A Wizard / A True Star Bethlehem PA

A Wizard / A True Star

Todd Rundgren

Bearsville Records, 1973

REVIEW BY: Mark Feldman

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 11/21/1999

Like the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour, Fleetwood Mac's Tusk or U2's Zooropa, Todd Rundgren's A Wizard / A True Star is one of those abrupt-left-turnrecords that the geniuses of the rock and roll era who get thecommercial recognition they deserve make as long-anticipated"follow-ups," challenging their devoted listeners further, andturning their bandwagon fans away almost as quickly as they latchedon in the first place.

In Rundgren's case, this perennially-overlookedsongwriter/producer was coming off the lone mainstream success ofhis now-30-year career, the 1972 double album Something / Anything, which harnessed his promisingsynthesis of blue-eyed soul and psychedelic experimentation intosome of the most irresistible pure pop ever recorded, among it thedeservedly-smash hits "Hello It's Me" and "I Saw the Light." Sowhat to do for an encore? Well, I wouldn't have done what he did,but in 1973 I was a mere toddler, whereas Rundgren was about tobecome the odd, unpredictable musical force of the '70s that stillknows no equal.

The gatefold is an attractive piece of album art in itself,featuring lyrics and notes in Todd's informal scrawl. He tells theowner of the record to "crank up your victrola as loud as it willgo to get the full enjoyment contained in this here LP." Doing soundoubtedly caused many to recoil in horror and cry out somethingto the effect of "What the devil is he doing?!" in perhaps lessthan G-rated language.

The dissonant plane taking off that launches into the leadofftrack "International Feel" immediately signals that this is not Something / Anything, Part 2: Electric Boogaloo. It's arough, pounding track, that lasts only a couple minutes, and thensegues awkwardly into a version of "Never Never Land" from "PeterPan" drenched in vintage analog feedback. Huh?