Critical reception Despite poor sales, Wizard received widespread critical acclaim. Patti Smith wrote in her review for Creem: "Blasphemy even the gods smile on. Rock and roll for the skull. A very noble concept. Past present and tomorrow in one glance. Understanding through musical sensation. Todd Rundgren is preparing us for a generation of frenzied children who will dream in animation." NMEs Nick Kent wrote that it was "a great record", praising its "versatility", and ended his review by saying it was "already destined to be one of my ten best-dressed of '73, and you deserve a kick in the pants if you don't purchase it." Ron Ross of Phonograph Record deemed "Zen Archer" to be "Todd's most gorgeous single achievement yet" and said that the album "should stand as a final testament to the powerful musical and emotional emancipations of the 60s." Playboy described it as "the usual maddening Rundgren smorgasbord", however, "[t]he first side is even more weird, incoherent, funny and, somehow, brilliant. Todd is surely not, as one of his titles would have it, 'Just Another Onionhead.'" Jerry Gilbert of Sounds said the album was "truly amazing". The record elicited some mixed reactions. Billboard wrote: "Certainly an unusual LP from the singer/writer/producer, filled with varying vocal styles, strange sounds courtesy of Moogs and other exotic instruments, and fine songs from Rundgren and others. Set takes some time to grow, but ... FM stations should have a ball with this one. Less favorably, Creems Robert Christgau deemed Rundgren "a minor songwriter with major woman problems who's good with the board and has a sense of humor". Rolling Stones James Isaacs reviewed that it was "his most experimental, and annoying, effort to date ... I doubt that even the staunchest Rundgren cultists will want to subject themselves to most of the japery on side one, which would be better suited for a cartoon soundtrack. On the other hand, side two's restraint, its brimming good humor and its ambience of innocence is irresistible, and helps save A Wizard, A True Star from total disaster." Among retrospective assessments of Wizard, music journalist Barney Hoskyns called the record "the greatest album of all time ... a dizzying, intoxicating rollercoaster ride of emotions and genre mutations [that] still sounds more bravely futuristic than any ostensibly cutting-edge electro-pop being made in the 21st Century." In MusicHound Rock (1996), Christopher Scapelliti described Wizard as "a