A Wizard, A True Star

There were parts of this album that I really disliked listening to and found it very creepy or irritating. But the rest of it was either fun or quite delightful. The transitions between songs were sick too. It’s a mixed bag, and most of it landed on the better side of weird.

Ok

I liked his previous album much more, didn't like the musical experiments, thought it was too uneven.

this psychodelia destroyed western civilization..

I have to say, the beautiful gaudy cover perfectly captures this album's commitment to weird musical fuckery. And what an album it is! Some parts are a little too try-hard and I didn't gel with them, but overall I warmed up to this pretty fast. It's a cool experimental experience for sure, even if not all of the tracks are winners. Definitely quite out-there for 1973 and I wasn't expecting those zany electronic elements either! However, I don't think it meshes together too well. While each individual song has its quirky charms, there isn't really a method to the madness.

2.5

Just because an album is written and recorded while a musician is on drugs does not mean that album is more worthy of being heard nor does it make the album important. I feel like this book contains a lot of "This isn't what the artist normally sounds like, but he was on drugs," explanations. That's how A Wizard, A True Star is explained. Todd Rundgren is an excellent musician and producer, so I find it a bit weird this album supposedly inspired a generation of bedroom musicians. There's not a lot of DIY music reflected on A Wizard, A True Star and each song is well produced. At times, it does sound chaotic but that's for an effect and is not the reality. International Feel starts the album off with a different sound from Rundgren's prior album and then there are 6 straight songs that don't crack the 2-minute mark. I took this to mean there are more ideas than execution of those ideas. This gets credit for being interesting but being drug-fueled doesn't mean it's inspiration-fueled. My favorite tracks: International Feel You Don't Have to Camp Around Zen Archer When the Shit Hits the Fan/Sunset Blvd. Sometimes I Don't Know What to Feel Just One Victory

This is definitely a weird one that I kinda like. A lot of really quick little nothing tracks that kinda drag it down for me, but when it settles down into a song and allows it to breathe, it's fun. It's definitely reminding me of another band, but I can't for the life of me place it. Still though, think it's gonna get the "Good, but I don't think I really want to listen to it again after this" 3.

Chaotic! Some good parts but others were a bit weird. Video game music?

Really cool album, will be revisiting this.

I’m sure in its time it was groundbreaking, and I like Todd Rundgren a good deal, but this did not hold up well imho - sprawling, messy, incoherent in parts. Some flashes of brilliance too often surrounded by overly precious dreck.

Sort of disappointed, as there were only three /real/ bangers. Still, I can't dislike Rundgren.

Kinda hated this

fun

The sound of a man terrified at being compared to a woman.

Rating: 4.7/5 Short Review: What the hell did Todd Rundgren put in this album? Psychedelic rock, soul, pop, electronic experiments, and complete madness, sometimes within the same song. It’s chaotic, unpredictable, and ridiculously inventive. Not everything lands, but the sheer imagination is incredible. Forty minutes of a man refusing to have a normal thought. Favorite Track: International Feel. What an opening. Absolutely electrifying.

Listening to this album made me angry.

Ei tainnut kaikki biisit olla alkuperäisiä. Mutta mukavan kokeellisia ja menoa riitti välillä.

1/1

Very fun and silly, I enjoyed it. The very camp end of this kind of 70s psych rock, go off king about your onions, why not? Very funny and enjoyable!

Mad classic! I love this album, fucking weird as hell, makes no sense, most garish album cover of all time

Kinda noisy

I only know Todd Rundgren by name (and the weird story about Liv Tyler,) and didn't think I had ever listened to any of his music other than "Hello It's Me" (which was on a 70s compilation I was given for Christmas one year,) but reading his Wikipedia page I see he also did that annoying "Bang the Drum All Day" song. I'm encouraged by the description on Apple Music saying that this album would come to influence bands like the Flaming Lips and MGMT, but that could mean a lot of different things (not all of them good,) so let's see... Some of this is pretty good but a lot of it just sounds like demos of ideas and not actual songs.

