What the hell is going on with this album? Soulful cover songs mixed with Flo & Eddie-era Zappa poly-rock? Peter Pan show tunes clashing with Paul McCartney-style pop at its most loony? This is Todd Rundgren: Top of his game pop songsmith attempting to shake off his soft rock reputation. After the release of the megahit album Something/Anything in 1972, Rundgren began ingesting progressive rock, jazz fusion, and heavy psychedelics. He soon discovered the sounds in his head were incongruent with the music he had been making, and he wanted to provide an unfiltered expression of his revelatory experiences.

Rundgren began ingesting progressive rock, jazz fusion, and heavy psychedelics.

Rundgren experimented with mescaline, psilocybin, and DMT during the writing and recording of these songs in 1972/1973. He often played all the instruments himself which can provide more insight into a solitary mind as opposed to a band’s interpretation. Secret Sound—a makeshift Manhattan studio he was building with the previous album’s royalties—was still under construction while this was being recorded, contributing to its fragmented nature.