A Wizard, A True Star

Few record producers possess the musical facility to back up such a bold promise, but in over 40 years behind the glass, Todd Rundgren has willed himself into becoming a not only a rock guitar virtuoso, an accomplished lead vocalist, and a serviceable drummer, vocal arranger and keyboard player, but also a master of perhaps his greatest instrument of all, the recording studio.

Throughout his career, Rundgren has ping-ponged between the worlds of producer and recording artist with varying degrees of critical and commercial success. After learning his craft as a songwriter and arranger, with Nazz, Rundgren gained attention by engineering recordings by The Band. His reputation was cemented by a string of noteworthy productions beginning in 1971 with Sparks, and continuing with classic albums for Grand Funk, The New York Dolls, Badfinger, Hall & Oates, Meat Loaf, Patti Smith Group, Psychedelic Furs and XTC. All of this alongside his own solo albums – including Something/Anything; A Wizard, A True Star; and Hermit of Mink Hollow – on which he played and sang virtually everything, and a series of albums by his band, Utopia.

Researched and written with the cooperation of Rundgren himself, A Wizard, A True Star is a fascinating, authoritative account of four decades of making magic in the recording studio.