Utopie

   
Artist: Utopie

   Genre(s): 
Other
   

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Discography:


   
 Psychopathological Menstruationorgasm (Remastered)

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 13

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Stardom was handed to him with Something/Anything?, just Todd Rundgren spurned it. He wanted to explore new musical soil rather, and his adventures light-emitting diode him to variety Utopia in 1974. Initially, Utopia was a prog-rock septet featuring deuce-ace keyboardists, merely as the '70s progressed, the group evolved into a lustrous mainstream rock quartette. As the group evolved, Rundgren retreated into the screen background, as each of his bandmates contributed songs and lead-in vocals to the albums. By the early '80s, Utopia had developed into a hit-making entity in their possess correct, even if much -- if not all -- of their audience were simply consecrate Rundgren fans, which highlights the problem with Utopia: although they did rise their have signature good, they were notwithstanding constantly sensed as Rundgren's folly. And to a certain extent that was accurate, since the band's musical evolution often mirrored his have -- summation, once he distinct he had enough of the grouping in 1985, it ceased to survive. At that spot, Utopia was over a decennary quondam, which made it something more than than a betise, but even hardcore Rundgren fans will acknowledge that it's impossible to scene Utopia's life history as beingness altogether self-governing from his possess.


After all, the band was natural out of his desire to experiment with synthesizers and turn over into prog-rock. In its original incarnation, the group consisted of trey keyboardists -- Moogy Klingman, Ralph Shuckett, and Roger "M. Frog" Powell -- a bassist (King John Siegler), a percussionist (Kevin Elliman) and a drummer (King John "Willie" Wilcox), along with Rundgren on lead guitar. The band's first record album was released months after Rundgren's Sweeney Todd strike the stores. Appearing in October 1974, Sweeney Todd Rundgren's Utopia consisted of only 4 tracks, all of which were primarily instrumental, none of which were less than x minutes each. Rundgren continued in that guidance on his next solo record album, Initiation, which was released in natural spring 1975. Mere months later, Utopia released Some other Live, a wild bouncy album devoted to long synth experiments. Utopia's live concerts were pronounced by these improvisatory excursions, yet they were also distinguished by their video recording backdrops and random, computer-generated music.


Some other Live proven to be the culmination of the synth experiments and, in some ways, the long extend of willfully hard records Rundgren was making during the mid-'70s. After transcription the solo pop up album Faithful in 1976, he revamped Utopia, uncovering away two of the keyboardists (Klingman and Shuckett), as Elliman and Siegler left. Kasim Sulton coupled as the new bassist. By any bar, Ra, the first album released by the novel lineup, was a prog-rock record, just it was heavier and less overtly observational than earlier. Ra was released early in February 1977 and was followed seven months later by Oops, Wrong Planet, a disk that set up the quatern abandoning prog for flowing pop-rock, with a hard rock bent.


Utopia played on the nine go that resulted in the 1978 solo Rundgren live record album Plunk for to the Bars, which appeared after his strike record book The Hermit of Mink Hollow. Back to the Bars featured both solo and Utopia material. No Rundgren or Utopia records were released in 1979, just the undermentioned twelvemonth found Utopia reaching new high. Released in January 1980, Adventures in Utopia brought the lot their largest audience to date. On the strength of the Top 30 single "Lay out Me Free," the album climbed to number 32, spending 21 weeks on the charts. Utopia promptly followed the record in October with Deface the Music, a withering irony of the Beatles. It was a good, cagy record book, just it shedded the group's latterly expanded audience.


Undermentioned Rundgren's solo 1981 venture, Healing, the group returned in 1982 with Swing to the Right. The disk stiffed, weakness to crack the Top C. Its failure was one of many problems Rundgren had with his longtime label, Bearsville. He was capable to wrangle Utopia free from the label after Swing to the Right, moving the quartette over to the fledging Network label. Several months later, the chemical group released Utopia. Thanks to the minor pip "Feet Don't Fail Me Now," which standard tame airplay on MTV, the record performed better than its predecessor, peaking at 84 and spending 19 weeks on the charts. Unfortunately, the label folded the following year, which meant Utopia had to happen so far another new home. They settled with another modern label, Passport. Their kickoff album for the label was highborn Limbo and released in January 1984. Oblivion performed respectably in the charts, peaking at #74, but the next yr its followup, POV, tanked, arrival only #161. Part of the trouble was that Utopia's sound had progressed, simply its glossy arena-rock was no thirster present-day. Following POV, Rundgren efficaciously pulled the hack on the group, choosing to concentrate on his solo vocation, as well as calculator computer programming.


Wish Rundgren, Powell concentrated on writing computer software program; he too intentional a keyboard called the Powell Probe. Sulton continued to play music, recording a smattering of solo albums and playacting as a sideman for Cheap Trick, Hall & Oates and Joan Jett, among others. Wilcox moved behind the scenes as a manufacturer and songster. Utopia reunited in 1992 for a duty tour of Japan, which was captured on Rhino's live album Redux '92: Live in Japan.