18. Todd Rundgren, A Wizard, a True Star (1973)

[2007 review here.]

You could probably argue that my favorite album by Todd Rundgren is psychedelic only because the production purposefully jams many of these songs and fragments seamlessly together, each one blurring into the next across a range of styles. Among other things that makes it hard to listen to it on CDs or via streaming, which routinely insert a couple of annoying seconds between all tracks. The album reminds me structurally of the Beatles’ Abbey Road, stringing together a series of songs (or fragments) under 2:00 at one point, or their White Album, with its wide and seemingly senseless assortments of rock or pop song style. Yes, Wizard has annoying throwaways—I could do without the 1:08 “Dogfight Giggle,” for sure. And it is now unfortunately dated with the crypto-homophobic ditties “Rock & Roll Pussy” (1:11) and “You Don’t Have to Camp Around” (1:06 and still lovely). Fair enough. It also has songs in Rundgren’s achingly beautiful and friendly (if slightly tinged with ‘70s self-help vibes) pop song mode (“Sometimes I Don’t Know What to Feel.” “I Don’t Want to Tie You Down,” “Does Anybody Love You?”). It has more songs that are intended to be inspirational in a heroic juveniles-against-the-world mode (“Zen Archer,” “Just One Victory,” “When the Shit Hits the Fan / Sunset Blvd.”). Perhaps most surprising—though also looking forward to the mistakes of his overly faithful Faithful covers LP a few years later—is an 11-minute soul medley featuring the Impressions’ “I’m So Proud,” Smokey Robinson’s “Ooh Baby Baby,” the Delfonics’ “La-La Means I Love You,” and the Capitols’ “Cool Jerk.” The last is the only clinker in that bunch. The first three are gorgeous and moving versions. Thus, much like the cover art suggests, we are set adrift here inside Todd Rundgren’s tender octagonal die-cut elfin musical world, which moves through its 55 minutes of material with masterful ease. I’m not sure Todd Rundgren ever had an imperial phase but, if he did, this album was part of it. He was producing one substantial album after another in the early ‘70s, with Runt; Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren; Something / Anything?; A Wizard, a True Star; Todd; and Initiation (plus his Utopia project). He stayed close to his pop instincts bleeding into prog and/or thrashing heavy rock on all of them. A Wizard, a True Star is his psychedelic phase.