TODD RUNDGREN'S UTOPIA

First and formost, I must admit to being very fond of Todd's music across the board. Starting from his days with late 60's beat/psych/garage rock combo, THE NAZZ, then going to the more commercial, singer songwriter side. Many fans of prog and indeed this site, may not find too much to satisfy from these eras, but the sheer eclecticism in his writing never fails to impress me. This is his first bona-fide prog outing for Todd. Forming his backing band UTOPIA, this really broke away from the solo album mould that lead up to this release. You could see the direction he was taking, as his 2 previous albums TODD and A WIZARD, A TRUE STAR were the most experimental to date. Both of these releases come highly recommended to fans of prog.

Anyway back to the album. Following 5 odd years of exposure to prog, this kind of resulted in an almost a stereotypical prog album. It's contains so many textures and influences from various acts. The side long epic, THE IKON for example, may not have sounded out of place on a YES album. Superb playing from all members and key/tempo changes everywhere, this will appeal to all fans of the genre. All but one track can be regarded as a sheer epic, each clocking in at 10 minutes or more. I'm guessing the 4 minute FREEDOM FIGHTERS was included, just in case a promo single was required. However it's shorter length, does not make it any less good. The only slight downpoint, is that some points of the album may tend to ramble, particularly if your not keen on lengthy tracks. If your reading this review, I'm pretty positive that's not the case. Nevertheless, there is so much going on in the music, that repeated listening will be necessary. Vinyl collectors will notice that this may be one of the longest 'single' albums they own!