Oh fuck off already

Todd Rundgren is one of those artists whose name I've heard but don't think I've ever heard a single note of their music. I was surprised just how weird it was, felt a bit like turning the dial on a radio and picking up stations playing a variety of genres. The review distribution suggests a lot of people give this a 3, which surprise me as I would have thought it's a divisive which most people either love or hate. I was closer to the latter point of view and really wanted to stop listening at various points. One song did have a feel of the eclecticism of Super Furry Animals though -who I love- so for that reason and the fact some of the lyrics were funny, I'm awarding a 2.

Ok, look.. I'm fine if you want to do psychedelic drugs. I get it, I really do. But sometimes what seems like a great idea when you're tripping is just nonsense. This album is a good example of that. A street sweeper went by outside while this was playing and drowned out my stereo, and honestly it sounded better. Another album I would have been totally fine with never having listened to, but at this point I'm in this for the long haul. And the smugness.

Very strange and just a mish-mash of sounds at times. Odd as I quite enjoyed the last album of his that I heard. This felt more experimental though.

This is weird, I fux with it. It will require further listening but it might be brilliant.

With the exception of a few Beatles songs, I'm not a big fan of music that sounds like it's meant for the circus.

Well, it's out there... 70s psychedelic rock and all its finery is on show here. You have to applaud the sheer levels of imagination that Todd engaged to put this together. I liked it, but not all of it was to my taste. Fun, though.

Extra crappy art rock

Difficult to rate.

Een magere 3. Een 2 zou weer te weinig zijn

I got the other Todd Rundgren album last week - liked that one much more. This one tries to do more without the sonic benefit. 3 stars

Quite the experience. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either. I wasn't really sure what to make of it.

That was a fun bit of nonsense!

Interesting, experimental, irritating. Sounds ahead of its time. Mostly experimental and exploratory, and not all of those experiments or explorations lead somewhere, but I appreciate their boldness. I also appreciate the whistlestop tour of a huge breadth of styles, and almost all of them done very well. The only track I think I have maybe heard before is Zen Archer, but the album should clearly be listened to complete, it's a real journey, although as I said, it's quite annoying at times.

What in the hell possibly could've happened between Something / Anything? and this album for it to come out the way it did? In a one-year gap, he went from making fairly run-of-the-mill but still incredibly fun pop rock to an early Space Rock record with an average track length of a minute and a half. I feel like I definitely know the answer to the opening question, and the answer's probably copious amounts of LSD, but I just was not expecting this kind of an album to come out of a pop artist. That's what makes it an amazing album, though. I love bands and artists spontaneously deciding that their careers are just a little bit too stable and fixing that issue by releasing the weirdest thing they can make come out of their head. I mean, if I had millions of dollars in disposable income and hundreds of thousands of fans that would at least think "new album from this artist I like, neat." I'd also probably put out some crazy stuff. Look at The Flaming Lips, it worked out well for them.

It should’ve been called “man in need of a producer.”

Und was daran ist hörenswert?? Ansammlung von Geräuschen!

Drugs the album. Very hard and very heavy drugs, and I want whatever Todd is having. Ok, so Todd Rundgren is a name I’m positive I’ve heard of before, I just don’t know how, or for the life of me where I’d have heard it. I didn’t recognize a single song on the album, and it’s got a very low rating. I’m going to be an outlier and give it a 5. This had good Rock, Electronica, Prog, and more all in what may have amounted to the best hard trip Todd Rundgren ever produced in his life. As of writing this, he’s still alive and kicking at 78 somehow. By God, he still performs today even. So yeah, if the constant references in this review to drugs weren’t a tip off, they were cited as a big source of inspiration for why this album even exists in the first place. It also sold horribly and apparently “Cut his audience in half”. It’s one of those albums that wasn’t even popular at the time with the intended audience, but becomes something of a cult classic as each year passes. And I gotta tell you this, I never expected to be giving it a 5, but that’s exactly what I’m doing to do. This is the first of 2 Todd Rundgren albums I’ll get to listen to for this project. The other album, which came out a year prior, apparently is monumentally different from this one, so I can’t wait to roll it, but likely won’t enjoy the more Pop sounding beats half as much as I do this unorganized, drug fueled mondo extravaganza. Speaking of, I just keep adding songs from this album to my personal account. It’s just so catchy and good. But what really makes it stand out to me the most is that the songs when played out of order just sound completely crazy. They work so well in order, that listening to them out of order is still a fun experience, but it makes me want to listen to the entire album again to hear it as Godd Rundgren intended it, and yes that typo was intentional. I’m a fan now. It’s weird, it’s Proggy, it’s perfectly long, and it’s just really something I could find myself listening to from top to bottom over and over again. Didn’t see this album coming today, but man am I glad to hear it. That’s 2 5 star albums in a row, after hitting a massive dry spell of bangers for the past couple of weeks. Ultimately, if you put a gun to my head and made me chose, my gut instinct for favorite song on the album is going to have to be “Zen Archer”. I’d name the other 5 I added, but chances are good I’m not done adding songs, so I’ll save the unneeded review space. Damn, this album just further proves to me that anything even remotely resembling Prog may just be my favorite genre. I’ve still got a ton of Prog albums to get through that I know will be 5’s, and I wasn’t expecting this one to come out of the woodwork swinging, but here we are. Yeah, I’m going to give this one a 5. The weird matches my personal favorite kind of weird, and I dig it a lot.

