The eponymous album title is intentional. Despite releasing
a half-dozen other records under the very same moniker, Utopia is clearly attempting to wipe the slate clean with lucky
seven. And they would love nothing more than to start the relationship with
their new label than with a big hit.
Utopia became the
band’s only release for Network records, and all of the MTV-schlocking that
Todd and company did for this album only got it to #84 on the Billboard charts.
The poor commercial showing has little to do with the music
within Utopia, a three-sided
exploration of the same kind of pop buzz that Rundgren began with Nazz. The 15
tracks presented here run the gamut to Todd’s attraction to Philly Soul, to the
power-pop infatuation of Deface The Music,
to the melting walls vibe of his own psychedelic garage origins. Utopia bounces along like an alternate
universe top 40 station if it were programmed by four nerdy white guys who just
bought a bunch of new wave records at Musicland.
It’s not Rundgren’s best production work, either. That
distinction would come with the next Utopia album, Oblivion. Nothing bites and the instruments just kind of belches
out of the mix. On one of the album’s best tracks-the tight package of opener
“Libertine”-always seemed to sound like the record’s pressing was just a tad
off-center, causing the song to have this strange warping effect that was
prevalent on each spin or every cassette copy. I’m happy to report that I
wasn’t on too much dope and my vinyl copy played just fine; the same effect is
noticeable to me on my compressed digital file.
There’s a track like “Libertine” on every side: tight,
simple, and enormously catchy. “Princess Of The Universe,” “Call It What You
Will,” and the MTV light-rotation lead single “Feet Don’t Fail Me Now” all
could have been contenders on a larger scale if this band was marketable beyond
the cult of Todd and fans of new wave pop.
The thing is, Utopia is made up of Todd Rundgren and his
circle of very seasoned musicians. This stuff should be a cakewalk with these
guys, so when things get a bit too goofy, too easy, and too clichĂ©d, there’s not
a lot of room to hide from the necessary finger wagging.
“Burn Three Times” takes the entire “love is like cooking in
the kitchen” motif a step too far and “There Goes My Inspiration” does the same
with art, somehow equating the idea that name-checking notable artists in a
song is somehow clever. There’s very little shelf life with a line like “Me and
Gaugin used to party down/I was hung in the Louvre, I was Renoir’s pal” after
hearing it a few times. Particularly when Rundgren practically wrote the book
on cleverness with that incredible “And when we’re through with you/We’ll get
me one too” ending to “We Gotta Get You A Woman.”
Utopia stands as
the band’s most unified piece of work, sounding like the work of four band
members working together instead of the democratic arrangements of records
past, where the main contributor had the majority rule on how the final mix
would sound.
Gone is the stitched-up running order where the songwriter
could be easily identified upon first listen. Utopia gives legs to the entire reinvention motif, impressively
putting a lid on Todd’s ego for a moment while the entire band works together
at selflessly helping their most notable member achieve one of his best
performances of the entire decade.
It’s a pop record of decent proportions, marred only by a
few missteps and the creepy marketing ploy where the band members look like
over-the-hill relics dressed up in New Wave clothing for the cover shot. Every
one of Utopia’s talented line-up should have known that you don’t need to dress
anything up when it you tailor a perfectly good two-and-a-half minute long pop
song.
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