A Wizard, A True Star
by Todd Rundgren

From teague 01/31/2022 16:55 | #280364

This is what Styx was trying to be, but it's actually good.

run of the mill try too hard

From Boltzmann 10/05/2019 14:06 | #243417

An Abbey Road-esque collage of... sigh, okay let's not try to avoid the elephant in the room: the "haha I'm so crazy", "there's not such a thing as too much sound effects" intermezzos are not fun, just not. If you listen to that and on the other side of the record you see someone else than Gene from Bob's Burgers playing on his keyboard, I don't know what myriad of excuses keep screaming in your head "no, it's not that bad", "it's a product of its time" etc. It seems like it's all about showing off and the music being actually nice to listen to is put on second place.

When you arrive at "zen archer" you hear that he's still got it: the great songwriting skills, the cute atmosphere that keeps you in the right flow, but after the hundredth arrow that hits a wooden board you apologize to your ears. On a song like "helter skelter" such an over-the-top aggressive ending works, because the song was already aggressive; for Rundgren, whose best attribute is the laid-backness in his music, it just rubs you wrong. You just end it on a bad tone.

But I won't: near the ending of the album he calms down and keeps things more simple and tasteful.

From corenfro 04/28/2019 00:25 | #235593

How this thing is a 77 and some trendy new band like Beach House have multiple albums above 80 just blows me away. Todd was such an innovator and this thing has so many great grooves and riffs and feels on it. Yeah the whole monkey sex track and some of the weird sounding off-kilter instrumental-only tracks fall flat, but those are like 2 minutes a piece. There is so much great content on here that stands out that it's a shame such a gem is otherwise ignored on this site that has unearthed so many other hidden gems for me.

It's also the least-annoying-prog-rock-cliches prog-rock album I've heard.

Oh Todd....Brilliantly bonkers Todd...

Tier List for my preferences of the tracks on this album:

Top: 1, 3, 7, 9-11, 13, 14, 18
High: 4, 5, 8, 12, 17
Neutral: 2, 16
Low: 6, 15, 19

From discojets1 12/09/2016 04:05 | #179786

Todd Rundgren is a genius. I got into after Tame Impala listed his as one of the main influences for their album Lonerism. I listening to him I fell in love with his music. He has a very distinct style and its god damn good

Apparently heavily influenced by the use of LSD, admittedly a few years later than most bands, a wizard,a true star is a wonderfully messy and ambitious album. It definitely needs to be listened to in a couple of sittings to take It all in. It's a lot of fun and features a beautiful medley of soul tracks about two thirds of the way through. This album might go in one ear and out the other initially, but stick with it, it will grow on you

From NickVolos 10/06/2013 22:37 | #87753

Truly a wizard, a true star. Excellent album that will require a few listenings to appreciate.

"Put the record on. Internal voyage is not burnt out. Thank the stars for that. Now you got your system of brain travel, Todd got the plane. You're gonna zoom but beware. What he does is very tricky. Mildly sinister. But I give you the satisfaction that all pain on his ticket is well spent. It beings glowing enough. Like a sacred drug. "International Feel." Very Baudelaire. Very godhead. And when he moves to "I Know I Know" you know. For one ecstatic moment you've gone beyond the point of pain into the realm of pure intellect." (part of Patti Smith's Creem, April 1973 review)