A Wizard, A True Star

I have nothing against Todd Rundgren, he’s obviously talented and creative. Listening to this album made me consider whether the other major fields of artistic expression tolerate experimentation as much as music. This album is well regarded among musicians, but it’s kind of crap to listen to, at least in the sense of consuming music for an emotional experience (relaxation, nostalgia, elation, romance). I remember years ago hearing Trent Reznor once say that he only wanted to release music that people would want to listen to. Who knows if that’s true, but that’s maybe the problem with this.

This skirts the grey area between interesting originality and unlistenable shite. Sadly it comes down on the wrong side for me. Like Andrew Lloyd Webber having a bad trip at a Queen concert.

One track was enough, the rest of the album didn’t make it any better

I usually love hearing a band make a departure from their usual sound, and according to the write-up this was markedly different due to the experimentation Todd was doing with psychadelics. Well toss a straitjacket on the guy because this fucking sucked. It was annoying until You Need Your Head and then it became borderline unlistenable. No cohesion, a jumbled mess of sounds, but I suppose I "just dont get it, man." No, dont hide garbage sound behind a guise of experimentation.

I hated this album. Every choice Todd made was grating, irritating and uninteresting. One of the most obnoxious albums we’ve had on this list. I’m utterly baffled by all the high ratings and praise this album has gotten on here. Please remove this one in a future revision and let’s forget it ever happened

That sure was a whole lot of random noise.

Nope, couldn't make it all the way through. This album is absolutely batshit-mental. It's a long way from the other Todd Rundgren album I'd already listened to on this site. Turns out he was off his tits when he made this album, which goes some way to explaining the resulting output. It's only 1 star from me for the music, but my hats off to him for, essentially, getting paid to take drugs :-)

Awful. A lot of mercifully short songs, a medley which made no sense.

Nothing to see hear. Keep on moving

I just didn't get it. Too cosmic, too far out.

I've done enough acid to get how this was structured after an acid trip(or whatever psychedelic he was doing). Just not anymore kind of music I would ever want to listen to while tripping. Psychedelic circus music.

1/5

Ugly noise rock.

Awful Album.

Way too weird!!! Although the B-side has a few o.k. moments he already lost me with the first tracks.

I did NOT need to listen to this album before I die. 1/5

My initial reaction was to dismiss this album out of hand, as I’ve never found a hook in Todd Rungren. I kicked myself for being narrow minded and listened to the album. Still haven’t found the hook, this didn’t catch me.

Crap

Clearly, Todd Rundgren is a talented guitarist, but this album is an example of why some musicians should not experiment with psychedelic drugs - "Dogfight Giggle" for example. The only track on the album that I was familar with was the opening track, "International Feel", and in places that is on a par with a trip to the dentist - it jars on the nerves.

I could not listen to this.

1

Weird

All over the place and if I’m honest, fkn terrible

This is like an outut from Suno when it first launched. Sounds like bad AI - all over the shop. Second track in and you are wailing? No thanks.

Sorry Todd

This sounds eerily similar to the Beach Boys' Surf's Up which was not good. You Need Your Head is awful. I wonder how much crappy experimental music can be directly blamed on Frank Zappa. Music critics cream their jeans for any genre that is prefaced with "experimental" or "art". Dogs play fighting with some sci-fi noises and fake laughing...this is not music, it is an idiot playing with audio equipment. Flamingo is actual music and might be worse than Dogfight Giggle. This album could only have become a thing in the era of FM radio playing full albums. Zen Archer is only five and a half minutes long but feels like double that. No one could have ever really liked this album. It's like he challenged himself to see if he could make each song awful in a unique way. SUCCESS! Revisiting the first song on the album on the last track of the side...dumb. The cover medley is probably the best song on the album and still manages to include some truly terrible moments. Just One Victory was a bright spot to close the album out.

Now, kids, this is what happens when you spend youre entire record budget on acid.

J - 1/5 Best Track - "Sometimes I Don't Know What To Feel" F - 1/5

Not the kind of music for me. Very '70's prog but not in a fun way, just in a Frank Zappa or Mr Bungle kinda way. I had a hard time getting through this one.

Well, that was something. I have no idea what it was, but it was definitely something. Self described as "hallucinogenic inspired", about as interesting as someone describing their "weird" dream to you. Hard to get invested in whatever he is trying to do here.

1. feel - 1 2. never - 1.5 3. tic - 1 4. head - 0 5. puzzy - 0 6. giggle - 0 7. camp - 0 8. flamingo - 1.5 9. zen - 1.5 10. onion - 1.5 11. zhit - 1.5 12. feel - 1 13. zometimez - 1.5 14. love - 1 15. medley - 3 16. hungry - 0 17. douun - 0 18. name - 1 19. victory - 1

Todd has done better

Not as good as his other work. A lot more noise and less music.

nothing special

Eigenartig…

Worst album so far 😬

I will admit to leaving this on while I went round the house doing jobs. This is because it’s fairly tedious.

