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International Feel
Never Never Land
Tic Tic Tic It Wears Off
You Need Your Head
Rock and Roll Pussy
Dogfight Giggle
You Don't Have to Camp Around
Flamingo
Zen Archer
Just Another Onionhead; Da Da Dali
When the Shit Hits the Fan; Sunset Blvd.
Le Feel Internacionale
Sometimes I Don't Know What to Feel
Does Anybody Love You?
Medley: I'm So Proud/Ooh Baby Baby/La La Means I Love You/Cool Jerk
Hungry for Love
I Don't Want to Tie You Down
Is It My Name?
Just One Victory
While everyone else was swooning over Todd Rundgren's 1972 album Something/ Anything?, Rundgren himself dismissed it as “musically lazy” and “too formulaic”. And so, with the help of magic mushrooms and his newly built studio, Secret Sound, he dug deeper, striving to “map the chaotic musical element” in his head.
And he did it, with all the Technicolour vividness reflected on A Wizard, A True Star's sleeve. Song fragments, laughing orgies, dog fights, synth burbles, soul covers and mood shifts all flow together. Throw in odd changes and time signatures, an abrupt, fast-cut cinematic sensibility (its nearest relation is probably Van Dyke Parks’ Song Cycle), all delivered with a munchkin frenzy, and you've got pop virtuosity at its most un-solemn.
From International Feel to Never Never Land and Just One Victory, A Wizard, A True Star remains an achievement on a par with Sgt. Pepper’s and Innervisions.
Every week, Album of the Week Club listens to and discusses the album in question, votes on how good it is, and publishes our findings, with the aim of giving people reliable reviews and the wider rock community the chance to contribute.
Other albums released in November 1974
- The Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
- Paris 1919 - John Cale
- Twice Removed From Yesterday - Robin Trower
- The Captain and Me - The Doobie Brothers
- Closing Time - Tom Waits
- Byrds - The Byrds
- The New Age - Canned Heat
- For Your Pleasure - Roxy Music
- Larks' Tongues in Aspic - King Crimson
- Beck, Bogert & Appice - Beck, Bogert & Appice
- Houses of the Holy - Led Zeppelin
- Birds of Fire - Mahavishnu Orchestra
- Ooh La La - Faces
- Atem - Tangerine Dream
- Cosmic Wheels - Donovan
- Grand Hotel - Procol Harum
- In Deep - Argent
- Penguin - Fleetwood Mac
- Raunch 'N' Roll Live - Black Oak Arkansas
- Rock and Roll - Foghat
- Still Alive and Well - Johnny Winter
What they said...
"While the drugs can explain away its album cover, the music on A Wizard, a True Star itself is too beautiful, too intentional to merely play like one man’s acid diary. The flow of the album, however, does more or less follow that path. It turns nonsensical, nostalgic, hysterical, and horny at a pace that defies logic, let alone cohesion." (Pitchfork)
"I'm supposed to say he's a wizard but he's not a star yet, but just you wait, he's the Mozart of his generation, that last a direct quote from a fan who collared me at a concert once. Bushwa. A minor songwriter with major woman problems who's good with the board and has a sense of humour." (Robert Christgau)
"Often, it's a jarring, disturbing listen, especially since Rundgren's humour has turned bizarre and insular. It truly takes a concerted effort on the part of the listener to unravel the record, since Rundgren makes no concessions – not only does the soul medley jerk in unpredictable ways, but the anthemic closer, Just One Victory, is layered with so many overdubs that it's hard to hear its moving melody unless you pay attention." (AllMusic)
What you said...
James Last: I only got around to Todd Rundgren a few years ago, having heard about him decades prior. And I decided to dive into the deep end with this album first, and I'm glad I did because it blew my mind and made me feel a similar way to when I heard other, more well-known classic albums for the first time as a kid. So much so that I quickly got all of his 70s/80s albums in quick succession afterwards.
What sounds like a mess to many sounds like a man who will not be pigeonholed to me, the album is essentially a collage of perfect pop/rock and borderline Zappa/Beefheart snippets and ideas (sometimes in the same song!) that on paper should not work at all, but they absolutely do!
Whatever your opinion is on this record, there is nothing before or since that sounds quite like it. That said, I would not recommend this as a starting point for most people new to Todd (unless you're already into more experimental stuff). I'd point to Something/Anything, The Hermit of Mink Hollow or even Runt: The Ballad Of Todd Rundgren"). But as far as I'm concerned, absolute genius and one of my favourite albums of all time.
Evan Sanders: What an unusual album, although this one is less strange in retrospect, given the chameleon-like nature of Todd Rundgren's career. I am impressed at how Rundgren can go from the pop-rock of Hello It's Me to the more classic rock sound of Utopia, and then into something really strange. And let's not forget his chops as a producer, most visibly for Meat Loaf.
And with all that said, I was surprised when listening to A Wizard a couple of times this week to realise it's not as trippy as other psychedelic efforts that came out in the same year. Albums like The Dark Side Of The Moon or the Grateful Dead's Europe '72 fit much better into a list of Albums To Listen To While On Drugs.
The album is still impressive in its weirdness, especially the R&B numbers that show up near the end, and I wonder what the fans of his pop music thought when this first came out. Only 6/10 for me, recognising a well-produced album that is far less memorable than others in his catalogue.
Mark Herrington: Chock full of good ideas that all too often run out of steam, or wander off in an unrelated direction, or just simply stop before they get started. A focused guiding hand and more coherence would have improved this somewhat.
Gary Claydon: In which Todd pops down to his self-built studio, drops a load of shrooms, then records whatever the fuck comes into his head.
