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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Magnificent, August 7, 2001
By turns it's art-rock, ethereal, a dash of fusion and even pop--reflecting the trends of the period and also some of the more progressive cross-pollination. I adore this album, I rue the day this line-up disbanded and TR trimmed down this glorious type of music to a streamlined 4-pc. group w/less experimentation. Though Utopia went on to create some fine stuff showcasing Todd's genius for songcraft, nothing ever again equaled this in terms of scope and majesty. I don't know if he took the bad press to heart or what. It's a shame that those who can't handle sophistication and complexity when it comes to rock music have to pan something like this. The simple 3-chord garage/punk/metal etc. will always be around; just think what a dull, monochromatic world it would be if that was all there was.
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dance music for outer space people., June 14, 2005
When I first heard this album in either 78 or 79, I was still very much into hard rock and heavy metal groups like Deep Purple, Blue Oyster Cult, Rush, Kiss, and Black Sabbath, so it was kind of surprising that I took to this album so fast. I personally think it's the best Utopia album and maybe the best thing that Todd Rundgren has ever done, before or since.
Utopia began life as a six piece, outer space jazz fusion, progressive metal outfit. The band had two keyboard players, one synthesizer player, and (obviously) a drummer, bassist, and of course, a guitarist and vocalist by the name of Todd Rundgren. For a six piece unit, they were awful darn tight, although all six members are given a chance to stretch out and solo on their respective instruments. And...remarkably for music this weird and complex....the musicians don't really sound like they are showing off. The whole album is very musical and highly listenable.
The album is very daring in it's song lengths...... the first song is 14 minutes long, the second one 10 minutes, the third just four minutes and the last one 30 minutes. And at a time when bands were afraid to put more than 20 minutes per album side ( back in them golden days of vinyl records), Utopia put nearly 29 minutes on the first half and 30 minutes on the second, the whole thing (just in case you didn't have your calculator out) clocking in at nearly an hour!
The first song, " Utopia " ( or " Utopia Theme ", depends on whether you have the cd or vinyl version), is probably my favorite song on the album. Trying to describe it and the rest of the songs is difficult, since there is so much going on musically for each song, but " Utopia " is essentially divided into three or four sections, and it's tough to say which section I like the best, since it's all great. Todd gets in some tough rhythm guitar playing and some very fluid and jazzy, space age metal lead guitar solos, Kevin Ellman's drumming is amazing. As I said earlier, there is a great deal going on during this lengthy track. Words can't describe it, you'll just have to experience it! It's even slightly danceable at times, especially if you are one of them aliens in the first Star Wars movie, which comes to mind when I listen to it.
" Freak Parade " may be the strangest track on the album....the highlights of the song ( to me) are the somewhat frightening synthesizer solo in the middle, the beautiful, classical like piano solo near the end and John Siegler's funky bass line on the fade out. " Freedom Fighters " is the most normal song on the album and my least favorite song here. It's rather tame compared to the rest of the album. Disappointingly, this was the only song from this album to make the Utopia Anthology CD.
As for " The Ikon ", for a song that runs half an hour long, it is highly listenable and very enjoyable and immediately likable, which I think is unusual for a song of it's considerable length. Lots of different musical sections and tons of solos, plenty of guitar and keyboard riffs and melodies...and yes, there is even some singing in it! Some of the more quiet sections remind me of Yes. The song somehow manages to sustain it's interest throughout it's entire 30 minutes...and 22 seconds.
This is a great album, full of very exciting and adventurous music. A must have!!
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Why does this album always seem to "fly under the radar" of prog fans?, May 23, 2006
I'm an avid prog rock fan, but I also have a pretty extensive collection of Todd, whose music most may view as "eclectic" if nothing else - dabbling at times in pop, prog, electronica, computer-based effects, etc. So if you never spent the time to get to know the Todd beyond his Carole King-like ballads, then you might have missed some pretty cool music of his. (You also would have missed some not-so-great stuff in and around, but we won't go into that here;-)
He was perhaps at his proggiest in 1974 and 1975 when he gave us "Todd Rundgren's Utopia" and followed it up with his "Initiation" album (which I've already gone on record as promoting as a personal "Top 5" album). But this Utopia album is different from all of the subsequent Utopia albums in one major way: the personnel that comprised all subsequent studio albums of the prog-pop Utopia were Todd, Kasim Sultan (bass), Roger Powell (keys), and John Wilcox (drums), while this one-off first Utopia album consisted of Todd, John Siegler (bass), Kevin Ellman (drums), and THREE keyboardists: Moogy Klingman, Ralph Schuckett, and Jean-Yves "M. Frog" Labat. Different sound and different musical focus.
The bottom line here is that this album is really something special for prog fans. The opener, "Utopia Theme", was recorded live in Atlanta, and really is superb for all of its 14 minutes, featuring GREAT guitars (by TR), synths, vocals, melodies, and mystical lyrics. The remainder of the album is studio recorded. The 10-minute "Freak Parade" begins with a great vibe, and ends with the solo bass line fading out. In between, you get a little Zappa-like quirkiness - a bit weird for me in places, but it does hold together pretty well. "Freedom Fighters" is not quite as "poppy" as some reviewers might have you believe. Yeah, it's written in 4/4 time and only lasts about 4 minutes, but it's also a pretty good song. And you kind of need that before the 30-minute-long album closer "The Ikon". This cut is classic prog that runs the gamut from symphonic to spacey (think "Treatise on Cosmic Fire" in spots), to jazz fusion, to Western hoedown! Lots of soloing and jamming combined with clever transitions to new sections.
If you like adventure and a plethora of keyboards in your prog diet, this first unique Utopia album is a great way to escape to musical nirvana. Recommended.
I value interesting music that is played and recorded well. This cd's rating was based on:
Music quality = 8.8/10; Performance = 9/10; Production = 8/10; CD length = 9/10.
Overall score weighted on my proprietary scale = 8.7 ("4 stars")
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