Nearly Human
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Nearly Human
| type = studio
| artist = Todd Rundgren
| cover = Todd Rundgren - Nearly Human.jpg
| alt =
| released = 18 May 1989
| recorded = June 26, 1988 – February 6, 1989
| venue =
| studio = Fantasy Studios, Berkeley and The Plant, Sausalito, California
| genre =
- Rock
- soul{{cite book|first= Christopher |last= Scapelliti|editor1-first= Gary|editor1-last= Graff |editor2-first= Daniel |editor2-last= Durchholz |year= 1998 |title= MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide |chapter= Todd Rundgren/Utopia |publisher= Visible Ink Press |location= Detroit |pages= 963–964}}
| length = 53:02
| label = Warner Bros.
| producer = Todd Rundgren
| prev_title = A Cappella
| prev_year = 1985
| next_title = 2nd Wind
| next_year = 1991
| misc = {{Extra album cover
| header = Alternative Cover
| type = live
| cover = Nearly Human Alternate.jpg
| border =
| alt =
| caption = Japanese Edition Artwork
}}
}}
Nearly Human is a 1989 album by the rock musician Todd Rundgren, released by Warner Bros. Records. It was his first release in four years, although he had been active as a producer in the intervening years. Many of the album's songs deal with loss, self-doubt, jealousy and spiritual recovery. It was also the first collaboration between Rundgren and Michele Gray, a singer and ex-model who helped to organize the sessions. Gray sang backing vocals, both on the record and on subsequent tours, and the pair later married.
Recording
The song "Parallel Lines" was originally written for Rundgren's musical theater Off Broadway production of Joe Orton's Up Against It. The original version is rather slow and can be found on Rundgren's Japan-only album, Up Against It! The song was re-recorded here with an uptempo and lusher arrangement.
Unlike a large portion of Rundgren's solo albums on which he played all the instruments and sang all lead and backing vocals, Nearly Human was performed live in the studio with numerous musicians, including the members of Rundgren's defunct band Utopia which had broken up three years earlier; Roger Powell, Kasim Sulton and John "Willie" Wilcox all play on the track "Can't Stop Running". Scott Mathews and the former The Tubes members Vince Welnick (keyboards) and Prairie Prince (drums) also perform on Nearly Human. The track "Feel It" was originally recorded (with slightly different lyrics) by the San Francisco band on its 1985 album Love Bomb, produced by Rundgren. Brent Bourgeois and Larry Tagg of Bourgeois Tagg, whom Rundgren had produced, also played on the album along with the rest of the band, making Nearly Human effectively a Rundgren-Utopia-Bourgeois Tagg-Tubes collaboration, plus extra vocalists and keyboard players.
Reception
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = AllMusic
| rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/nearly-human-mw0000653376 |title=Todd rundgren - Nearly Human review |last=Erlewine |first=Stephen Thomas |author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine |work=AllMusic |publisher=All Media Network |accessdate=27 September 2015}}
| rev2 = Classic Rock
| rev2score = {{Rating|7|10}}{{cite journal |title=Todd Rundgren - Reissues |journal=Classic Rock |date=March 2012 |last=Quantick |first=David|issue=168 |page=108 }}
| rev3 =Hi-Fi News & Record Review
| rev3Score = A/B:1{{cite news|last=Kessler|first=Ken|authorlink=|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Hi-Fi-News/80s/Hi-Fi-News-1989-08.pdf|title=Review: Todd Rundgren — Nearly Human|work=Hi-Fi News & Record Review|type=magazine|date=August 1989|volume=34|issue=8|access-date=2 September 2021|page=111|location=Croydon|publisher=Link House Magazines Ltd|via=World Radio History|issn=0142-6230|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210902075515/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Hi-Fi-News/80s/Hi-Fi-News-1989-08.pdf|archive-date=2 September 2021}}
