Todd Rundgren turns back to 70's

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"It's the beginning of my real career as a musician," Todd Rundgren says of "A Wizard, a True Star." The 1973 album will be the focal point of his concerts Sunday and Monday at the Akron Civic Theatre.


Rundgren turns back to '70s 
By Malcolm X Abram
Beacon Journal music writer

POSTED: 06:54 p.m. EDT, Sep 07, 2009

Throughout his 40-year career, Todd Rundgren has seldom followed the latest musical/music business trends.

So when the singer/songwriter/guitarist/producer announced he would perform his 1972 album, A Wizard, A True Star in its entirety for the first time at the Akron Civic Theatre, it appeared that he was joining several other veteran acts such as Steely Dan and Aerosmith in the trend of playing classic albums.

But per usual, Rundgren didn't just do ''the usual,'' instead turning the live A.W.A.T.S. into an homage to the elaborately staged rock shows of the 1970s, complete with multiple costume changes, fancy lighting and an expanded ''all-star'' sextet band in white tuxes and tails.

Though the ''theatricalization'' of A.W.A.T.S. was known by fans, Rundgren did surprise many in the sold-out theater when the evening's opener turned out to be a reunion of Rundgren's eclectic prog/pop/rock band Utopia, which hasn't performed together in over a decade. They included original members keyboardist/singer Roger Powell and bassist/singer Kasim Sulton, and longtime Tubes/Rundgren drummer Prairie Prince, in place of John Wilcox.

''Hey, you're so kind. We're only the opening act,'' Rundgren said as the band, all wearing black jeans, sneakers and white tank tops performed a 40-minute-plus set that touched on both their arena rock ready tunes such as Hammer in My Heart and Abandon City, as well as its prog rock beginnings with a truncated version of the knotty half-hour piece Ikon, which allowed Rundgren, Powell and Sulton a few choruses each to show off their considerable instrumental chops.

As for the main event, Rundgren, 61, and his band successfully turned the odd, ambitious and endearing 55-minute album into an odd, ambitious and endearing hour-plus visual and aural rock 'n' roll theater of the absurd. The opener, International Feel, found Rundgren entering the stage in a space suit, the first of eight costume changes that included a black tuxedo for the cover of Never Never Land, a foppish burgundy velvet jacket, pants and puffy shirt for You Don't Have to Camp Around, a shirt-less hippie/bird getup for Zen Archer and a fat costume that resembled the Tweedle Twins from Alice in Wonderland.

As one might expect with the world premiere of a show that involves costume and stop-start-on-a-dime quick musical changes, the show did not go off without a hitch. Rundgren had a few problems with his mic headset, a couple of times fans could hear him talking backstage while changing, one of the costume changes was premature, and the band missed a few cues. But for many Rundgren fans, those kinds of hiccups are a part of his appeal.

Musically, the band and Rundgren, who worked himself into a full body sweat, were solid, though as is frequently the case with rock shows at the Civic, fans not seated center stage got an uneven sound mix. Nevertheless, songs such as the guitar-driven Is It My Name rocked sufficiently and multi-instrumentalist and crowd favorite Bobby Strickland engaged in a saxophone/guitar duel with Rundgren on Zen Archer.

Rundgren stuck mostly to the album's 19 song (on CD) original running order, moving the fist-pumping When The S--- Hits the Fan/Le Feel Internationale from its spot at the end of Side A to the end and turning the album's closer, the concert staple Just One Victory, into a sing-along encore.

Presumably, as the nine-date minitour rolls into Chicago and eventually ends early next year in London, the miscues will have been ironed out, and the show will surely be tighter. But long-time Todd fans (the median age of the crowd was way north of 40) who have been watching and listening to Rundgren work out his wacky ideas on records and on stage for years (TR-I, anyone?) know that witnessing the warts as well as the magic is all part of the fun.

Malcolm X Abram can be reached at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758.
Throughout his 40-year career, Todd Rundgren has seldom followed the latest musical/music business trends.

So when the singer/songwriter/guitarist/producer announced he would perform his 1972 album, A Wizard, A True Star in its entirety for the first time at the Akron Civic Theatre, it appeared that he was joining several other veteran acts such as Steely Dan and Aerosmith in the trend of playing classic albums.

