Nearly Human
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. "Nearly Human" received very favorable reviews. The album's only single, "The Want of a Nail", featuring the soul legend Bobby Womack, was Rundgren's last charting "Billboard" single. 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". Track listing. LP issue. The LP release had a slightly different track list and did not include "Two Little Hitlers". Charts. Album - Billboard Singles - Billboard