Rundgren and Prog....

[progman1975]

Love Utopia - RA.... anything else he has released in that vain???

[Jubal]

Todd Rundgren's Utopia is fantastic. A Wizard/A True Star has a lot of Proggy goodness, yet it can be very syrupy in places as well.
"Todd" has some good stuff as well.
Another Live is also a pretty fair live album.
You may also want to check out Something/Anything. While that is much more of a Pop album, it is generally ranked very highly by Todd fans.

[mx20]

I should probably revisit Utopia at some point. Funnily, I love prog (obviously; here I am on PE) and I love Todd's poppy syrupy stuff (esp. Something/Anything), but Utopia always just annoyed me. I'll have to try again now that I'm a grown up.

[philsunset]

"A Treatise on Cosmic Fire" from the Initiation album.

[arturs]

I was just listening to the recent live cd of Todd's 2010 performance of "Healing". With a crack band and choir (inspiring Gospel arrangements), this performance is far better than the original Healing disc, which was already pretty good. I would check it out. A great combination of gospel and prog and pop and new age music.

[JJ88]

'A Wizard/A True Star' is one of the best albums of the era for me*...but only some of it would qualify as 'prog'. I'd say 'International Feel', 'Zen Archer' and the various instrumentals do. It's like an encyclopedia of popular music up to that point- ranging from a soul medley to an Al Jolson parody.

The double album which followed, 'Todd', continued in a similar direction and was almost as good.

I think he could get terribly over-indulgent at times, as seen on 'Initiation' which has a 35 minute, sprawling synth-heavy instrumental 'A Treatise On Cosmic Fire'. That might appeal as well...it didn't to me, but my tastes may have changed in the years since I've played it. I think whatever you make of what he was doing in that mid 70s period, one must admire the ambition and bloody-mindedness of it all!

*I'd say 'Something/Anything' is as well, but that's *definitely* not prog.

[Zeuhlmate]

Utopia - masterpiece all the way (indispensable!)
Another life - has 2 excellent masterpiece tunes and some less well thought out, and one horrible track - worth it for those 2 tracks alone
Ra - great tunes and some average, but the band is less inspired than on utopia and another life
A true wizard - original interesting blend, some tracks are excellent
Todd - some is very interesting, but a lot of really cheasy stuff too.

[Vic2012]

I have Todd's Utopia and RA. Both are great. I played Ra a few days ago, first time in a couple years. Good stuff

[singring57]

Healing Pt 1 -3 is just breathtaking.....do not miss it !!

[mkeneally]

To the OP, don't get confused between the album "Todd Rundgren's Utopia" (blue cover with an eye in the center, and extremely proggy) and the album "Utopia" (photo of band on the cover, and extremely poppy).

[Scrotum Scissor]

A Wizard, A True Star is - IMHO - a *BONAFIDE* progressive rock album. Even some of his long-form experiments with The Nazz were adventurous enough to be labelled as such.

[JKL2000]

I was just listening to the recent live cd of Todd's 2010 performance of "Healing". With a crack band and choir (inspiring Gospel arrangements), this performance is far better than the original Healing disc, which was already pretty good. I would check it out. A great combination of gospel and prog and pop and new age music.

I always loved Golden Goose - a great piece of Rundgren wackiness.

Lost Horizon from A Capella is a great moody number that sounds proggy to me.

[YESHEAD777]

I played RA for my wife the other day and it blew her way! Hiroshima, Sing Ring, etc. Awesome stuff. One of my desert island discs.

[grego]

"A Treatise on Cosmic Fire" from the Initiation album.

This whole album is good. Great vocals, good tunes on the a side.

[the winter tree]

I think the UTOPIA debut is one of the most original American Prog albums. It manages to be "Prog" without sounding much like the British groups (YES, ELP, Genesis, etc.). An American Prog classic.

[Progbear]

A Wizard/A True Star isn’t a prog album, it’s just a really, really, really bizarre and freaked-out pop-rock album. Incidentally, it’s one of my most-loved albums of all time. Todd tries to one-up that album as a double LP, but with some lesser material. Some interesting instrumentals there. Initiation is definitely prog, with a 36-minute instrumental suite and a fusion-flavoured title track.

[JAMOOL]

Awesome to hear someone stick up for Ra - I think a lot of listeners pegged him as going overboard by that point. The first Utopia album is also very good, maybe even better. It feels like Todd's first stab at a big-time prog rock album and while there are definitely some Yes/ELP influences there I think it holds up real well as its own thing. Most of "The Ikon" is very distinctly Todd (notably the excellent soul melodies) and he's definitely unafraid to let things spiral out of control. After that Utopia became more pop/New Wave and tbh while a lot of that work is also excellent it may not push your buttons the same way.