Reeks terribly arty farty

Made myself get through this. Wow. I've learned I'm really not into psychedelic rock.

idk. might need to come back to it, but not feeling it too much.

An over blown theatre student project. Not my thing. At all.

01) International Feel - 6,0 02) Never Never Land - 5,5 03) Tic Tic Tic It Wears Off - 5,0 04) You Need Your Head - 4,0 05) Rock and Roll Pussy - 3,0 06) Dogfight Giggle - 1,0 07) You Don't Have to Camp Around - 5,5 08) Flamingo - 5,0 09) Zen Archer - 5,5 10) Just Another Onionhead/Da Da Dali - 4,0 11) When the Shit Hits the Fan/Sunset Blvd. - 5,0 12) Le Feel Internacionale - 5,0 13) Sometimes I Don't Know What to Feel - 6,5 14) Does Anybody Love You? - 6,0 15) Medley (I'm So Proud/Ooh Baby Baby/La La Means I Love You/Cool Jerk - 6,0 16) Hungry for Love - 5,0 17) I Don't Want to Tie You Down - 5,5 18) Is It My Name? - 5,0 19) Just One Victory - 6,0 TOTAL: 4,97 (50/100) Current ranking: 408/434 So, the album was a commercial failure, he canceled the promotional tour after two weeks (probably due to the huge interest) and he himself says that he lost half of his fans with this album. But the album is still on this list as very influential... I guess it influenced the people who listened to it to pursue a different kind of music...

2.5/10

Not my cup of tea

Shite

It's just noise. A couple of the songs start out promising, but then halfway through they just devolve into noise again. A couple songs towards the end are somewhat better, but not enough to redeem this album. Best song: Just Another Onionhead

If this were made today, in 2024, you might say that it was AI generated. Its so random and disjointed and the cover looks like it was made by someone/something that doesnt understand the human form. Thats not a deal breaker, necessarily, but this album also happens to be boring and not good. 1/5

Weird. Not for me. Almost unlistenable.

Let’s be honest, it was pretty much unlistenable the whole way through.

Dogfight Giggle eh? But surely nobody else is laughing. Some of this was kind of just about ok (Sometimes I don’t Know… ), but 95% or so made my ears bleed, or at least made me want them to bleed so I can get a doctors note off the rest of it. One plus was that albums like this make me feel as if I could perhaps do it better, with my absolutely no musical talent. Maybe I could make the list?

Bloody hell, that was absolute torture in double album format (the worst kind of torture). The first half of the album was just pissing around with stock spacey noises but unfortunately he’d forgotten to write any actual songs/melodies etc to accompany that. Then realising his mistake, he backtracks and pulls out some really basic piano based songs and adds some more spacey noises on top while whooping occasionally. That part was also really shit. I think it got heavier at the end but every song was, did I mention tortuous, so I lost the will to live. I’m not even sure what that was supposed to be if I’m honest. I generally like an experimental album but there was nothing original in here, it seemed proggy but it had none of the nuance or style one can sometimes associate. So it just felt like a half rate song writer given far too much studio time to try some proggy/psych things he’s heard other people do better and just end up murdering the whole thing in the process. 170 albums in and that’s on a par with the Ubu as the worst album so far.

This is a poor advertisement for psychedelic drugs, gone from Yacht Rock master to unlistenable twaddle.

Wtf is this?

Nah man

No. To all over the place.

Started off promising and fell off hard

Not for me. 1/5

What did I just?

I didn’t like this one bit.

This album sounds like you're listening to a classic rock/synth rock album via vinyl that is actively melting in the blazing hot sun. I didn't really enjoy much of anything, I do appreciate the experimenting and odd sound palette here.

What the fuck did I just listen to?

I quite liked the vocals on "international feel". Some of the music was a bit all over mind you. Honestly, it stopped right there. what the fuck was the next 4-5 songs. Mindless shit from a bloke off his face. Absolutely unbelievable drivel. Finally, zen archer. An attempt at a song rather than jamming off your face. Wasnt too bad. Just got further in and thought this isnt too bad. Then realised its international feel again. The first track i semi liked on the album. Sometimes i dont know what to feel. Thank god, another attempt at a proper song. Not bad. Just hit the long arse 10 minute medley. Quite surprised. Wasnt expecting it. Quite good actually. Some good vocals and melody. This album is a real mind bender. Some decent tracks ruined by several other experimental.

This is weird and not good. The "theremin?" in some of the songs sounds like the opera singing in FF6.

Like a velvet painting of dogs playing poker, this does not age well. At all.

Pretentious shit.

Alternative noise, horrible experience, stopped after the 4th song, which luckily was quite quick, as his songs are only 1 minute.

just too weird

it was bad.

So 70's core. Is it a screen play? Soundtrack to a musical? A frightening look at what the future holds? Sign me up for the interplanetary deals if it means getting away from this album.

