This one becomes viral after about 3 listens. This was 1972! Extreme experimentation and artistic expression! Todd, doing his own thing and damn the critics! yes, he was creating the curve in every respect. His music was an underlying fault line in the music industry. LOVE it!
Dudes, you’ve opened the floodgates for Todd fans to flow through. Rundgren has been one of the music world’s biggest innovators since 1970... great lyricist, guitar god, top level producer, blue-eyed Philly Soul singer. You really owe it to yourself to find out more about him. Saw him a few years ago at Brooklyn Bowl with my oldest son, who’s 32, and he was blown away by how well Todd still plays and sings in his early 70’s. He staged a virtual tour from Chicago this year, tailoring the shows to each of the dozen cities on the tour, right down to the stage setting and start time. International Feel was inspirational for Kevin Parker and Tame Impala. ( saw their virtual show this year, too. Phenomenal. If you can, catch the new documentary on Sparks coming soon. The Mael brothers begged Todd to produce their 1st of 25 albums.... Sparks is outlandishly creative! I’ve seen Todd about 50 times Since 1978. This album was released in 1973... after several months of taking hallucinogenics.
He played virtually all the instruments and sang all the vocals. Think of Prince before Prince. Total studio wizard. Can't We Be Friends is a brilliant piece off the album. He put together a band called Utopia and toured with various incarnations of them for about a decade. Enjoy Todd.
U have to listen to the whole record, it's a complete work and blew my mind when I heard it the first time and is one of my top ten albums , my favorite track , SUNSET BLVD, but I love that whole album and it's a must listen all the way thru , as it's a complete work a concept record , part Gershwin, part Hendrix, part Beach Boys , part Zappa, part Carol King, I Love That Album
It's 1973. Todd plays just about everything but the cello at one point or another on this album, "A Wizard, A True Star". He produced, engineered, AND played most of this album. He did several albums like that. He was a wizard in the studio. And is still a true star. If you get strong suggestions for his band "Utopia", take them. Blessings.
You have to take this in context of the time period. Todd was ahead of everybody with musical technology on this album. It's a concept album everything flowed together that was perhaps never done also he played mostly all the instruments on the album himself as well as writing and producing. Definitely a definitely a true wizard..
Todd is an incredible artist, writer singer, guitarist and performer; he was well respected by all his peers (perhaps envied by others)! Saw him live in Tulsa in the 70’s and what a performance!
this brought me right back to my first apartment after my mom kicked me out of her place in '87, and the string of fast-food jobs and temporary roommates, and the bargain-bin cassette tapes at music stores where i found this album for the first time, lol. thanks for taking me down memory lane! for me this always fit right in with the Talking Heads vibe, too, as well as XTC and later They Might Be Giants and other experimental, thought-provoking work. shout out to Adam Rodnitzky for selecting this gem!
Garth, you might like (if you can find it!) M. Frog's LP released at about the same time as "AWATS," on Warner Bros. He also was Utopia's synth and rhythm guitar player from about '73-'75. Real name is Jean-Yves Labat. Ribbit.
@@bungalowmo That's pretty astounding, Mo! A classic, early Todd concert featuring those in his inner circle! BTW, if you're interested, I've got a couple Todd articles (findable at my ID name above) available: One on his 2 boys who were pro baseball players, and the other about my two 1973 weekends with the Dolls, and how they revealed what they thought of Todd's production on their debut!! Cheers!
From probably my fav album album of all time - 1973s “A Wizard A True Star. This was actually the fist and last tracks of side 1 of the album joined together. The album had 12 tracks on side 1 which all ran into each other. Track 1 is “International Feel” and then track 12 is a reprise called “Le Feel Internationale”. He is from Philadelphia but was heavily influenced by the British Invasion that start with the Beatles
I also had it on 8 track and would camp out in the family Airstream which had a Craig Quad stereo system and smoke weed , I had a real epiphany one time listen to this record on mushrooms a real deep spiritual moment and when I hear it now , it just always brings me back
First, let me say I just about fell out of my chair when I saw this song in a reaction video. Next, I found it VERY interesting that someone strung together part 1 & 2 into one, when the two are at nearly opposite ends of the album. ✌️
Todd Rundgren is the shit !! A major influence on myself and all my musician friends in the 70s and 80s. Can not categorize his music, he played blues , ballads, synth music , prog rock and yes, radio pulp for the masses. Not even going into all the artists he produced, from the Tubes to The New York Dolls to Meatloaf to Psych Furs ! And I love that he shunned that travesty called the RRHF. Long live TODD.
