The Nazz, "Nazz Nazz" (Screen Gems, 1969)

When Todd Rundgren's tour brought him through Pittsburgh a few years ago, I had the opportunity to interview him about his long and storied career. At one point, I asked him about a forthcoming compilation of material by his late-'60s band, The Nazz.

To my surprise, his surprise was that he'd basically written off that phase of his musical life.

"Oh. Well, I really enjoy it," I said before moving quickly onto another topic.

In fact, I enjoy it so much that the second album by The Nazz, "Nazz Nazz," is my personal favorite of the dozens of albums Rundgren has released since 1968. It bridges the gaps between the various genres of garage rock, psychedelia and progressive rock, all from the fertile mind of a musician who wasn't even of legal drinking age at the time of its release.

The Nazz, a quartet from suburban Philadelphia, gained some national attention the year before as the single "Hello, It's Me" backed with "Open My Eyes" scraped the lower reaches of the charts. Both went on to become staples of the Rundgren catalog: Todd's solo remake of "Hello" cracked the Top Five in '73, and "Open," featuring his slicing phase-shifted guitar, has been a highlight of the revered "Nuggets" garage/psych compilations.

The songs also appeared on "Nazz," the debut album for the band, which took its name from the song "The Nazz Are Blue," B-side of a Yardbirds single. (Todd later covered the single's A-side, the exceptional "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago." Also of note, a group from Phoenix also called itself The Nazz until learning of the Rundgren-led venture; the members then changed the name to Alice Cooper.) The first LP took a relatively straight-ahead rock approach, similar to what many bands that were launched around the same time were doing.

By the time of "Nazz Nazz," Rundgren and his cohorts - singer/keyboardist "Stewkey" Antoni, bass player Carsten Van Osten and drummer Thom Mooney - had decided to do things their way. Todd had taught himself to read and write music, and he used that knowledge to develop horn and string arrangements. The band members were learning how to use the recording studio as an instrument, and they weren't afraid to experiment.

The result is an album that stands up right alongside Rundgren's ambitious projects of the '70s, heralding some of the new sounds that decade had to offer.

"Nazz Nazz" opens with the deceptively simple-sounding "Forget All About It," a slice of power pop that offers the sage advice, "If you haven't got time to rest, then take the record off now." Swirling underneath the melody are many of the elements that would characterize Rundgren's better-known work: sonic embellishments, tight vocal harmonies, shifts between major and minor keys, and an undeniably catchy chorus.

For some reason, the people at Screen Gems decided to release the next song on the album, "Not Wrong Long," as a single instead of "Forget All About It." While "Not Wrong" rocks a bit harder and is a good song on its own merits, it doesn't quite measure up the grandeur of the opener.

The rest of the album has the band tackling disparate styles: out-and-out hard rock on "Rain Rider" and especially "Under the Ice"; softer ballads on "Gonna Cry Today" and "Letters Don't Count"; electric blues on "Kiddie Boy" and "Featherbedding Lover" and pure psychedelia on "Hang On Paul."

"Meridian Leeward" fits into the psychedelic category, as well, to the point where many critics have cited the song as the album's weak link. But it's actually very entertaining as the rather twisted story of a "human being now, but I used to be a pig/Till they shortened up my nose and they made me wear a wig." It gets weirder from there.

All the styles come together for the magnum opus "A Beautiful Song," which starts as a hard rocker featuring Rundgren's guitar sizzling over an orchestra, then segues into a soft, almost a cappella section before wrapping up with a heavy jam.

Actually, "Nazz Nazz" could have been even longer and more diverse, as the band initially contemplated a double LP to be called "Fungo Bat." But the other three members didn't particularly like some of the directions Rundgren was pursuing, and they decided on a single record. Much of the other material eventually appeared on the follow-up, "Nazz III," in late 1970, with Stewkey singing lead.

By that time, The Nazz was pretty much done, as Todd had moved on to a new project called Runt and his first Top 20 single, "We Gotta Get You a Woman." There apparently was no looking back, as far as he was concerned.

But listeners who have dabbled in Todd Rundgren's later material would be well-advised to check out the place where it all started.