| rev4 = Rolling Stone
| rev4score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/216660/review/5940988/nearlyhuman |title=Todd rundgren - Nearly Human |last=Fricke|first=David|authorlink=David Fricke|magazine=Rolling Stone |date=29 June 1989 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071130050020/http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/216660/review/5940988/nearlyhuman |archivedate=30 November 2007 |accessdate=27 September 2015 }}
| noprose= yes
}}
Nearly Human received very favorable reviews. The album's single, "The Want of a Nail", featuring the soul legend Bobby Womack, was Rundgren's last charting Billboard single.{{cite web|title=Todd Rundgren: Billboard Albums and Singles|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/todd-rundgren-mn0000936425/awards|website=AllMusic|accessdate=23 October 2012}} One other single was released "Parallel Lines" B/W "I Love My Life" but did not chart. Andrew Martin, reviewer of British music newspaper Music Week, praised the album by saying "Todd Rundgren forays into making his own albums are rarer these days, but when they do arrive they tend to be slick, taut affairs which exude class. This is no exception." In the end Martin said: "From the delicious horn-tinged overdrive of 'The Want of a Nail' to the strident bass-lead 'Unloved Children' it demonstrates a man cable of delving into a myriad of rock styles without floundering."{{cite magazine|last=Martin|first=Andrew|authorlink=|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1989/MW-1989-06-10.pdf|title=Review: Todd Rundgren — Nearly Human|magazine=Music Week|date=10 June 1989|access-date=8 June 2022|page=20|location=London|publisher=Spotlight Publications Ltd.|via=World Radio History|issn=0265-1548|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211231042008/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1989/MW-1989-06-10.pdf|archive-date=31 December 2021}} In review of 10 June 1989 David Spodek of RPM, named this album "a welcome return." He wrote: "This is radio-tailored pop at its best, with material that will fit both AOR and NC formats" and summarized that "this LP should be a winner on radio and in the stores, provided it is backed with the right promotion in order to attract a new legion of fans to Rundgren's sound."{{cite magazine|last=Spodek|first=David|authorlink=|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/CANADA/RPM/80s/1989/RPM-1989-06-10.pdf|title=Review: Todd Rundgren — Nearly Human|magazine=RPM|date=10 June 1989|volume=50|issue=6|page=7|location=Toronto|publisher=RPM Music Publications Ltd.|issn=0315-5994|access-date=22 June 2022|via=World Radio History|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220402022336/https://worldradiohistory.com/CANADA/RPM/80s/1989/RPM-1989-06-10.pdf|archive-date=2 April 2022}}
Japanese release
For the Japanese release of the album, the sixth finger of the handprint on the cover was removed, "due to the religious significance of six fingers in Japan".{{cite web|title=Nearly Human|url=http://trconnection.com/~todd/tig/near.html|work=The Todd Rundgren Connection|accessdate=1 July 2012|year=2012}}
Track listing
= CD issue =
{{track listing
| all_writing = Todd Rundgren, unless otherwise noted
| title1 = The Want of a Nail
| length1 = 5:14
| title2 = The Waiting Game
| length2 = 4:16
| title3 = Parallel Lines
| length3 = 4:22
| title4 = Two Little Hitlers
| length4 = 3:55
| writer4 = Elvis Costello
| title5 = Can't Stop Running
| length5 = 5:00
| title6 = Unloved Children
| length6 = 4:03
| title7 = Fidelity
| length7 = 4:39
| title8 = Feel It
| length8 = 5:47
| writer8 = Rundgren, The Tubes, Lorie Welnick
| title9 = Hawking
| length9 = 6:51
| title10 = I Love My Life
| length10 = 8:55
}}
= LP issue =
The LP release had a slightly different track list and did not include "Two Little Hitlers".