I love this album (and the rest of them too!). Also, "Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren" has some wonderful songs on it. I got into that album first of all, after trying Joni Mitchell's "Blue" album - it's full of ballads. Later, I picked up "A Wizard a True Star" (1973), which was so different and weird (I was into, and still am, Gong, which is rather weird too). You cannot go wrong with Mr Rundgren (an American, but huge Anglophile). It's hard to extricate a song on this album because they all blend into a whole. I was expecting the echo into "Never, Never Land" the next track on the album.
'Couldn't I Just Tell You' is an early-Todd fave of mine. He's a forward looking, innovative wizard, a true star. Great writer, player, producer. Keep digging into him, pleeeeeeeeeez! 👍😘🎶💞
Wow, first I heard The Band here and now Todd. Your father has good taste, I'm a huge Todd Rundgren fan. I put together a playlist from him that I play in the car all the time. I'd suggest checking out his album, Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren, I think it's his masterpiece, although most feel Something/Anything is. His first album, Runt, is amazing, The medley Baby Let's Swing/The Last Thing You Said/Don't Tie My Hands is incredible. Todd's producing is legendary. When George Harrison was producing Badfinger's wonderful Straight Up album, he had to quit in the middle of the sessions and he asked Todd to take over the rest of it. Todd's producing credits also include Grand Funk Railroad's We're An American Band, and the influential first album from The New York Dolls. A suggestion from the Wizard/A True Star album is Just One Victory. It's another favorite. Wow, so great to have you enjoy Todd!!!
A returning viewer here. This song was playing in my head when I visited Zurich, Switzerland for the first time: There seemed to be people from all over the world. Love this reaction!
2 Tracks are merged into one on this youtube version (original version is less than 3 mins long). But the album these tracks are from is ("A Wizard, A True Star") is in my top 10 favorite albums ever. It is a gorgeous but chaotic masterpiece lol. Great reaction!
Great reaction. I think Tame Impala draws some of their sounds from Todd's work (earlier in the Nazz) and from this album from 1973. Yes, he was way ahead of his time, and this album followed a hugely commercial album - this was a big "left turn", and when he's saying "but there's more", he's inviting you into his mind, and the rest of that album.
This was some really trippy Todd Rundgren! Definitely different from his pop masterpiece album Something/Anything. I'd be curious to hear other tracks from this one.
This album was the follow up to Something Anything and couldn’t be more different. I know the general consensus is SA is his classic album but I much prefer this one and his next one in 1974 which was another double album called “Todd”
Thanks for actually listening and reacting to something other than "Hello It's Me". I mean, that's a great song but not even close to capturing everything Todd Rundgren is about. I still play that vinyl LP that "A Wizard, A True Star" I purchased the year it came out. Thin grooves to begin with, thinner now, but still sounds awesome. Have fun on your TR journey, plenty of stops along the way to marvel at.
Todd can play every instrument involved here, and pioneered many recording techniques. "Wait another year, and Utopia is here", was a foreshadowing of his Prog band Utopia later in 1973.
This is one of my favorite albums. Stunned to see you going here.. but happy. More Todd please! Your Dad must be a very cool dude! What you have in this video is a very sloppy fan edit of International Feel which opens the album and a reprise from the end of side one. This album side is strictly intended to be listened to in complete sitting. I did a video of the first 4 songs as they are on the album a while back. I hope you'll check it out. czcams.com/video/1398pXTER5U/video.html The one other song you might check out from this album is 'Sometimes I Don't Know What To Feel' which is a stand-alone song from Side 2 that shows off Todd's Philly Soul influences.
