ANOTHER LIVE

After recording their first album (Todd Rungren's Utopia), Frog Labat left the band, so Rundgren recruited Roger Powell to play the synths, and Powell became an important force in the band from that point on (and Moogy would leave after this album, a big loss). This album reflects tunes they played on the tour, which no longer included their amazing epic, "The Ikon", because it was too hard for the band to play live! (Todd practiced the band to perfection in the studio when recording the debut, explaining how tight that album is. However, The Ikon is found on the Ambassador Theatre 1974 Live Album). The songs here are good, but not in the same league as TR's Utopia. They are easier and definitely more accessible. Saying this, this music is still progressive rock, at least the first half of it. "Another Life", "The Seven Rays", and "The Wheel" are on the first side and are the best tracks along with "Mister Triscuits" (which is where Powell gets to shine). All of these are original tunes first appearing on this album. On the second side, the band also played "Heavy Metal Kids" from Rundgren's solo album 'Todd', "Just One Victory" from the solo album "A Wizard A True Star", and the Move/ELO single "Do Ya". Each of these tracks on side 2 is just OK. Indeed, when I play this album, I only ever put on side 1. Rundgren's vocals on Do Ya in particular are rough, and it is not clear why he would even release it (other than he liked to play it, which is fine I guess, but it doesn't add to this collection). While this is a lot better than all the Utopia albums that would subsequently follow, it is a huge disappointment compared to the amazing debt Utopia album (but of course, expectations were going to be huge after that one, so perhaps this is not a fair statement). On the whole, I give this album 6.6 out of 10 on my 10-point scale, which translates to mid 3 PA stars.

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