Personnel: Todd Rundgren (vocals, various instruments); Robbie Kogale, Amos Garret, Ralph Walsh, Rick Vito, Rick Derringer (guitar); Ben Keith (pedal steel guitar); Gene Dinwiddie, Jim Horn, John Kelson, Mike Brecker (tenor saxophone); Randy Brecker (trumpet); Barry Rodgers (trombone); Mark Klingman (piano, organ); Charlie Schoning (piano); Stu Woods, John Siegler, Jim Colgrove, Bugsy Maugh (bass); Hunt Sales, Tony Sales, John Siomos, Billy Mundi (drums); Serge Katzen (conga); Vicki (Sue) Robinson, Edward Olmos, Hope Ruff, Richard Corey, Dennis Cooley, Cecelia Norfleet, Brook Baxes, Anthony Carrubba, Henry Fanton (background vocals).
Engineers: Dan Turbeville, Nick Jameson, James Lowe.
Recorded at I.D. Sound, Los Angeles, California; The Record Plant, New York; Bearsville Sound, Woodstock, New York.
Ultradiscs are mastered from the original master tapes using Mobile Fidelity's proprietary mastering technique, then plated with 24-karat gold and housed in a stress-resistant lift-lock jewel box.
One of the best albums of the '70s, Todd Rundgren's third solo project is a sprawling two-disc masterpiece that smartly avoids the self-indulgence that occasionally marred his later records. Rundgren recorded the first three sides of this album by himself, yet somehow the songs have a very open, organic feel missing from other one-man-band records of the early '70s by folks like Paul McCartney, Roy Wood, or R. Stevie Moore. Classics like the enormous hit "I Saw the Light" and the power-pop mainstay "Couldn't I Just Tell You" abound, alongside odder tracks like the pre-AMERICAN GRAFFITI homage "Wolfman Jack" and "Song of the Viking." Side four is a loose studio jam with a small army of pals, featuring the magnificent "Hello It's Me" alongside much goofier material like "Some Folks Is Even Whiter Than Me." A pop-music masterpiece.
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