This album was ground-breaking for more reasons than just musical. At the time, vinyl was only able to reliably "hold" 20 or so minutes a side without losing fidelity/clarity. Todd, iconoclast that he is, decided to push the PVC envelope to the breaking point, filling each side with nigh unto 30 minutes each (26:21 for Side One, 29:35 for Side Two), for an unheard of nearly hour-long record. This caused initial headaches for Warner Bros. Records (who distributed Bearsville, Todd's label), as they feared that listeners would lose audio subtleties as the stylus tracked the thinner groove resulting from the longer duration (plus, they were concerned listeners' needles would too easily skip). I seem to recall a note from Todd in the liner notes about that, and to "turn it up"! But, like the music inside, the entire package was a rebellion against the commercial success he had experienced to that point ("Hello It's Me" took its time ascending the charts, and was doing so at the time of the "AWATS" release). Also, in '73 (April, a month after "AWATS" was released), Todd produced the debut New York Dolls album (also in NY, where he recorded "AWATS"). Readers might find interesting to read about my two weekends with the Dolls that year (and what Sylvain told me how the band felt about his production), as well as my brief meeting with Todd 5 years later: bradkyle.substack.com/p/into-the-doll-house-with-todd-rundgren
Just some insight. Todd is really an acquired taste. He an eclectic genius. AWTS is one totally amazing lp. Todd was challenging his fans on his journey. Will you stay with me or leave me. Side one is like an woven abstract masterpiece of art work. Side two is a more mainstream but no less of a masterful compilation. Side one needs to be played all at once! Not song by song since it was meant to be played straight though. The art on the cover is the tip off. Music as an art form. That lp needs many listenings with headphones to understand. Classic Todd
Now you’re getting into some wild stuff. This whole album is a trip. I would have gone with Sunset Boulevard. Wow that was weird. That was an edited version of the song, definitely not the way it is on the album.
@@SightAfterDark The song opens the album and leads into 32 minutes of unbroken music (the physical limit you can put on an LP before you start to lose sound quality. The second medley on Side 2 ends with Le Feel Internationale which starts with “Everyone is mine, there’s no one left behind.” They took the two tracks and edited them together. Maybe this was released as a single but I’ve never heard it and this album is 48 years old.
PLEASE listen to this album! The 1st half of this song flows into Never Never Land, while thec2nd half is the end of "When...Boulevard". I liked the single version well enough, but it has never sounded right to me.
He plays all the instruments on this!
This one becomes viral after about 3 listens. This was 1972! Extreme experimentation and artistic expression! Todd, doing his own thing and damn the critics! yes, he was creating the curve in every respect. His music was an underlying fault line in the music industry. LOVE it!
Dudes, you’ve opened the floodgates for Todd fans to flow through.
Rundgren has been one of the music world’s biggest innovators since 1970... great lyricist, guitar god, top level producer, blue-eyed Philly Soul singer.
You really owe it to yourself to find out more about him.
Saw him a few years ago at Brooklyn Bowl with my oldest son, who’s 32, and he was blown away by how well Todd still plays and sings in his early 70’s.
He staged a virtual tour from Chicago this year, tailoring the shows to each of the dozen cities on the tour, right down to the stage setting and start time.
International Feel was inspirational for Kevin Parker and Tame Impala. ( saw their virtual show this year, too. Phenomenal.
If you can, catch the new documentary on Sparks coming soon.
The Mael brothers begged Todd to produce their 1st of 25 albums.... Sparks is outlandishly creative!
I’ve seen Todd about 50 times
Since 1978.
This album was released in 1973... after several months of taking hallucinogenics.
Amazing. We're HUGE Tame Impala fans and can totally hear the the influence here. Will definitely have to look more into Todd. Thanks for watching!
He played virtually all the instruments and sang all the vocals.
Think of Prince before Prince.
Total studio wizard.
Can't We Be Friends is a brilliant piece off the album.
He put together a band called Utopia and toured with various incarnations of them for about a decade.
Enjoy Todd.
Amazing
There is no Prince without Todd.
@@ftlpope Ooh. Daring. Never heard that thru-line before, but in no way disagree!
U have to listen to the whole record, it's a complete work and blew my mind when I heard it the first time and is one of my top ten albums , my favorite track , SUNSET BLVD, but I love that whole album and it's a must listen all the way thru , as it's a complete work a concept record , part Gershwin, part Hendrix, part Beach Boys , part Zappa, part Carol King, I Love That Album
Sounds awesome! Thanks Brian!
