolutely Free" way more than you do but can't really argue re: how unlistenable it is (disagree with it being dated though- don't really feel that way about any of Frank's stuff except for maybe some of his 80's crap). Remember how jarring it was the first time I heard it after getting into both "Only In It For The Money" and "Freak Out". Mostly got used to it and think it's underrated by fans but totally understand why- it's just an ugly, raucous sounding album. But I sorta feel like it makes the album fascinating in a similar way to "Trout Mask"- sounds messy at first but then you realize that it was designed to sound exactly like it does (Frank was a notorious perfectionist and often made The Mothers do over 100 takes- partly because they were less technically accomplished than his later groups).