Todd Rundgren – A Wizard, A True Star

Needledrop of "Zen Archer" from this pressing, -1F/-1E matrices and RL mastering: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzUy27pRO48

Mr. Ludwig did a not-bad job on this one considering what he was tasked with (up to 30 minutes a side!!!). Unfortunately, the inner grooves on my side 1 sound WEAK -- unless maybe it's groove damage? "Le Feel Internacionale" is but a smudge, diluting the climactic effect. Everything else is decent (including "Zen Archer" which I linked above). Lemme know what you think!

This album is... Weird. I had a friend who introduced me to it who simply describe it to me as Todd Rundgren...on drugs. I don't even want to know what was taken during the production of this album. This album is also fantastic. Extensive, interesting, new and that there a theme to the whole album. This is an album that doce what it says on the cover. At the court it is a strong prog album, however there are elements of just weird. The only examples I can think of would be Frank Zappa or something like John Zorn's more obscurer projects. It's a weird turn considering (I think) he's last album was "Something/Anything" which was a classic sing a song writer album released in the early 70s in inspiration from Carole King's tapestry. As I said, I don't know what was taken during the production of the album. Some of the songs do share a similarity in either what there about or what they're supposed to represent however, the style has completely changed. The songs themselves are quite funny and do have a joking elements in it which I think is it an extra bonus to this album. Now I could go into the composing/playing in this album but I think this review would take up the rest of the page if I did so. I will make note of the production on this album. This is what could class it as an experimental album from the 70s. It has so much distortion, echo and reverb on here but yet somehow Todd makes it sound great still. Nothing clashes, which I guess is a true example of what a fantastic producer Todd was and still is. Lots of cutting and pasting... it's a true example of experimental producing in the 70s when new ways of recording were made. This album is great, full of great tracks and odd ways of showing them. occasionally there are parts of the song or intervals that just don't fit however the majority of the album is pure brilliance. For someone who is used to listening to more commercial pop music or even rock music, this may be not your particular album however if you are looking to get into more obscure albums this is the necessity in your collection.
9/10