TODD RUNDGREN'S UTOPIA

Todd Rundgren's Utopia is the debut album released by the American Progressive Rock band Utopia. Masterminded by former pop artist Todd Rundgren, this album is one of the classic prog albums of all time. Todd put together a 6-piece band in 1974 (the greatest prog rock year in my opinion), featuring 3 keyboardists (Mark Klingman, Jean Labat, and Ralph Shuckett) that mainly toured as a live act. I absolutely love this album and was truly shocked when I first heard it because I had only known Todd as the pop-oriented rocker that he was earlier in his career.

The opening track is the 14-minute epic, "Utopia" recorded live in concert in 1974 for the album. Featuring some of the best keyboard work in all of prog. If you thought Greenslade's combo of Dave Greenslade and Dave Lawson on keys was impressive, think again. The trio of the aforementioned keyboardists (Mark Klingman, Jean Labat, and Ralph Shuckett) put on an absolutely stunning show during this monster track. All the while, Todd himself starts completely shredding the shit out of his guitar around the 9-minute mark for some remarkable soloing. The drum tone on the song sounds very 80s which is odd considering that this was released in 1974. The song finishes up on its main theme which sounds like a cross between Deep Purple and Iron Maiden but more progressive. "Freak Parade" is another 10-minute+ epic. It starts off on an off-beat rhythm, before going into a soft section with some nice Wurlitzer. Around the 4-minute song the main theme with a very Gentle Giant and Yezda Urfa-sounding verse. The lyrics here are super weird, and it's probably the weakest song on the album, but it's not bad at all. "Freedom Fighters" is by far the shortest song on the album sitting at 4 minutes, yet it is one of the strongest. Featuring one of the strongest vocal performances from Todd in his entire career, the song has a great classic rock feel with heaps of keys backing it up. It also features a consistent cowbell beat throughout the verse of the song.

After the spectacular side 1, side 2 is dominated by one single track. "The Ikon," spans over 30 minutes, being one of the longest songs I've ever heard, if not the longest. The first part starts off very fast-paced with an electric piano and guitar-based riff. At around the 3:30 mark, the song enters its main theme and Todd's vocals enter along with organ, Moog, and a plethora of other synths from all 3 keyboardists. The chorus has some really beautiful harmonies from Todd, countered by cynical clavichord. After an extended ambient section, the song picks back up again at around 11:00 minutes with a really nice synth solo. As much as I love long songs, I must admit that this song does consistently go stale every 5 minutes or so and wanders a lot. It goes into some other really good parts throughout the song (notably at 22:00 and near the end at about 27:30) but it regurgitates a lot of the same theme. Still an "Ikonic" song and very unique.

There is not much to be said about the greatness of this album that has not been said already. An amazing effort by Todd and some of his follow-up works are also awesome. Eventually, Rundgren would return to more poppy works, and this album still remains his most progressive project to date. Very accessible and recommended to ALL.