Just one victory!!! ✌️💥
Todd made that album because he didn't like being compared to someone else, if he saw this comment he'd be pissed Brian.
@SphericalCheese, yeah, the whole Carol King comparison was the genesis of this album, according to Todd.
Love this LP!!!!!!
Wonderful artist
It's 1973. Todd plays just about everything but the cello at one point or another on this album, "A Wizard, A True Star". He produced, engineered, AND played most of this album. He did several albums like that. He was a wizard in the studio. And is still a true star.
If you get strong suggestions for his band "Utopia", take them.
Blessings.
Ladies and gentlemen….a wizard, a true star.
Indeed!
My favorite album! Todd is the best!
You are the only reactors that I could actually imagine hanging out with , always interesting and entertaining
Appreciate you!
@@SightAfterDark Hey, I'd have to agree. I would enjoy hanging with the two of you, would definitely be a good time.
You have to take this in context of the time period. Todd was ahead of everybody with musical technology on this album. It's a concept album everything flowed together that was perhaps never done also he played mostly all the instruments on the album himself as well as writing and producing. Definitely a definitely a true wizard..
Todd is an incredible artist, writer singer, guitarist and performer; he was well respected by all his peers (perhaps envied by others)! Saw him live in Tulsa in the 70’s and what a performance!
Must have been amazing!
“Just wait another year, Utopia is here” in the reprise was a hint to the band he was forming, Utopia.
Ahh!
If you type “International Feel live” it’ll bring up a great live version from 2009, I believe, with Todd in a space suit.
this brought me right back to my first apartment after my mom kicked me out of her place in '87, and the string of fast-food jobs and temporary roommates, and the bargain-bin cassette tapes at music stores where i found this album for the first time, lol. thanks for taking me down memory lane! for me this always fit right in with the Talking Heads vibe, too, as well as XTC and later They Might Be Giants and other experimental, thought-provoking work.
shout out to Adam Rodnitzky for selecting this gem!
This song is the prelude to an amazing and unique album. The true way to appreciate it is by listening to the entire disc in one sitting
Glad you enjoyed Garth!
Garth, you might like (if you can find it!) M. Frog's LP released at about the same time as "AWATS," on Warner Bros. He also was Utopia's synth and rhythm guitar player from about '73-'75. Real name is Jean-Yves Labat. Ribbit.
@@bradsmack1 My first Todd concert was with his first inception of Utopia, with M. Frog and also the Sales brothers!! Oct 30, 1975
@@bungalowmo That's pretty astounding, Mo! A classic, early Todd concert featuring those in his inner circle! BTW, if you're interested, I've got a couple Todd articles (findable at my ID name above) available:
One on his 2 boys who were pro baseball players, and the other about my two 1973 weekends with the Dolls, and how they revealed what they thought of Todd's production on their debut!! Cheers!
Huge Todd fan. Great writer, great producer. Produced some of the greatest albums of all time. I'm going to have to check out more of your reactions!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the video!
From probably my fav album album of all time - 1973s “A Wizard A True Star. This was actually the fist and last tracks of side 1 of the album joined together. The album had 12 tracks on side 1 which all ran into each other. Track 1 is “International Feel” and then track 12 is a reprise called “Le Feel Internationale”. He is from Philadelphia but was heavily influenced by the British Invasion that start with the Beatles
Makes sense! Thanks!
This is one of the greatest albums of all time.
Great album! I´m a big Todd fan, so I say all of his solo albums from 70´s are top notch!
He's from Philly. Tr A wizard a true star.
He’s from Philly!? Lol he really does have an international feel
I also had it on 8 track and would camp out in the family Airstream which had a Craig Quad stereo system and smoke weed , I had a real epiphany one time listen to this record on mushrooms a real deep spiritual moment and when I hear it now , it just always brings me back
Sounds like quite a time!
Great reaction... LOVE THIS SONG❤️
Thanks for watching Jonni!
First, let me say I just about fell out of my chair when I saw this song in a reaction video.