Almost halfway through and I'm blown away. What is this jurney I embarked upon. So creative, interactive, crazy. Truly beautiful. The music is so intense sometimes I don't know what to feel- just as the name of the very intense opening song of side two. All of a sudden there's a medley of rhymes and blues 60's songs. I really don't know where it came from but the renditions are fantastic. It's one of the most surprising albums I've heard in a while. It would take at list a few more listens to process. But for now, I will calmly give this one a 5.

J'ai trouvé ça très sympa et original (sauf la chanson qui finit en cris de cochons d'Inde, Dogfight Giggle)

Really weird and interesting 70s psych rock. There's a bit of a prog rock feel with the way the songs progress and blend into each other. I really enjoyed the musical journey that the track list took me on, at least the International Feel -> La Feel Internacionale section. It's full of whimsy and had the right mix of silliness and serious moments that meant I immediately wanted to listen to it again once I was done. I'm not sure how the songs will hold up outside of the album but this has definitely been one of the highlights of the list so far.

New to me, liked it.

he went too far with it

Experimental agreed. Something I would listen to? Disagree. I must not be on drugs

Real curve ball - The kind of album I'll need to come back to a few times

Interesting, not really something I’d buy, but not bad either. 3 out of 5!

Referencing the Hat man on a drug field psychadelic rock album from the 70s is crazy. I felt like I was on a 4D carousel and it went crazy.

I only knew one of his songs (I saw the light) before this album, but dang this was an interesting listening experience! Cool stuff

Is this art rock? It’s ok in parts

Been on my wish list for a while now, mainly because of Zen Archer. I like the scope and oddness of the early tracks. Its a great album. The medley feels unnecessary considering its already a long side 2. 4 Heard before? Some Owned: No, 108/427 (25%) Will I get: Yes

Enjoyably experimental!

"Zen Archer" was a fun surprise to suddenly stumble upon in the journey through this album. Words can't really explain why I both like and dislike this album. First album I'm going to rate high but I can't explain why I am. 8/10

What a ride! If you can make it past the first track, you're in for a treat. Felt like 5 albums by the time I finished. Another album that was ahead of its time and that has to be factored into the rating.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard an album like this. I also have not listened to an album a second time because of how confused I was. I listened to this album twice because I felt like I couldn’t really wrap my head around it the first time. In my first listen, someone nearby asked me if I was listening to “‘It’s A Small World’ on acid” (it was “Never Never Land” ironically). And I actually was quite moved by “Sometimes I Don’t Know How to Feel” and instantly added it to my library. On the second listen, I still was torn between plugging my ears / skipping tracks and laughter in the first half(ish) of the album. Then hear the familiar “Ooh Baby Baby” and was again moved by “I Don’t Want to Tie You Down.” Those details aside, this album mostly didn’t resonate with me, but I could feel the joy, thoughtfulness, and creativity that seemed to have driven this album lyrically and musically. It got me thinking, challenged my ears and brain, and I loved the album cover art. For those reasons, I rated it pretty highly even though I didn’t love it.

6.9/10. The only way I could describe this album is a "psychadelic rock opera". It's so full and busy, and sometimes doesn't make much sense at times, but as a whole creates a nice round product that is pleasing to listen to. I don't think I could listen to any song individually, but I might relisten to the album as a whole a long time from now, to reexperience it's journey.

