A Wizard a True Star

Todd Rundgren in the studio

Paul Myers

• Publisher: Jawbone Press
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781906002800
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

"If you know what you want, I'll get it for you. If you don't know what you want, I'll do it for you."

Few record producers possess the musical facility to back up such a bold promise, but in over forty-plus years behind the glass, Todd Rundgren has willed himself into becoming a not only a rock guitar virtuoso, an accomplished lead vocalist and vocal arranger and visionary keyboard player, not to mention a serviceable drummer.

But Rundgren's greatest instrument of all is the recording studio itself. After learning his craft with Nazz, Rundgren engineered The Band's Stage Fright album and soon became the producer of a string of noteworthy albums for Sparks, Grand Funk, The New York Dolls, Badfinger, Hall & Oates, Meat Loaf, Patti Smith Group, Cheap Trick, The Psychedelic Furs and XTC. Meanwhile, Rundgren played almost every instrument on his solo albums such as Something/Anything?, A Wizard A True Star, and Hermit Of Mink Hollow while collaborating on a series of albums by his band, Utopia.

A Wizard A True Star: Todd Rundgren In The Studio is a fascinating and authoritative trip through the land of flickering red lights inhabited by a studio wizard – and true star – who has rarely enjoyed a proper victory lap along the many trails that he has blazed. Researched and written with the participation and cooperation of Rundgren himself, Myers also draws upon exclusive new interviews with Robbie Robertson, Patti Smith, XTC, Sparks, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Meat Loaf, Jim Steinman, Cheap Trick, Grand Funk, The Psychedelic Furs, The Tubes, Steve Hillage, all members of Rundgren's legendary band, Utopia, and many other key Rundgren associates.

Table of contents

• Introduction: Couldn’t I Just Tell You
• Chapter 1: Early Life And The Rise Of The Nazz
• Chapter 2: Strictly Bearsville
• Chapter 3: Sparks
• Chapter 4: Long Nights On Astral Drive
• Chapter 5: A Wizard, A True Star
• Chapter 6: New York Dolls
• Chapter 7: Grand Funk We’re An American Band
• Chapter 8: An Elpee’s Worth Of Toons
• Chapter 9: Hall & Oates War Babies
• Chapter 10: Midtown Madness
• Chapter 11: Rock The Catskills
• Chapter 12: Meat Loaf Bat Out Of Hell
• Photographs
• Chapter 13: Studio Hermit
• Chapter 14: Patti Smith Group Wave
• Chapter 15: Adventures In Video And Healing
• Chapter 16: The Road To Dystopia
• Chapter 17: The Psychedelic Furs Forever Now
• Chapter 18: Cheap Trick Next Position Please
• Chapter 19: Beyond Oblivion
• Chapter 20: XTC Skylarking
• Chapter 21: Pursuing Happiness, Heading West
• Chapter 22: Very Suspicious Occasions
• Chapter 23: There’s Always More
• Runtology: A Selected Discography Of Todd Rundgren Productions
• Acknowledgements
• About The Author