Result: A mess of half-baked ideas. Self-indulgent claptrap, just for the hell of it. Had this been released by an unknown or somebody from an unfamiliar musical scene, it would have been dismissed out of hand. The best two tracks are the last two.
John Davidson: I gave Todd Rundgren and Utopia a fair old shake after his name came to the fore as the producer and guitar wizard on Bat Out Of Hell, but apart from Black Maria (off Something/Anything) nothing really stuck, and he remained an enigma.
The kindest I can be is to describe this selection of songs and musical fragments as 'eclectic'. As background music its totally inoffensive, but when I actually tried to tune in a bit, it was less rewarding.
Is It My Name is the only song that really rocks. Just One Victory is the best of lushly produced 70s art pop ditties that make up most of the album, and Zen Archer is equally lush but sounds like it escaped from a Bertolt Brecht musical.
The rest of it just melded into one. It's not terrible, but there's nothing on it that would draw me back to listen to it again. It feels harsh, but I'm leaning towards 4/10.
Greg Schwepe: One of the great things about a college dorm was having different dorm mates with Peaches crates full of albums to borrow and explore. Peaches was a U.S. record chain whose iconic wooden peach crates held many a vinyl collection. I ended up borrowing and recording a lot of Todd Rundgren albums (this one included) as he was kind of a campus favourite. I ended up becoming a fan and then actually spending my own money on Todd albums (and concert tickets) after college, and that initial free Todd Intro in my dorm.
But of the many I borrowed, A Wizard/A True Star is not the Todd Rundgren album I listened to over and over (um, that would be Hermit Of Mink Hollow). We all know of Rundren’s expertise as a songwriter, witty lyricist, producer, guitar player, arranger… the list goes on! The guy is good at a lot of musical stuff!
This is an album of sprawling, all-over-the-place music. And for me, this is one where you wish Todd would’ve been more focused and acted like he was producing someone else; “Um, since you’re paying me for my advice, you may want to dial back the weird experimental stuff and make this a listenable album all the way through. But hey, it’s your money!” He probably could have named this album All Over The Place, because it certainly is. There are bits and pieces and songs on this album that really resonate with me. But not as many bits and pieces as I would like.
For every song that features cool harmonies, solo piano, Todd’s falsetto, and lush instrumentation, there’s a lot of odd stuff that I tend to skip by. Every artist with any longevity seems to have at least one of these kitchen sink albums, where they throw a ton of variation on one album. And not all Experimental Todd is off limits for me, as I totally dug A Cappella.
Just One Victory is easily one of my top three Rundgren songs. It builds and builds like an emotional wave. A massive sing-along. Zen Archer, Le Fee Internacionale and Sometimes I Don’t Know What To Feel are other favourites. The medley of soul/R&B covers starts strong for me, but at a full ten minutes, it tends to go on a bit too long.
6 out of 10 on this one for me. Lots of good stuff I like, but some excess that could be trimmed. Kind of reminds me of a Rundgren show I attended several years ago. The setlist was mainly from his current new album, deeper cuts, and reworked versions of his hits, but very few of those hits. While I actually enjoyed that show, I walked past two concert goers as the lights went up, and one guy looked at his buddy and went “What the **** was that?!?!” And that could very well describe A Wizard/A True Star.
Mike Canoe: Todd Rundgren is a musical genius. I know this because pretty much every music critic ever has told me so. Fortunately, A Wizard, a True Star was an unexpectedly easy listen - especially for being almost an hour long and smooshed onto two sides of vinyl.
While this album was compared to the work of Frank Zappa, I found it blessedly free of vibraphones and scatological humour. Yet the comparison is an apt one, with short snippets of musical outbursts making up a crazy quilt of sonic sensation. There is also an adoration of doo-wop and soul, so everything sounds beautiful with multi-tracked harmonies and lush string and/or synthesiser arrangements.
Rundgren has stated that the album was meant to be listened to in its entirety, and it works surprisingly well that way, even to a brain trained to cherry-pick albums for mixtapes and playlists. Still, several songs actually stand out, including Zen Archer, When the Shit Hits the Fan, Is It My Name? and the proto-diss track, Rock and Roll Pussy.
Individual results may vary regarding musical genius, but I prefer A Wizard, A True Star to the schmaltzy pop hits that keep him rolling in royalty check money.
Adam Ranger: Sorry, but this should be called A Wizard's True Mess! Too many ideas crammed together, and hardly anything I can listen to with any enjoyment. Is It My Name? is perhaps the only track I can enjoy.
Yes, Rundgren is a genius in many ways, and there are snippets of that here and there on this album. But nothing coherent to my ears. Just because you can record when on LSD doesn't mean you should. Not my thing, I guess, and not a big score from me this week.
Philip Qvist: I tried, honestly, I did. I wanted to be fair and listen to A Wizard, A True Star from start to finish, but I simply gave up after about 20 minutes. And no, I have no intention of ever listening to this album again.
Todd Rundgren's LSD moment was obviously not meant for my ears. I know others will like it and will give it a decent score, but right now, I will either refrain from voting this week or I will be giving A Wizard my lowest ever score on this site.
Chris Elliott: I remember a lot of press about him after Meat Loaf's album during my teenage years. This put me off exploring any further - and that didn't improve much a few years later, even with mushroom tea (and that made Gong sound great). It still isn't working for me.
Nigel Mawdsley: Absolutely 'bonkers' music, but strangely alluring (in places).
Richard Common: Fantastic album. Never gets the praise it deserves.
Final score: 6.50 (35 votes cast, total score 221)
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