This one wasn't that interesting. I'd rather bang on the drum all day.

That was annoying. Where was the wizard? Can we get one to help make this disappear? But there was no wizard, I fear. Just like there was no true star. Unsurprisingly, this album killed Todd Rundgren’s career. Surprisingly, this career-killing album made the 1001. ⭐️ But we need a wizard. Not just any wizard, I think. How about a Lizard Wizard? Accompanied by a King Gizzard? I’ve actually been meaning to check out some of the prolific output of Australian band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard for some time, daunted by the sheer volume of it. But none of it can be any worse than false wizard Todd Rundgren. It turns out I don’t think KGLW is a five-star replacement. But I would still argue for a place on the list, if just for completely unrivaled prolific productivity, consistently pushing the envelope of genre boundaries. They are prog and hard rock, but at a pace of two albums a year for more than a decade it's no surprise that their sound is a bit all over the place, dabbling into funk, heavy metal, and psychedelic rock. Some of the bands of the 1960s and 70s were putting out an album a year for a while, but that breakneck pace has since become incredibly rare, with 2-3 years between albums becoming the norm. Maybe it’s better that way for the artists. But somehow KGLW makes it work. Still, it would be fascinating to see if they could make a five-star album if they spent the time to refine their plethora of ideas down to one honed and concise statement of their sound. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I gave it a try. Didn't click in for me. Felt too self-indulgent psychedelic-sounding. I was bored, honestly.

Zero stars

Wow. Clunker. So odd. Not a fan

Nope

Not for me 1/5

Not gonna lie the first few seconds of International Feel just sounded like one, long fart and set the tone for the rest of the album for me. This is extremely psychedelic, to a fault and I really struggled to get through it, even when it transitioned to more rock/Rush style music towards the end. Very much did not enjoy this.

Complete bollocks

La plupart des titres m'ont plus angoissée qu'autre chose malheureusement

Definitely bottom 5 so far. Just a terrible experience sonically.

Clairement pas pour moi.

As if Ross Gellar from friends made an album with his key-tar.

Probably would have enjoyed it more if I was tripping on shrooms

Not for me :(

I

I"ll give it another try when i'm high

I hated this.

I turned it off halfway through a song called Rock and Roll Pussy.

Fully powered up, intergalactic tripfest 1970s style. Liek the cover art, its a bit 'busy'...

The struggle is real. Most of the album, i was simply flip flopping between whether this was detestable or simply unlistenable. Though the start isn't too bad, it quickly devolves into psychedelic experimental mumbo jumbo with rough and uneven vocalizations. Though there's a glimmer of hope on the second side that we're stabilizing, there's enough that slides back into eclectic experimentation that it feels like PTSD from the first side. This grates on me more quickly than it normally would.

Te trippy

This is not a real album. This is a demo tape that you get from the 30-year-old guy who sells LSD to college kids in the dorms at a small Midwestern public university.

It starts with fart sounds then it gets worse.

Yeah. I couldn’t finish this. I didn’t like it at all.

Sounds like baby’s first synth

What a 'Jackie Brambles'

A random, rambling procession of noises. No thanks.

Pass. Boring rock.

ew hate it

Oh… no… this is not for me…

There are definitely benefits to LSD, but this album isn't one of them.

I just didn't really enjoy this at all. One or two moments, but it felt like the audio equivalent of a car boot sale, just not a good one.

Todd moet eens ophouden met blowen!

An album recorded partly on talent, partly on very bad drugs. It sounds like it was more fun to make than it was to listen to. I'm afraid I bailed after seven songs. It made no sense to me. The early 70's were batshit crazy.

It's absolute rubbish

Not a wizard, not a star...not good

drug music. which seems to be designed for a bad trip. would not recommend to listen to this on drugs. or sober. - did not finish -

Nonsense.

God knows. What they made of it in the 70’s I have even less idea.

just weirrrrd man

I really wanted to like this because the album title is excellent but unfortunately the songs contained on the album are the absolute antithesis of that.

Bonkers. One song was just dogs growling followed by laughter. Did not enjoy

Truly awful.

Странное и непонятное

Not feelin this. Sorry Todd.

I made it halfway then skimmed the rest. Found it irritating. Needed editing. Too many different ideas in there so it all sounded like a mess. Not for me.

Just bad. cluttered, no flow in the way the album is presented and half the songs sound like bad intros to a song we will never hear.

Horrific

Like a bad pastiche of Elton John

horrible

#1

Too much even for me.

I tried to have an open mind but this is just getting worse and worse every note I hear.

wtf con dogfight gligle...

I hated almost every second of this album. Its psychedelic rock at the worst and threw my anxiety into overdrive. The only time I didn’t want to gouge my ears out was during the medley of covers.

Good christ. This is the worst list of albums ever

Ew

esta wea si q es buena ctm