ANTHOLOGY (1974-1985)

A unbalanced selection

Now largely superseded by the superior "City in my head", "Anthology" was an earlier compilation of tracks from Utopia's back catalogue. While "City.." only goes up to "Swing to the right" however, "Anthology" also gathers in the later albums such as "POV" and "Oblivion". On the other hand, the excellent first album is omitted altogether. The overlap between the two compilations in terms of the tracks selected is limited, although three from "Oops wrong planet" and the opening track from "Ra" appear on both.

The tracks which appear here largely represent the more commercial side of Utopia, such as the fine ballad "Love is the answer" and the upbeat "Love in action" (both from "Oops wrong planet"). They are presented in a random order with some albums only contributing a single track (in the case of "Deface the music", a two minutes song!).

There's little here to whet the appetite of those seeking prog, the aforementioned lack of anything from the first album being unforgivable from that point of view. The inclusion of only one track from arguably Utopia's best album, "Ra" further emphasises the fact that this collection is far from essential.

Those seeking to taste the music of Utopia for the first time would be better advised going for the superior "City in my head" compilation. Better still, pick up "Todd Rundgren's Utopia" (not to be confused with "Utopia", they are two different albums), or "Ra" for the band's best and most progressive works.

A complimation album that features a heavy bent on the more pop aspects of Utopia with just a smattering of prog-type Utopia thrown in. And how can you make a Utopia Greatest Hits album without "Caravan" or "Road to Utopia"?? Give me a break. Nothing is in dated order, some songs are here for no reason I can determine ("Lysistrata"?). A very haphazard selection of the power-pop-rock era of Utopia. Do yourself a favor and get their first album or ADVENTURES IN UTOPIA. These are the real gems in the Utopia catalogue. Only a pop fan would really need this misguided collection. I paid just $1.99 for it and that's about it's value. 2 stars.

Moreso than even the Todd Rundgren anthology that was released at the same time as this one, when Rhino Records obtained the rights to Rundgen's catalog, this collection appears to me the misguided result of a record company executive. I understand that the album must contain the band's hits, but the hits comprise a small amount of the album, and the rest of the selections, for the most part, obscure the prog cedentials (the good part) of Utopia's career.

There is very little prog until the final two songs from the sixteen tracks. Overture: Mountaintop & Sunrise/Communion With The Sun from "Ra", is the best song on the collection, and the only true prog track. It's complex, symphonic, and a great Utopia song. The final track, Freedom Fighters, is good, but it is also the least prog of the songs from Utopia's amazing debut album.

Of the rest of the songs, Trapped from "Oops, Wrong Planet" is the best, and there are some good pop songs, like Love In Action, the quirky Feet Don't Fail Me Now, and the laid back The Wheel.

The album covers all of the studio albums through "POV", but it comes nowhere close to capturing the best this group had to offer.

I had heard about Utopia and was hoping to buy a sampler that hopefully wouldn't cut too many corners. Of course, given the nature of prog band compilations, it'd probably be more of their commercial cuts. I ignored this warning completely when I picked it up at a local record store. You are greeted by late (some early) 70's to mid 80's Pop Rock and some new wave flavor too. The only pure exception is the 15th track being the artsiest and progressive.

The music in terms of sound is nice. Some synths and keyboards are in the background while guitars take the main portion of the sound. However, the sound is rather cluttered and muddy on many tracks.

I had 2 big takeaways: The first being the lack of progressive rock or art rock songs I was hoping to find, and second, for whatever reason, the CD version I have has an odd error where the beginning of another song abruptly starts at the end of another track. This means that if I was selecting a specific track to throw on somewhere, I'd have the first 2-4 seconds chopped off at the beginning. Maybe It's just the way I am, but I find that a tad annoying... anyhoo, Utopia seems to be very good at writing pop rock, in fact so good that some hits dented the charts in America briefly. If you're looking for prog or artsy compositions from this band, this compilation will not help that..