White Album". 2020s Rundgren collaborated with Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo in 2020, releasing the single "Down With The Ship". In December, he released his English translation of the 1978 song "Flappie", originally by Dutch comedian Youp van 't Hek. That April, he reunited with Sparks 50 years after producing their debut album, releasing a single "Your Fandango". Style and recognition As a solo artist Writing for AllMusic, music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine recognizes Rundgren thus: As a solo artist from 1972 to 1978, Rundgren scored four US Top 40 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including one Top 10 hit with "Hello, It's Me", and three US Top 40 albums on the Billboard 200. He is one of the first acts to be prominent both as an artist and as a producer. and he was also influential in the fields of power pop, lo-fi, overdubbing, and experimental music. Rundgren performed in an eclectic variety of styles, so much so that his singles often contrasted with other tracks from the LPs from which they derived, which curtailed his mass appeal. Of his early incorporation of digital technology, he said "I wasn't the first to start recording digitally, because it was so expensive. But once the technology came down to where I could afford it, then I went digital." Rundgren said that adapting his sound to meet commercial expectations was also never an issue for him since he already made "so much money from production", a rare luxury for an artist. As a producer Comparisons are sometimes drawn between Rundgren and producer/artists Brian Wilson and Brian Eno. Biographer Paul Myers attributes the recording studio to be Rundgren's "ultimate instrument". Rundgren acknowledged that, in the case of his own records, he does not think "as a producer", but uses the studio to "assist in creating a performance". His recording processes continued in the same tradition as multitrack recording innovator Les Paul as well as the studio experiments of the Beatles and the Beach Boys. According to biographer Myers, Rundgren himself came to inspire "a generation of self-contained geniuses like Prince ... Ironically, some of his innovations would come to liberate the recording artist in such a way as to lessen the perceived value, or need, for a record producer at all." Rundgren's influence is also cited to Hall & Oates, Björk and Daft Punk. Slate writer Marc Weingarten identified A Cappella as the