But per usual, Rundgren didn't just do ''the usual,'' instead turning the live A.W.A.T.S. into an homage to the elaborately staged rock shows of the 1970s, complete with multiple costume changes, fancy lighting and an expanded ''all-star'' sextet band in white tuxes and tails.

Though the ''theatricalization'' of A.W.A.T.S. was known by fans, Rundgren did surprise many in the sold-out theater when the evening's opener turned out to be a reunion of Rundgren's eclectic prog/pop/rock band Utopia, which hasn't performed together in over a decade. They included original members keyboardist/singer Roger Powell and bassist/singer Kasim Sulton, and longtime Tubes/Rundgren drummer Prairie Prince, in place of John Wilcox.

''Hey, you're so kind. We're only the opening act,'' Rundgren said as the band, all wearing black jeans, sneakers and white tank tops performed a 40-minute-plus set that touched on both their arena rock ready tunes such as Hammer in My Heart and Abandon City, as well as its prog rock beginnings with a truncated version of the knotty half-hour piece Ikon, which allowed Rundgren, Powell and Sulton a few choruses each to show off their considerable instrumental chops.

As for the main event, Rundgren, 61, and his band successfully turned the odd, ambitious and endearing 55-minute album into an odd, ambitious and endearing hour-plus visual and aural rock 'n' roll theater of the absurd. The opener, International Feel, found Rundgren entering the stage in a space suit, the first of eight costume changes that included a black tuxedo for the cover of Never Never Land, a foppish burgundy velvet jacket, pants and puffy shirt for You Don't Have to Camp Around, a shirt-less hippie/bird getup for Zen Archer and a fat costume that resembled the Tweedle Twins from Alice in Wonderland.

As one might expect with the world premiere of a show that involves costume and stop-start-on-a-dime quick musical changes, the show did not go off without a hitch. Rundgren had a few problems with his mic headset, a couple of times fans could hear him talking backstage while changing, one of the costume changes was premature, and the band missed a few cues. But for many Rundgren fans, those kinds of hiccups are a part of his appeal.

Musically, the band and Rundgren, who worked himself into a full body sweat, were solid, though as is frequently the case with rock shows at the Civic, fans not seated center stage got an uneven sound mix. Nevertheless, songs such as the guitar-driven Is It My Name rocked sufficiently and multi-instrumentalist and crowd favorite Bobby Strickland engaged in a saxophone/guitar duel with Rundgren on Zen Archer.

Rundgren stuck mostly to the album's 19 song (on CD) original running order, moving the fist-pumping When The S--- Hits the Fan/Le Feel Internationale from its spot at the end of Side A to the end and turning the album's closer, the concert staple Just One Victory, into a sing-along encore.

Presumably, as the nine-date minitour rolls into Chicago and eventually ends early next year in London, the miscues will have been ironed out, and the show will surely be tighter. But long-time Todd fans (the median age of the crowd was way north of 40) who have been watching and listening to Rundgren work out his wacky ideas on records and on stage for years (TR-I, anyone?) know that witnessing the warts as well as the magic is all part of the fun.
http://www.ohio.com/news/57660187.html

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Wizard and true star Todd Rundgren set to play landmark 1973 album at two Akron Civic Theatre concerts
by John Soeder, Plain Dealer Reporter Friday September 04, 2009, 12:30 AM

It's all the rage lately: From Van Morrison to Steely Dan, classic-rockers have been performing classic albums from start to finish in concert.

Not to be outdone, Todd Rundgren will make a two-night stand Sunday and Monday at the Akron Civic Theatre, where he'll present his magnum opus "A Wizard, a True Star" in its entirety at each show.

Far be it from this art-rock cult hero merely to jump on the bandwagon and play the music, though.

"This is not that," Rundgren insisted, reached by phone at home on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

Rather, he's intent on bringing the album to life.

"You know me," he said, laughing.

"If I get an opportunity like this, I'm not going to squander it by just going through the motions. . . . It's not simply playing the record. This is actually a theatricalization of the record. It's got to be more like a Las Vegas revue or a Broadway show."

He was leery of giving away surprises, but Rundgren promised everything from elaborate video presentations to costume changes.

"We've amped up the whole production," he said. "I'll even be doing some characters, in the context of the music. Instead of just being myself, I'll be acting out the music."

He'll be accompanied by guitarist Jesse Gress, keyboardists Roger Powell and Greg Hawkes, sax player Bobby Strickland, bassist Kasim Sulton and drummer Prairie Prince.