Yeah…. This guy might be a genius. The first half of this album is a psychedelic journey where each small idea flows into the next so seamlessly. The second half features some great soul with great variety of instrumentation. I loved Something/Anything but this is something else entirely. The moment he goes “tic tic tic” I sat up in my chair and was locked in until the end. Fantastic record.

Suuuuuuper creative. Can't really put this one in a box. It's got Prog Rock, Psychedelia, R&B, Glam, a little bit of everything. He doesn't really stick the landing on every song - sometimes he loses focus and the songs get hard to follow. But it's a very enjoyable listen nonetheless Highlights: Zen Archer, Does Anybody Love You

Lo he tenido un poco de fondo y no estaba mal pero tampoco me ha dicho gran cosa. Está bien.

There were moments that almost sounded R&B but then quickly back to psychedelia and I would lose interest again.

Kinda interesting and not what I was expecting from banging on a drum all day.

Not all of us did LSD in the 60's ok?

Good record lots of interesting songs

Well, that was a ride. Certainly makes sense that this album was developed after some serious psychedelic use. At various times throughout, I felt like I was having a stroke, listening to three albums, very interested, calm, or perhaps dying or already dead. For now, ⭐⭐⭐, but I think I'll have to make another pass through this album to make a little more sense if what I heard

Prog rock experimental

Vraiment cool j’adore

A very eclectic and interesting album. I'd like to relisten to this some day to try to get a deeper understanding, but tbh, I'll probably forget about it, in a while. Mid 4.

WOW, this was an Adventure. Loved the ride and it wasnt in any second boring or predictable... (4.0/5.0) meddle was such a smooth joyful ride. Acid rock with a touch of soul... phew

It's 3.5

Not bad, but was weird. 3/5

A whimsical, psychedelic, groovy organized mess lol, cool vibe but kinda all over the place but together..

Very interesting! And odd. Definitely interesting. I feel like I need to give it another go.

This took me like 3 times to get through and I still barely remember it.

I went in expecting weird and that’s exactly what this is. I’d say it’s a 50/50 split between good-weird and bad-weird which is a higher ratio than I thought it’d be.

Porque no trató de hacer una música facilona.

I was so ready to write one of those gushing ‘this is what I came to this project for!’-type reviews. The first half was absolutely not what I was expecting, having mentally put Todd in the category of dull 70s singer/songwriters, without having ever knowingly heard his music. Instead, that first half is an absolute blast, and I’ll be back for more, no question. You’ll imagine my disappointment at the second half, then, with its combo of exactly what I had expected plus a pretty pointless covers medley. Rating only on the basis of everything up to ‘La Feel Internacionale’, the batshit cover art, and the balls to treat this as a coherent whole.

Gave up half way through. What a load of rubbish! How is this the same guy who did "Hello it's me" "I saw the Light" "Can we still be Friends"

Wild, creative, bizarre. This guy appears to have a ton of albums so I expect I can find something I like. This is a good start - it was a challenging yet engaging listen. A man full of ideas and full of drugs.

It’s an overdone cliche to joke about the drugs being done by psychedelic musicians because their music sounds a little weird, but man, he must have REALLY been on some good drugs for this one.

So much nonsense at the beginning that by the time he started playing more conventionally, I had totally tuned him out. 70s art rock may have been fun in its time, but I can mostly do without it.

Understandable that the critics and the public disagreed on this album. Rundgren is not interested in hits (releasing no singles); he seems interested in creating something much more complex as a whole. 3.5, but worth more examination.

Cohesive, eclectic, eccentric. Cool production, and flows beautifully between songs. Really enjoyed this one, Rundgren clearly has talent, and has to be a little kooky to make this. Rating: 8/10 Favorite Song: International Feel, Zen Archer

This is an album; like the quintessential experience of an album: you have to listen to this whole thing all at once and it’s all better because it’s all together. If I wasn’t herding a screaming child this could be a 5, I really think on review it will be, but giving it the highest of fours today.

