TRIVIA

"Trivia" collects material from the band's final three studio albums: UTOPIA, "Oblivion" and "P.O.V." plus some "new" tracks. Designed after the then-popular Trivial Pursuit game, this compilation is itself something of a Trivial pursuit, having gone out of print in the '80s. For their trouble, intrepid hunters will get the latter-day singles like "Feet Don't Fail Me Now", "Crybaby", "Mated" and "Hammer In My Heart." Suffering from the same dull patches that plagued the original albums, "Trivia" is a less effective overview than the career-spanning Anthology. Of the new cuts (and it's unclear if these songs were simply unreleased leftovers from earlier sessions), "Monument" and "Princess of the Universe" are merely okay, the opening "Fix Your Gaze" quite good. Honestly, UTOPIA fans unfamiliar with this period would be better served by picking up the eponymous UTOPIA and passing on "P.O.V." and "Oblivion". Better still, buy "Swing To The Right" (one of my favorite UTOPIA albums).

The trouble with the band's last three albums is an increasingly "processed" sound that often buries good melodies under synthetic arrangements. It was less distracting when the band was tackling social topics, as the mechanized music seemed to make a statement about the world we lived in, but most of the songs here address matters of the heart, and an artifical heart it is. Me, I picked up a cassette version of this for under a dollar, so I can't complain, but I wouldn't spend anywhere near $10 for this compilation (unless you're an avid collector of all things UTOPIAn).