{{track listing
| headline = Side one
| title1 = The Want of a Nail
| length1 = 5:14
| title2 = The Waiting Game
| length2 = 4:16
| title3 = Parallel Lines
| length3 = 4:22
| title4 = Unloved Children
| length4 = 4:03
| title5 = Can't Stop Running
| length5 = 5:00
}}
{{track listing
| headline = Side two
| title6 = Fidelity
| length6 = 4:39
| title7 = Feel It
| length7 = 4:39
| writer7 = Rundgren, The Tubes, Welnick
| title8 = Hawking
| length8 = 6:51
| title9 = I Love My Life
| length9 = 8:55
}}
Personnel
Credits adapted from the CD liner notes.
- Todd Rundgren - lead vocals (all tracks), guitar (6), arranger (all tracks), producer (all tracks), cover art design
- Lyle Workman - guitar (1-7, 9, 10)
- Vernon Black - guitar (5, 8, 9)
- Larry Tagg - bass guitar (1-4, 10), backing vocals (5, 6, 9)
- Kasim Sulton - bass guitar (5)
- Rick Anderson - bass guitar (6)
- Randy Jackson - bass guitar (8, 9)
- Brent Bourgeois - Hammond organ (4), synthesizer (3, 5, 7, 9), backing vocals (1, 2, 6)
- Vince Welnick - piano (1), digital piano (1-3, 6, 8), accordion (4), synthesizer (5)
- Byron Allred - synthesizer (2), piano (9)
- Nate Ginsberg - synthesizer (3, 7), piano (10)
- Scott Moon - synthesizer (3)
- Roger Powell - synthesizer (5)
- Jimmy Pugh - Hammond organ (6, 10)
- Mingo Lewis - congas (5)
- Michael Pluznick - shaker (5), congas (7-9)
- Gary Yost - tambourine (1, 6)
- Ralph Legnini - tambourine (5)
- Willie Wilcox - drums (5)
- Michael Urbano - drums (1-4, 6, 7, 9, 10), timbales (5)
- Prairie Prince - percussion (3), electronic drums (5), drums (8)
- Barbara Imhoff - harp (1)
- Bobby Strickland - tenor saxophone (1, 4, 8, 9), baritone saxophone (6), flute (7)
- Peter Apfelbaum - clarinet (7)
- Jim Blinn - trombone (1)
- Bruce Paine - trombone (8)
- Mike Rose - trumpet (1, 8)
- Paul Shaghoian - trumpet (4)
- Bobby Womack - co-lead vocals (1)
- Vicki Randle, Jeanie Tracy - backing vocals (1, 10)
- N.D. Smart - backing vocals (1, 2, 7, 8)
- Michele Gray - backing vocals (1-3, 5-8, 10)
- Scott Mathews - backing vocals (2, 3, 6-8, 10)
- Keta Bill - backing vocals (2, 3, 9)
- Melisa Kary - backing vocals (2, 3, 10)
- Kim Cataluna, Cary Sheldon - backing vocals (2, 5-8, 10)
- Skyler Jett - backing vocals (2, 9, 10)
- John Hampton - backing vocals (3)
- Annie Stocking - backing vocals (3, 9)
- Mary Lou Arnold, Bill Spooner - backing vocals (5)
- Bryan Thym - backing vocals (5, 9, 10)
- Shandi Sinnamon - backing vocals (7, 8, 10)
- Raz Kennedy - backing vocals (9)
- Clarence Clemons, Daymon Cooper, Vince Ebo, Shirley Faulkner, Emma Jean Foster, Paul Gilbert, Derick Hughes, Eric Martin, Kelly Moneymaker, Jenni Muldaur, Charles Reed, Paul Scott - backing vocals (10)
- Dean Franke, Roberta Freier, Stephen Gehl, Nathan Rubin - strings (1)
- Paul Brancato, John Tenney - strings (1, 8)
- Stefan Hersh - strings (8)
- The Dick Bright Strings - strings (8)
- Narada Michael Walden - choirmaster (10)
Charts
Album - Billboard
| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" style="width:275px;" |
| align="left"|Year
!align="left"|Chart !align="left"|Position |
|---|
| align="left"|1989
|align="left"|The Billboard 200 |align="left"|102 |
Singles - Billboard