Originally released in 1973, "A Wizard, a True Star" didn't generate any Top 40 hits, although it featured "Just One Victory," a signature Rundgren tune. Alongside whimsical bursts of experimental original material, the eclectic album also made room for covers of various R&B oldies and "Never Never Land" from the Broadway musical "Peter Pan."

Rundgren, 61, plans to flesh out the performances with other songs, too.

"People can be assured that they're not going to hear just an hour's worth of music," he said. "It's going to be a full show, but 'A Wizard, a True Star' is the reason we're all there. Put it this way: If someone isn't excited enough about seeing 'A Wizard, a True Star,' nothing else is going to push them over the edge."

Of course, all of the above begs a basic question: Why?

"You're not the first to ask," Rundgren said.

The idea of revisiting "A Wizard, a True Star" in concert was first proposed to him by a British promoter, who hipped Rundgren to the fact that his landmark album had found a new following.



"A Wizard, a True Star" didn't generate any Top 40 hits, although it featured "Just One Victory," a signature Todd Rundgren tune.

"A young generation of electronica and turntable artists are quoting the record," Rundgren said. "They're not only citing it as some sort of a seminal record in electronica, but they're literally taking bits of it and sampling them into their own records."
Rundgren is set to take his "A Wizard, a True Star" production to London in February.

When American fans caught wind of the overseas show, they clamored for a stateside run. A seven-date U.S. tour was booked, starting in Akron.

Northeast Ohio "is in the heartland of my support," Rundgren said.

"It's been that way since, geez, the late '60s. So if there's any place where this would have a likelihood of at least paying for itself, if not becoming a flashpoint for a whole phenomenon, it would have to be the Cleveland area."

Rundgren has always had a soft spot for "A Wizard, a True Star," too.

"To me, it's the beginning of my real career as a musician," he said.

"Up until then, I was pretty much following the rules of the game. An album was a collection of singles, and singles were all short, accessible songs that usually were about the opposite sex. 'Something/Anything?' [Rundgren's 1972 double album, with the Top 5 single "Hello It's Me"] was an attempt for me to get a grip on that.

"By the time I got to the end of that record, I not only had a grip on it, but I was bored with it."

When he began work on "A Wizard, a True Star," he was putting the finishing touches on his own recording studio.

"I was still crawling around on the floor, wiring stuff behind the console when the musicians were setting up," he said.

"I'd run in and say, 'OK, here's this part, now practice this,' then I'd go back a wire a little more, until I finally got it together enough so we could capture the songs.

"From that point on, all of the usual rules about making records didn't apply. I didn't have to book the studio. I could show up any time of day or night. There were no bills, except the electric bill. And I didn't have to consider how long I spend noodling around on something. . . . The record, in a sense, represented that freedom."

While preparing for the concerts, Rundgren gained fresh insights into the album.

"In going back and listening to it again and reviewing the lyrics, I realized that it wasn't as nonsensical as I thought it was," he said. "That was kind of a pleasant surprise, that it wasn't as silly as I thought."

Spoken like a wizard, a true star, no?

That album title was meant as a joke, by the way.

"It was a spoof on becoming a show-biz personality," Rundgren said. "I think I read it in a review somewhere -- 'a wizard, a true star' -- and it just amused me. It wasn't supposed to be serious."

http://www.cleveland.com/music/index.ssf/2009/09/wizard_and_true_star_todd_rund.html

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HELLO, It's me ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsezr0qiFIc

Rundgren to recreate classic album at Stamford Palace
Updated: 09/02/2009 11:51:32 PM EDT

When rock 'n' roll icon Todd Rundgren released "Something/Anything?" in 1972, it was hailed as a masterwork of pop songcraft by critics and fans alike.

A kaleidoscopic journey through the mind of a brilliant pop musician, the record explored hard rock, Motown, vaudeville and blue-eyed soul and produced two chart-topping hits: the Carole King pastiche "I Saw the Light" and the classic piano ballad "Hello It's Me."

But teeming just beneath the surface of "Something/Anything?" was a strange sense of humor, an aesthetic quirkiness hinting that Rundgren, a producer with diverse musical tastes, would never be satisfied as a conventional singer-songwriter.

