Todd Rundgren: Album By Album

TODD RUNDGREN IS the Philadelphia-born whizzkid who could and should have been the biggest star of the '70s. Next month, the man John Lennon referred to as "Sodd Runtwhistle" comes to London to perform his greatest and most radical record, A Wizard, A True Star – a psych-prog, glam-punk rollercoaster ride that redefined the scope of the Anglo-American rock album. Either side of that 1973 release can be found dozens of godlike pop-rock masterworks – not to mention productions for clients as diverse as Meat Loaf and the New York Dolls. As all diehard Toddheads know, the man is a genius, a one-man Beatles whose oeuvre stretches from heartbreaking beauty to Mothers of Invention madness, heavy metal kidding to plangent blue-eyed soul. Persistently under-recognised, he's a rock and roll hero of our times.