ra LP

Utopia | Format: Vinyl

Product Details

• Vinyl
• Label: BR
• ASIN: B001A4BFYK
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #900,504 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Have For All Utopia Enthusiasts, January 25, 1999

By 

Karl Lehenbauer (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ra (Audio CD)

Preceding Adventures In Utopia, which is perhaps Utopia's most commercially accessible album, Ra is for me the best album the band produced. Todd Rundgren is very creative and playful here, free from the suffering that seems to undermine a lot of his later work. I get the feeling that the band had fun making this record, and it rocks. Todd and Roger Powell create hypnotic synth and guitar interplay, trading licks in Jealousy, Sunburst Finish, Hiroshima and Singring and the Glass Guitar. Utopia's signature four-part vocal harmonies are right on throughout, and Todd, Kasim Sultan, Roger, Pand Willie Wilcox are uniquely showcased both as vocalists and musicians in Singring.

This is one to have... and listen to.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good musicianship, July 20, 2007

By 

Jeffrey J.Park (Massachusetts, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ra (Audio CD)

This 1977 follow-up to the great 1974 debut (Todd Rundgren's Utopia) covers somewhat similar ground (American proggy hard rock), although the lineup had been stripped back and there was a higher proportion of shorter pieces. While I do not feel that RA is as consistently good as the debut, there is some excellent musicianship and fantastic melodies that make this album a worthwhile addition to the prog rock collection.

The huge, electric "orchestra" present on the debut had been reduced to a four-piece comprised of Roger Powell (synthesizers, piano, organ, and vocals); Todd Rundgren (electric and acoustic guitars); Kasim Sulton (electric bass guitar and vocals); and John "Willie" Wilcox (drums percussion, and vocals). This lineup was great and there is some impressive proggy ensemble work on RA. The abilities of each member are showcased on the lengthy track Singring and the Glass Guitar (An Electrified Fairytale) - they all get a 1-2 minute unaccompanied solo. Of the solos, I liked Roger's synthesizer workout the best.

The seven tracks on RA range in length from 3'28" to the lengthy 18'24" Singring and the Glass Guitar. The music on RA is very much in the vein of what you might expect from the early Utopia albums: Olympian-scale feats on individual instruments; dense ensemble work; great vocal harmonies; and the occasional pop hook or two...or three. In general, I am fine with the music although I do not think that Singring works very well from a composition perspective: while there are excellent main themes and some great ensemble work at the beginning and end, about half of the piece is comprised of unaccompanied solos, a few of which are just a bit dull. My favorite tracks include Overture: Mountaintop and Sunrise/Communion with the Sun along with Sunburst Finish, although all of the pieces have something to offer. The odd track out is Magic Dragon Theatre which merges a scene from an imaginary "play" (complete with dialog), with some good prog. Very interesting overall.

In terms of the concepts on RA, quite literally, everything under the "sun" is taken on. Of these concepts, the one that I latched on to (or at least loosely embraced) is that presented on Singring. There is a narrator on Singring that is supposed to be a Middle Earth dweller (an elf) that narrates the tale of Singring in what sounds like a mock Scottish accent on helium. I have to admit it is actually pretty funny, although I can imagine that most prog fans would raise their eyebrows at this track. As far as the actual concept goes, Singring tells the tale of four brave souls that locate the four keys needed to open up a glass guitar that contains an imprisoned and weeping spirit (Singring). I may be way off here (I am a Biologist), but it seems that Todd may have been bemoaning the loss of urgency and "spiritual vitality" in music in the late 1970's - "if you take a look around, harmony is dying" - and that this was his attempt to "rescue" the vitality and urgency of rock music. If this is what the band was aiming for then hats off to them.

In terms of the CD package, Rhino/Bearsville did a pretty good job and the CD booklet features each of the band members dressed up in Egyptian garb and posed in odd (quasi-ritualistic?) stances - with the exception of the drummer who simply stands with his arms folded over his chest. The lyrics to each of the songs are printed on the inner sleeve. The sound quality is excellent.

All in all, while RA is a good album of interesting prog rock and nice pop tunes, there were aspects of the album that just did not sit too well with me, although I am very forgiving and was able to overlook them. I would recommend this album to hardcore proggers as the last album of its type to be released by Utopia. After RA, the band plunged headlong into pop territory with Oops, Wrong Planet (1977). For those folks that are starting out with Utopia, definitely snag the 1974 debut album - it is a great listen.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars RA gets an A in my book!, November 24, 2001

By 

Michael J Harrington (Phoenix, Arizona USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ra (Audio CD)

As a lot of the other reviews say, yes a lot of this CD from Todd's alter-ego Utopia is somewhat 'dated', but heck, so is a LOT of music from this era that I STILL listen to today because a LOT of today's music is just not 'making the cut'.

Ra is Utopia at their very best - very creative, inventive yet still keeping the pop sensibilities that Todd brings to the show. I always thought that Utopia was Todd's outlet for experimentation, and he always let other members of the band contribute equally to the effort.

If you were to only own 1 Utopia CD, this is IT. Some of the earlier stuff is great but 'out there', and a lot of the later stuff was just too commercial/pop for me. Ra is the perfect mix of great pop (Eternal Love), rockers (Communion with the sun) and a classic prog-rock fairy tale (Singring). To me, this is a must-have for any serious rock music fan that dares to listen to something out of the ordinary.