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The Psych Ward–A Wizard, a True Star by Todd Rundgren

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  • Brian Kuhar
  • May 12, 2023
  • 7:14 am

The Psych Ward–A Wizard, a True Star by Todd Rundgren

What the hell is going on with this album? Soulful cover songs mixed with Flo & Eddie-era Zappa poly-rock? Peter Pan show tunes clashing with Paul McCartney-style pop at its most loony? This is Todd Rundgren: Top of his game pop songsmith attempting to shake off his soft rock reputation. After the release of the megahit album Something/Anything in 1972, Rundgren began ingesting progressive rock, jazz fusion, and heavy psychedelics. He soon discovered the sounds in his head were incongruent with the music he had been making, and he wanted to provide an unfiltered expression of his revelatory experiences.

Rundgren began ingesting progressive rock, jazz fusion, and heavy psychedelics.

Rundgren experimented with mescaline, psilocybin, and DMT during the writing and recording of these songs in 1972/1973. He often played all the instruments himself which can provide more insight into a solitary mind as opposed to a band’s interpretation. Secret Sound—a makeshift Manhattan studio he was building with the previous album’s royalties—was still under construction while this was being recorded, contributing to its fragmented nature.

Cover of A Wizard A True Star

Side One (A Wizard) is the wilder, disjointed half. It was designed to flow together as a chaotic, genre-hopping opus…a guided trip via his turned-on popstar mind.Side Two (A True Star) is full of strangely catchy and totally weird pop songs. It even includes a reverent medley of Rundgren’s favorite soul songs.

This newfound psychedelic process broke away his overarching need to polish these tracks into pop-rock gems. Don’t get it wrong, there are still shimmering pop jewels to be mined from this cavern of hallucinations; especially on the second side. But the randomness of noise, rocky juxtapositions, and sweet soulful pop songs are why you should give this a spin.

Highlights: “You Need Your Head,” “Rock & Roll Pussy,” “Just Another Onionhead; Da Da Dali.”

 

Related: Interview with Todd Rundgren

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