The "Todd gets into psychedelic drugs" album. It's really up to you to decide if this was a departure from or an improvement upon "Something/Anything?" released just a year prior. This couldn't be more different, honestly. More of an amalgamation of sounds, drawing from all sorts of styles (some more irritating than others). Things mellow out and sort of "standardize" in the big medley and anything thereafter, but I couldn't find too many personal highlights here.

A bit bonkers but some really good music in here. Will listen again at some point.

It is okay to listen to and there is a good variation of different styles. Clearly at parts someone who has experimented with drugs and played around with genres and instruments. I might just ignore the dog barking bit, but on the whole it was not terrible, but not good enough to make me want to discover more. There were a few songs that were only 1 minute that could definitely have been longer, and then one song he decided to combine multiple songs into 1 10 minute song. i think this could have been an album that was half the playtime and 4 stars, but there was too much filler. it was almost like he didn't want to get rid of any of his experiments. You don't have to camp around and Zen Archer were the standout songs. 3 stars

This is not my first go around with A Wizard, a True Star, but this is my first go around with all the knowledge and experience I feel I'd need to truly understand such an inventive and experimental project. There really isn't any sort of beginning or end to the songs here because everything bleeds together in one warped reality much like the chaotic and messy album cover. This is easily one of the more trippy and psychedelic albums I have heard from the 70s and in true psychedelic form, not everything felt as great as it should have. This album throws a lot at any listener, regardless of experience, and it can definitely feel a bit overwhelming. There are so many great ideas here, and so many ideas that don't land in the intended form, that really make this an interesting album to hear even if you are not into what Todd had envisioned. I have tried repeatedly to see the vision with A Wizard, a True Star but I have never felt worthy of understanding such a dense project, even still today. At least I can say I gave this a fair shot, but alas it still seems to not fit into my groove of music.

Sometimes, you have to wonder if the people making records really are just talented or are just super high on drugs. Most of the times, it’s both, and it is definitely the case with Todd one this record. Super experiemental, super avant-garde, and it would probably be super off-putting to the billboard 100 normies. A lot of the songs do not really feel like songs but rather just a collection of sounds, and because of this, the best moments on the album can feel like a kaleidoscopic musical explosion of color. These bursts of pure artistic expression might honestly be on-level with the likes of bands like Pink Floyd. All of that being said, this album is super under looked because it is a testament to disregarding norms and genres and rules within music and just creating art, no matter what anyone tells you. You’re a wizard Todd.

Strange, sounded like there was 4 albums here and he couldn’t settle on what certainly would have been the good one

I wanted to love this album. Sometimes I did. Sometimes I hated it.

É um álbum pop ok. Eu esperava mais psicodelia. QoA Cloudscape.

International Feel

First listen was definitely not enough. Odd and very interesting, enjoyed it. Will be back.

Straight to the veins, this is what doing this list is all about. Strange, all over the place, genius, somehow modern sounding at times, this album is so interesting. The first two lift us off on a psychedelic journey, Never Never Land is a weird little ballad, almost sounding like some distorted Stevie Wonder at times. But Tic Tic Tic It Wears Off is where this album had my full attention. Such a good bop. There's all these bite sized prog jams that are really fun to listen to. Still, it's very weird, with nonsense like Dogfight Giggle that do nothing for me. Flamingo sounds like it's straight from the Paper Mario soundtrack, 20 years before, and it might be favorite here. Zen Archer, Just Another Onionhead; Da Da Dali, and When the Shit Hits the Fan; Sunset Blvd. (sounds like Mario Kart) Is a great trio of songs. Oh and there's for some reason this soul melody in I'm So Proud/ Ooh Baby Baby/ La La Means I Love You/ Cool Jerk that also is pretty great. What a trip.

Rundgren is pretty fun and has a historic career with this probably the peak of his solo output. I thought that I loved Something/Anything but when I listened to this one I found it even more enjoyable.

I found it to be all over the place

This was kind of cool. Interesting and weird anyway.

Listening to A Wizard, A True Star is basically like going on a chaotic, psychedelic trip through Todd Rundgren's brain. He completely ditched the usual songwriting rules for a kitchen-sink, all-over-the-place collage where songs bleed into each other, one minute it's weird sound effects and animal noises, the next it’s a smooth pop hook or a soul medley. It's totally unhinged and kind of a masterpiece in how weird it is.