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Source	Rating
AllMusic
Christgau's Record Guide	B–
Creem	B+
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
MusicHound Rock	5/5
Record Collector
The Rolling Stone Album Guide

A Wizard, a True Star is the fourth solo album by Todd Rundgren, released in 1973. The album peaked on the Billboard 200 album chart at number 86.

The first side of the album consists of an extended suite called "The International Feel (in 8)"; the component songs segue into one another, and the lyrics are frequently humorous or hallucinatory.

The album's especially long playing time (55:56) pushed the limits of how much music could fit on a LP record. Each side is much longer than the typical 17 to 20 minutes of a typical album. Therefore, the groove spacing is narrower, causing a significant drop in volume and sound quality. Rundgren acknowledged this issue on the album's inner sleeve. He advised listeners (presumably in jest) to turn up the volume on their speakers to compensate. The first vinyl release was mastered by noted audio engineer Robert "Bob" Ludwig at Sterling Sound and is identifiable by the notation "STERLING RL" written in the run-out grooves.

Four of the musicians featured on the album – Klingman, Labat, Shuckett and Siegler – would go on to be core players in the early version of Rundgren's band Todd Rundgren's Utopia.

Arthur Wood made the painting that is featured on the cover. Arthur included cryptic symbols in his cover art that, when deciphered, spell out the following messages:

First issues of the vinyl LP included a postcard encouraging purchasers to send in their names to be included on a poster in Todd's next album, and was die-cut with curly corners. Also included was a "band aid" poem written by Patti Smith which was a bio about the album. Reissues of the vinyl LP did not include these extras, and the cover was a standard square cover.

In late 2009 and early 2010, Rundgren began touring the album after hearing it had a new audience of young fans (most famously the British electropop band Hot Chip). The idea originated with a promoter in London but when he didn't make an offer for the tour, two fans from RundgrenRadio.com, a fan-based internet radio program, started a limited U.S. tour of the album in 2009 which was followed the next year by two shows in Europe.

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