A Wizard, A True Star by Todd Rundgren
Release: 1973
Style: Art Rock, Pop Rock
Length: 56 min.
Round: Art Rock
Todd Rundgren is something I've been wanting to listen to for a long time since I loved his work on Bat Out of Hell, but I always had other priorities. Art rock never really became a priority unless I was getting through David Bowie albums. I've finally gotten around to it in an attempt to get some pop albums out of the way. “A Wizard, A True Star” is my first album of his. And so far, I am very impressed because it feels like a mixture of Bowie and Zappa.
The album starts with “International Feel,” a short but festive sci-fi experience riddled with the eccentricity of a circus. The next song, “Never Never Land,” is another short one (as most of the album consists of short pieces). A soft and elegant poem, it quickly transcends into an instrumental known as “Tic Tic Tic It Wears Off,” a robotic carnival of backing art-rock/electronic production and Rundgren's bizarre musical sense, which gets more bizarre with the vocal-heavy “You Need Your Head.” A loud, obnoxious, and fun frenzy full of unique guitar playing, like a robot programmed to party. This booze-laden robot continues to party in the hard and heavy rock experience properly named “Rock and Roll Pussy.” At this point, I marvel at the various kinds of eccentricity Rundgren can implement in one album, and so quickly. “Dogfight Giggle” is next, being nothing but a misplaced amalgam of production techniques made to sound like rats squealing in a voice box. It fits the eccentricity, but it feels pointless. The last 1-minute song in this chain, “You Don't Have to Camp Around,” is a soft and romantic piece that acts as a short intermission from the party. “Flamingo,” an electronics-riddled piece of unintentional psychedelia akin to the Main Street Electrical Parade acts as a closer to this chain before we reach a somewhat longer track. “Zen Archer” is this song. It takes the softer, romantic side of the album that we've heard and combines it with the eccentric side, almost as if this song was parodying the album as a whole. It ends with saxophones playing upon both sides of the album while high-pitched vocals back them up. “Just Another Onionhead/Da Da Dali” is somewhere in the middle between the softer and jumpier sides pretending to have meaning, but is really just another Zappa style joke. “When the **** Hits the Fan/Sunset Blvd.” comes next, starting with drums marching like a parade before the song picks up its own unique sense of eccentricity that borrows from hard rock artists but is lightly backed up by a festive piano that uses its sound that's drowned out by the other instruments to its full potential. With synthesizers acting like a video game soundtrack, “When the **** Hits the Fan/Sunset Blvd.” is easily one of the best songs on the album. This track slows down into Side A's finale, “Le Feel Internacionale” which acts as a jubilant 2 minute final-float to the parade.
Side A cuts itself off on the vid I watched to start “Sometimes I Don't Know What to Feel,” which has a similar vibe to Billy Joel's The Stranger, except a little more upbeat. It's not quite the intro I hoped for, as it's of less quality than the entire first half of the album. But it's worth it. It picks up more later in the song. Next comes “Does Anybody Love You?” which is alsdo of less quality due to its simplicity. But at this point I can only hope that the rest of the album picks up quickly, especially considering there's a ten minute song that's appropriately named “Medley” that's coming up. As the first part, Curtis Mayfield's “I'm So Proud” starts, I'm immediately impressed at the soul influence and the very soothing touch the medley takes right from the start. This soul influence continues in “Ooh Baby Baby,” which is an improvement in some areas, but worse in other ways. The Medley continues with a more upbeat and somewhat Asian sound with”La La Means I Love You.” Wonderful song. It's sweet and soft, unlike the harder and more rock-based finale to the medley, “Cool Jerk.” What is it with Todd Rundgren and such appropriate titles? Is it a hidden skill off his? The song is all Rundgren going back to his obnoxious side and bragging about himself. It ends in utter hyperactivity. At this point, I wonder if I'll get something overly eccentric, or something really soft. I get mildly eccentric. “Hungry for Love” starts out with a long grunt, a bar piano, and another very strong Zappa feel: joking, obnoxious, and musically talented. It gradually becomes more hyperactive. “I Don't Want to Tie You Down” is a complete turn around, probably the most soothing track on the album. Nothing but a clever love song that fits those cheesy love songs from the 70's and 80's that pop fans love so much. This softness ends with the heaviest track on the album, one filled to the brim with raspy guitars (although that does not stop Rundgren's overpowering style from taking over the song), “Is It My Name?” And finally, the album ends with a proper, soul-infused track called “Just My Victory.”
My thoughts are the Todd Rundgren has a similar sense of art to David Bowie, but has some of the same eccentricity as Frank Zappa. It seems hard to take him seriously when it comes to his content, but he's clearly a very skilled musician. What the album accomplishes is a unique brand of art that is clearly influenced from other art rock greats of the 60's and 70's, but is unique in the sense that you can feel that this is Todd Rundgren's persona exuding from every note and beat of the work. At least I felt that way. I honestly think this is a great triumph for Rundgren. It's probably too much for some people, but I think just about everything was pulled off well. And anything that wasn't was overcome by the power of the best moments on the album.
100/100. I've heard a lot of art rock, but not most of the albums on the list. So it's only possible this will be my top choice. I like art rock for its will to experiment while maintaining a radio-friendly presence. I'll probably keep this on.