#Utopia band 1984 professional
#Utopia band 1984 series

Includes a really elaborate, mostly instrumental 11-minute pop symphony ('A Beautiful Song').

#Utopia band 1984 professional

Their second album was recorded in Britain and produced by the band, with a bunch of weird production gimmicks and interesting, professional string and horn arrangements by Rundgren, who wrote the whole record.

It's no coincidence that Rundgren re-recorded it for Something/Anything? Of definite interest to Rundgren fans and collectors of 60s curios. Meanwhile, 'Hello It's Me' is a druggy, down-tempo, harmony-laden masterpiece, well worth hearing in this form. The good news is the two sides of the single, which unlike the rest of the album was produced by the band: 'Open My Eyes' has some effective riffs, a cool middle, and an impressive drum beat.

#Utopia band 1984 series

With unimaginative producer Bill Traut at the helm, most of it is at least workmanlike.īut there's a lame, loud blues-rocker ('Wildwood Blues') 'She's Goin' Down' plods through a series of indulgent solos and the overwrought 'If That's The Way You Feel' can't make anything out of its complex melody and string arrangement. So instead of anything resembling either Bay Area hippy rock or LA folk rock, the record is packed with odes to mid-60s British pop music: Hollies-style ballads ('See What You Can Be' 'Crowded') and acid rockers a la Cream ('Back Of Your Mind' 'Lemming Song') or the Who ('When I Get My Plane,' like a low-budget 'I Can See For Miles'). Released when Rundgren was barely out of his teens, his first band's first album shows all of his later motifs: careful harmonies, blazing lead guitar parts, and a weird tendency to draw inspiration from all corners of rock's softer territories. Frog' Labat (keyboards), Todd Rundgren (guitar), Ralph Schuckett (keyboards), and John Siegler (bass).īy about 1976 the lineup had changed almost completely to include Rundgren, Roger Powell (keyboards), Kasim Sulton (bass), and John 'Willie' Wilcox (drums, ex-Hall & Oates band), all of whom sang lead vocals. Utopia: Kevin Ellman (drums), Mark 'Moogy' Klingman (keyboards), Jean Yves 'M. The Nazz: Robert 'Stewkey' Antoni (lead vocals, keyboards), Thom Mooney (drums), Todd Rundgren (guitar), Carson Van Osten (bass). If facts are what you're after, try The Todd Rundgren Connection instead. It's entertaining - particularly the timeline - but because he's now trying to make a living by selling stuff directly to his fans, it's highly commercial and not terribly informative. Over the past decade and a half he's occasionally ventured forth with a 'comeback' album, but from what I've heard none of these efforts really match his best records from the 70s. Rundgren continued putting out self-written/performed/produced solo albums on a regular basis, slowing down only when Utopia collapsed in the mid-80s after failing to gain a consistent mass audience. His first three records were as the leader of Philadelphia's mid-tempo late 60s rockers the Nazz, a band that didn't have a very distinct identity but did make some good music.ĭuring the early 70s he produced what many consider his best solo work, successfully keeping up with that era's phenomenal explosion of pop textures and styles.īy the mid-70s he'd formed Utopia, which eventually stabilized its composition around four virtuoso musicians who ended up splitting songwriting and singing responsibilities. Meanwhile, his lengthy digression with the somewhat faceless pop-rock group Utopia resulted in a lot of entertaining albums, but not a lot of commercial success, locking him ever more tightly into the image of a cult star.ĭespite all the missed opportunities, Rundgren and Utopia's catalogs are well worth exploring. Problem is, Rundgren has a habit of derailing his career with ambitious, idiosyncratic production experiments that antagonize the critics and confuse his fans. His magical early 70s records are shockingly good, combining Carole King-like melodies, Brian Wilson-like harmonies, Jimi Hendrix-like guitar playing, and late 60s Beatles-like production. Plays guitar, keyboards, horns, who knows what else has a huge vocal range writes prolifically and at least on most of his early records, proves himself with a dead-on command of melody, harmony, and arrangement. Swing To The Right - Utopia - The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect -Ģnd Wind - No World Order - Redux '92: Live In Japan -Ĭan you spell T-A-L-E-N-T? Not only is this guy an extraordinarily successful producer - he's done everything from Hall & Oates to the New York Dolls to Meat Loaf to XTC to Jill Sobule - but he's a musical polymath. Back To The Bars - Adventures In Utopia.