As for Todd's solo work - honestly a lot of his early albums have some progginess to them, particularly Wizard and Todd. Initiation is his only fully-blown prog album and it's kind of a failure in my opinion.

[3RDegree_Robert]

I believe above posts have done a good job of finding the most Prog of Todd's recordings. One you might have missed is the title track to his 1991 album "Second Wind" which was a good example.
51HV1gZnlHL._SX300_.jpg
A ballad named "Kindness" from the same album was our (3RDegree's) entry to the 2nd of 2 Todd Rundgren tribute albums put out by Third Lock Records in the early 90's. We also sent them our take on "Fascist Christ" from '93's NO WORLD ORDER and the decidedly more proggy of the two. It is VERY hard to find now but has some great stuff on it.

I also think Todd did "proggy" things that you generally wouldn't call prog but were "in spirit" like:

1. Made a whole album using only voices-no instruments: A Cappella (1985)
2. Made a half an album of totally faithful reproductions of 60's rock classics: Faithful (1976)
3. Was a classic rocker in his 40's making a mostly rap album: No World Order (1993)
4. Created an alter-ego ("tr-i" as in Todd Rundgren Interactive) and a patronage music scheme in the 90's
5. Made a studio album on a stage asking the crowd not to clap (although Joe Jackson did this earlier): Second Wind (1991)

[progeezer]

FWIW, the first time I heard "Open My Eyes", "If That's The Way You Feel" & "Crowded" from the Nazz debut, I knew this guy was really on to something..

[Obscured]

A Wizard/A True Star isn’t a prog album, it’s just a really, really, really bizarre and freaked-out pop-rock album. Incidentally, it’s one of my most-loved albums of all time. Todd tries to one-up that album as a double LP, but with some lesser material. Some interesting instrumentals there. Initiation is definitely prog, with a 36-minute instrumental suite and a fusion-flavoured title track.

Such a brilliant album, incredible seeing it performed live a few years ago.

"RA", with it's "Singring and the Glass Guitar (An Electrified Fairytale)" def fits the prog bill and I think the "Adventures In Utopia" album is quite proggy too; 'Caravan" ends with a Rundgren/Powell guitar/keyboard battle reminiscent of several Yes-Howe/Wakeman runs.

[Paulrus]

Love Utopia - RA.... anything else he has released in that vain???

Oh no, it's the spelling nazi!

vain
(vān/)
adjective: having or showing an excessively high opinion of one's appearance, abilities, or worth

vein
(vān/)
noun: a distinctive quality, style, or tendency

You're welcome. (ducks)

[Zeuhlmate]

A Wizard/A True Star isn’t a prog album, it’s just a really, really, really bizarre and freaked-out pop-rock album.

Why not prog?
Not that I want to split hairs, cause a fire, make someone cry, etc. but to me its pretty proggy, even avantish here and there. Psych, BeachBoys, Heavy, Avant, Glam and intricate composition...
Wonder if Queen ever listened to Rundgren.

I think this tune is my favorite on this:

[tallliman]

To my mind, Todd is a progressive artist, perhaps not making music that sounds like the big 5, but one that pushes the boundaries as 3rdDegree man above has stated. AWATS is a prog album to me, as is Todd, Initiation and Healing. The latter, is a very odd album but wonderful on the whole.

[Polypet]

Something/Anything and Wizard ruled my world back in the day, as did Todd and Initiation. Having been a fan of the Nazz and his solo work, this was the recording-wise Todd that really turned me on. the releasing of Wizard after Something/Anything was a real eye opener for me - the irreverence of S/A, the finely crafted pop, etc followed by such a surreal and avant-rock record as Wizard became a template for my own attitude moving forward. There was so much great music happening in that time, actually, it was heady to feel like one was part of it. But Todd's work and aesthetic really spoke to me.

And I don't think anyone really ever doubted that he was a progressive artist the entire time. The range of music he produced, the attitude of his work, and the complexity of much of it, not to mention his pioneering mastery of synthesis and other technologies definitely put him in that category, imho.

Wizard, though... man, what a uniquely brilliant statement that record is

[bob_32_116]

I've heard Something/Anything, Todd, and bits of A Wizard. I tried to like them, but I could only like individual songs, not the albums as a whole. "over-indulgent" is how someone else here descibed them, and I would say the same.

He is however an excellent producer.