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.
A Wizard A True Star