Next, I found it VERY interesting that someone strung together part 1 & 2 into one, when the two are at nearly opposite ends of the album. ✌️
We’re glad you enjoyed BungalowMo!
Todd Rundgren is the shit !! A major influence on myself and all my musician friends in the 70s and 80s. Can not categorize his music, he played blues , ballads, synth music , prog rock and yes, radio pulp for the masses. Not even going into all the artists he produced, from the Tubes to The New York Dolls to Meatloaf to Psych Furs ! And I love that he shunned that travesty called the RRHF. Long live TODD.
I love this album (and the rest of them too!). Also, "Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren" has some wonderful songs on it. I got into that album first of all, after trying Joni Mitchell's "Blue" album - it's full of ballads. Later, I picked up "A Wizard a True Star" (1973), which was so different and weird (I was into, and still am, Gong, which is rather weird too).
You cannot go wrong with Mr Rundgren (an American, but huge Anglophile). It's hard to extricate a song on this album because they all blend into a whole. I was expecting the echo into "Never, Never Land" the next track on the album.
'Couldn't I Just Tell You' is an early-Todd fave of mine. He's a forward looking, innovative wizard, a true star. Great writer, player, producer. Keep digging into him, pleeeeeeeeeez! 👍😘🎶💞
We're loving him so far!
I liked that you played the song (part one) which led off the album, sequed into the song’s “part 2” which closed out the album.
Haha glad you liked it, but we didn't do that on purpose. Shoutout to whoever put the original video together!
"International Feel" predicts Radiohead and "Planet Telex", in particular, by _25 years._ Rundgren was far ahead of his time on _A Wizard._
Amazing
I love Todd
Me too.
Wow, first I heard The Band here and now Todd. Your father has good taste, I'm a huge Todd Rundgren fan. I put together a playlist from him that I play in the car all the time. I'd suggest checking out his album, Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren, I think it's his masterpiece, although most feel Something/Anything is. His first album, Runt, is amazing, The medley Baby Let's Swing/The Last Thing You Said/Don't Tie My Hands is incredible. Todd's producing is legendary. When George Harrison was producing Badfinger's wonderful Straight Up album, he had to quit in the middle of the sessions and he asked Todd to take over the rest of it. Todd's producing credits also include Grand Funk Railroad's We're An American Band, and the influential first album from The New York Dolls. A suggestion from the Wizard/A True Star album is Just One Victory. It's another favorite. Wow, so great to have you enjoy Todd!!!
Glad you enjoyed!
A returning viewer here. This song was playing in my head when I visited Zurich, Switzerland for the first time: There seemed to be people from all over the world. Love this reaction!
2 Tracks are merged into one on this youtube version (original version is less than 3 mins long). But the album these tracks are from is ("A Wizard, A True Star") is in my top 10 favorite albums ever. It is a gorgeous but chaotic masterpiece lol. Great reaction!
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed!
Great reaction. I think Tame Impala draws some of their sounds from Todd's work (earlier in the Nazz) and from this album from 1973. Yes, he was way ahead of his time, and this album followed a hugely commercial album - this was a big "left turn", and when he's saying "but there's more", he's inviting you into his mind, and the rest of that album.
Glad you enjoyed!
This was some really trippy Todd Rundgren! Definitely different from his pop masterpiece album Something/Anything. I'd be curious to hear other tracks from this one.
This album was the follow up to Something Anything and couldn’t be more different. I know the general consensus is SA is his classic album but I much prefer this one and his next one in 1974 which was another double album called “Todd”
Todd Rundgren is a genius! This is a breakout album. You must listen to the whole album.
Thanks so much for watching Victoria!
I agree. This is album rock. You need to listen to this album a few times to really understand it. Love Todd. Wait another year Utopia is here.
His voice was way out there on this.
Oh yeah
Far Out!
Thanks for actually listening and reacting to something other than "Hello It's Me". I mean, that's a great song but not even close to capturing everything Todd Rundgren is about. I still play that vinyl LP that "A Wizard, A True Star" I purchased the year it came out. Thin grooves to begin with, thinner now, but still sounds awesome. Have fun on your TR journey, plenty of stops along the way to marvel at.
Thanks so much for watching!