Those suspicions were confirmed on Rundgren's 1973 follow-up, "A Wizard, A True Star." A bizarre, yet captivating collage of post-psychedelia, prog rock and found sounds, the record was a departure from the mainstream to the realm of the esoteric. However, the album was much more honest and introspective, a work in which the Philadelphia native explored his most outlandish musical fascinations -- and his true admirers loved him for it.

"It's a popular album among hardcore fans, because you're getting insight into the personality of the artist," Rundgren said recently in a telephone interview. " 'AWATS' drew them closer to me and they have been ever since."

To celebrate this classic -- if underappreciated -- record, Rundgren will head out on a tour to perform the album live, in its entirety, for the first time in his decades-long career. He takes the stage at Stamford's Palace Theatre on Wednesday for a performance modeled after his lavish stage shows of the 1970s.

"This album is, for most people, a head trip," said Rundgren, who celebrated his 61st birthday in June. "(The performance) will be theatrical, rather than just a recreation of the record."

Much like the space-themed shows of the "AWATS" era, the performance will feature Rundgren touring veterans Jesse Gress, Kasim Sulton, Prairie Prince, Greg Hawkes and Roger Powell, as well as eye-popping visuals -- videos, lights, lasers and smoke machines. Rundgren, who once took on a space-rock persona on stage, also plans on making eight costume changes.

"Or the ones I can still fit into," he added, laughing.

The idea for the tour came last year, when a London promoter, observing that many up-and-coming British artists noted "AWATS" as a major influence, planned to stage a concert in the city. However, after the promoter failed to produce an offer, a cadre of Rundgren's American fans, led by Rundgren Radio's Doug Ford, hurriedly organized a tour for the States.

"AWATS" Live will take Rundgren through Akron, Ohio; Stamford; Chicago; and Minneapolis before dropping him off in London. It also will be recorded for release on DVD.

"Why should the British have the benefit of this when (my fans in the United States) want it just as bad as they do?" Rundgren said.

According to Ford, the purpose of the tour is not to recapture Rundgren's mainstream following, but to cater to the "hardcore Todd fanbase" that has long treasured "AWATS" as the high watermark in Rundgren's career.

"This is for the people who grew up on 'AWATS,' " said Ford, adding that the first of two shows scheduled at the Akron Civic Center is sold out.

Even though Rundgren has existed on the fringes of the mainstream for most of his career -- "Something/Anything" being the notable exception -- he has garnered a rabid cult following. That following was solidified with "AWATS," a record Rundgren described as "a whole new start." Indeed, not only was the 19-track album sonically different, but it was structurally different as well.

"The decisions I made with the record weren't strictly musical," Rudgren explained. "They were about the psychology of the LP. We had this 20-minute to 30-minute blank space to put any sound you wanted into. My contemporaries would think in three- or four-minute and five- or six-minute chunks. One of the first things I wanted to experiment with on 'AWATS' was breaking out of that sensibility."

Not one of the tracks on "AWATS" broke the Billboard charts. What Rundgren's listeners got instead was a weird cosmic trip, a patchwork of song snippets and melodies that hover in and out of an ambient, postmodern haze.

From the space-rocket-lift-off effects of the album's opener, "International Feel,"

to the campy soft rock of "You Don't Have to Camp Around," to the epic pyschedelia of "Zen Archer," side one of the album is spellbinding. Side two features a medley of covers of doo-wop and bubblegum soul hits, along with the signature live track and album closer, "Just One Victory." With its themes of hope and perseverance and complex rhythmic patterns and chord-verse structure, the song is a reflection of Rundgren's longtime penchant for stylistic exploration and his self-confidence as

a songwriter.

To this day, "AWATS" exists as a testament to Rundgren's avant-garde approach and his status as one of rock 'n' roll's true mavericks.

" 'AWATS' was a break from the old way of doing things," Rundgren said. "I tasted what freedom was like. I did anything I wanted. I have done this ever since ... this was my declaration of independence."

Todd Rundgren performs Wednesday 7:30 p.m. at the

Palace Theatre, Stamford. $60-$125. 330-253-2488,

www.AWATSlive.com.

Todd Rundgren performs Wednesday 7:30 p.m. at the Palace Theatre, Stamford. $60-$125. 330-253-2488, www.AWATSlive.com.
http://www.connpost.com/ci_13257903?source=most_emailed

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