![]() ![]() ![]() And then there are some covers, and live Rundgren songs. You also have songs like "The Wheel", which is where you learn whether you can hang with Todd's "Mr. Whereas on the next album John Wilcox comes into his own and is perfect, here he is less than mind-blowing and after Ellman, that definitely takes some getting used to. First off, drummer Kevin Ellman is gone, and that changes everything. But it is still the lame duck of the bunch. ![]() Those are two of my favorite albums ever, and this one is just. They had done before with 'Ra' or with Steve Hillage on his album 'L'.I used to hate this album, mostly because I thought it was a joke compared to what came before it (TR's Utopia) and what came after (Ra). Guys never really took themselves that seriously, just having some fun - but it's a littleĭisappointing that their talents weren't focused towards more progressive ventures, as I have some video clips of songs from this album and it's nice to see that the Some songs border on the cheezy side, but definate winners are : Libertine, Feet Don'tįail Me Now, I'm Looking at You., There Goes My Inspiration and Princess of the With some excellent synth playing from Roger Powell, and Kasim Sulton's solid Bass work. Performance or on their respective instruments, of which the overall mix is well balanced, Sometimes quirky, with each member contributing 100% to the songs, either in vocal Having said that, it is a neat album of catchy and clever pop tunes, highly melodic, Sadly, not really anything to do with prog. To-eye with this, self-titled release from 1982. Utopia could be considered as a band version of Todd Rundgren - they certainly saw eye. Posted Tuesday, Ap| Review this album | Report (Review #75310) The five tracks which appeared on sides three and four were dropped when the album became a single LP disc, but restored to the CD version. Incidentally, when originally released, this was a double album, the fourth side being exactly the same as the third. Rundgren, who had a long association with Bearsville, finally managed to extricate himself only to find that Network went bust a year later. It has to be said, this was not helped by an almost complete absence of marketing. Following well publicised difficulties with Bearsville, not least of which was the fact that the band were increasingly unable to shift any meaningful quantities of their albums. This was the band only album for the Network label. The band are without doubt masters of the art of composition and performance, it's just a shame they do not chose to challenge themselves to exploit their talents more fully. In all, an enjoyable if basic album of short pop songs. "I'm looking at you?" is pretty much a straight clone of "Love is the answer", but works nevertheless. "Hammer in my heart" accentuates the new wave feel, with a thumping beat and a decent guitar break. This being their first (and only) album for the young Network label the band, and Todd in particular, was keen to give them something which would be commercially appealing.Īmong the better tracks are "Libertine", a Kasim Sulton lead slice of power pop, and "There goes my inspiration", a typical Rundgren ballad. With the tracks all lasting around three minutes (or less!), the emphasis is very much on pop. Tracks such as "Feet don't fail me now" and "Say yeah" for example sound like outtakes from that album. Certainly there are elements of all these styles, but the overriding impression is that this is little more than a follow on from the Beatles parody "Deface the music" release in 1980. The album has variously been described as new wave, two tone, and power pop. That said, all four band members get the opportunity here to take on lead vocals, while providing harmonies on other tracks. The classic line up of Rundgren/Powell/Sulton/Wicox had been in place for over five years and while as usual the song writing credits are democratically listed as being by "Utopia", Rundgren is clearly once again the principal protagonist. By the time of this 1982 release, it was becoming all but impossible to distinguish between Todd Rungren's solo material and that of Utopia. This album should not be confused with the band's first album, which goes under the name of "Todd Rundgren's Utopia". "There goes my inspiration" (He said it!)
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