Todd can play every instrument involved here, and pioneered many recording techniques. "Wait another year, and Utopia is here", was a foreshadowing of his Prog band Utopia later in 1973.
Awesome!
A masterpiece of the 70s. A mainstay in my library. Request for a reaction song: Brother to Brother by Gina Vanelli!
Thanks Shoreman!
Any and all Gino……
Philadelphia
Try Todd's "Initiation".
This is one of my favorite albums. Stunned to see you going here.. but happy. More Todd please! Your Dad must be a very cool dude! What you have in this video is a very sloppy fan edit of International Feel which opens the album and a reprise from the end of side one. This album side is strictly intended to be listened to in complete sitting. I did a video of the first 4 songs as they are on the album a while back. I hope you'll check it out.
czcams.com/video/1398pXTER5U/video.html
The one other song you might check out from this album is 'Sometimes I Don't Know What To Feel' which is a stand-alone song from Side 2 that shows off Todd's Philly Soul influences.
THEE lyric is "Wait another year UTOPIA is here".
Anyone here cuz of Blonded Los Santos?
This album was ground-breaking for more reasons than just musical. At the time, vinyl was only able to reliably "hold" 20 or so minutes a side without losing fidelity/clarity. Todd, iconoclast that he is, decided to push the PVC envelope to the breaking point, filling each side with nigh unto 30 minutes each (26:21 for Side One, 29:35 for Side Two), for an unheard of nearly hour-long record.
This caused initial headaches for Warner Bros. Records (who distributed Bearsville, Todd's label), as they feared that listeners would lose audio subtleties as the stylus tracked the thinner groove resulting from the longer duration (plus, they were concerned listeners' needles would too easily skip).
I seem to recall a note from Todd in the liner notes about that, and to "turn it up"! But, like the music inside, the entire package was a rebellion against the commercial success he had experienced to that point ("Hello It's Me" took its time ascending the charts, and was doing so at the time of the "AWATS" release).
Also, in '73 (April, a month after "AWATS" was released), Todd produced the debut New York Dolls album (also in NY, where he recorded "AWATS"). Readers might find interesting to read about my two weekends with the Dolls that year (and what Sylvain told me how the band felt about his production), as well as my brief meeting with Todd 5 years later: bradkyle.substack.com/p/into-the-doll-house-with-todd-rundgren
Nice! Always gotta push the boundaries!
Freakin 1973, guys. Pretty much nothing like it.
Have you guys ever reviewed a Peter Townsend song? Maybe "keep me turning". "Somebody saved me"...
We havent yet, but we love the Who! Thanks Bedros!
TR is great
Prince sited this album as a HUGE influence
We could definitely see that!
Just some insight. Todd is really an acquired taste. He an eclectic genius. AWTS is one totally amazing lp. Todd was challenging his fans on his journey. Will you stay with me or leave me. Side one is like an woven abstract masterpiece of art work. Side two is a more mainstream but no less of a masterful compilation. Side one needs to be played all at once! Not song by song since it was meant to be played straight though. The art on the cover is the tip off. Music as an art form. That lp needs many listenings with headphones to understand. Classic Todd
Amazing! Thanks for your input!
FYI Todd is touring this album again. His tour of it was cut short from Covid
Back in 76, I blew this album cover up & drew it in my art class. It’s sitting in my dining room right now!
Now you’re getting into some wild stuff. This whole album is a trip. I would have gone with Sunset Boulevard. Wow that was weird. That was an edited version of the song, definitely not the way it is on the album.
This isn't the original version??
@@SightAfterDark The song opens the album and leads into 32 minutes of unbroken music (the physical limit you can put on an LP before you start to lose sound quality. The second medley on Side 2 ends with Le Feel Internationale which starts with “Everyone is mine, there’s no one left behind.” They took the two tracks and edited them together. Maybe this was released as a single but I’ve never heard it and this album is 48 years old.
PLEASE listen to this album! The 1st half of this song flows into Never Never Land, while thec2nd half is the end of "When...Boulevard". I liked the single version well enough, but it has never sounded right to me.
Thanks Jennifer!
Another song from this album---
czcams.com/video/ZVepufZZ_hs/video.html