DEFACE THE MUSIC

UTOPIA was never overtly influenced by THE BEATLES, so the decision to create a condensed career retrospective of THE BEATLES on "Deface The Music" is something of a surprise. Almost all of the songs are variations on an earlier BEATLES theme: "I Just Want to Touch You" is a spin-off of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand", "Where Does the World Go" is based on "I'll Follow the Sun", "Take It Home" is inspired by "Drive My Car", etc. The band occasionally succeeds at putting its own twist on THE BEATLES' songs -- the "Penny Lane"- inspired "Hoi Polloi" or "All Smiles" (which combines pieces of "Michelle" and "Fool on the Hill") improve on psychedelic pop much as XTC was able to do, but using tracks like "Eleanor Rigby" and "I Am The Walrus" as templates for "Life Goes On" and "Everybody Else Is Wrong", respectively, casts too great a shadow over UTOPIA's revisions to enjoy. TODD addresses the hopes of many in the opening track: "You might have heard this all before / But from me it could mean something more." Whether it's meant as a parody or novelty, "Deface The Music" sells their own songwriting skills and sound short.

A cute experiment, to be sure, but what was the point again?

Love me do?

If you've come across "The Rutles", a British comedy spoof of the Beatles created by Monty Python's Neil Innes, you'll have a good idea of what to expect here. Like the Rutles, the music on "Deface the music" is all deliberately designed to sound as much like the (early) Beatles as possible.

Rundgren does a good job if it, the album consisting of short catchy tunes which clone the Liverpool sound perfectly. If you were to be presented with these tracks and told they were from a recently discovered collections of recordings by the fab four, you would have no reason to doubt it.

The question is, why? Todd and the rest of Utopia have come up with some original and enjoyable work over the years, but this album is anything but original. Yes it's clever, but it does smack of grand scale self indulgence. For devotees of this web-site, there's no prog to be found here. For those who enjoy hearing the Beatles sound, you'd be better buying a Beatles album.

Don't you hate it when you have a compilation album with a couple of great tracks from an album you've never heard, so you buy that album, only to find out that the tracks on the compilation are the only decent tracks?!?!? I already had "City In My Head", a very good Utopia compilation on 2 CD's. After a year of searching, I found a used copy of this in another city (Houston). Good thing I only paid $8 for this stinker (it didn't help that it was an original issue, not a remastered version). Also, it clocks in at 32 minutes!!! Todd?!?!? Hell, he's put more music than that on one side of an LP!!!!! We are not pleased.... What must have started out as a good idea became an album with a few good songs and a lot of filler. The music, lyrics and arrangements should've been a LOT better.

This album is yet another departure by Todd Rundgren – heck, everything he’s ever done has been a departure from something. In the case of Deface the Music, Rundgren and crew take on the early Beatles sound with a vengeance, or at least as much of a vengeance as is possible with this kind of pre-rock sound. The songs would have been very popular back in 1963, but as usual Utopia is reacting to a musical trend after it has already run its course, instead of being on the progressive forefront of a new sound. In this case they missed the boat by at least a dozen years.

“I Just Want to Touch You” is a pure pop song in the vein of the earliest Beatles – it’s “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” with a little bit (but not much) better production quality than those early Parlophone recordings. Same goes for “Crystal Ball” and “Where Does the World Go to Hide?”, the latter of which is some sort of self-absorbed lament from a guy who I guess just lost his girlfriend.

On “Silly Boy” the recording quality sounds like Rundgren intentionally tried to inflect the tinny sound of those mid-60’s albums that were converted from mono to stereo. This is another ‘girl done me wrong’ song, as is the next one, “Alone”, which has a little bit of a Spanish flair with someone playing a fat acoustic guitar.

“That’s Not Right” is another pre-1965 clone, and “Take it Home” is a conscious rip-off of (er, tribute to) “Drive My Car”. By the time “Hoi Poloi” rolls around the band has worked its way up to the later 60’s hits like “Penny Lane” and “Happiness is a Warm Gun”. There’s also some horns on this one which is a bit of a change from the front side of the album.

“Life Goes On” is a story-song with strings ala Revolver or maybe even the white album, but the boy-band harmonizing vocals are just plain kitschy.

I’m not sure what “Feel Too Good” is supposed to be a clone of, but it sort of sounds like the Sgt. Peppers/Magical Mystery Tour era with a little bit of psychedelic keyboarding and throbbing, repetitive guitar.

“Always Late” is the filler tune, and “All Smiles” is Abbey Road era but without the ethereal mood that the Beatles brought to the original. This one also has harmonizing backing vocals, but these sound more like an Irish drinking song.

The album comes to a close with “Everybody Else is Wrong” is just kind of a generic tribute to that era of music, with no particular influence standing out. I will say that I particularly like the piano on this song, which is somewhat slower than the rest of the album, but the vocals are just plain grating.

I have no idea why Rundgren felt the need to release a tribute (or parody) in the form of an irreverent retrospective, particularly in 1980 when even progressive bands were struggling to figure out what came next, not reflecting back on what was more than a decade before. I suppose he may have felt this was a daring gamble to be different, but I’d have to say it falls kind of flat, and definitely has not stood the test of time in the quarter-century since its release.

If you’re looking for some really good mid-60’s music that is bright, upbeat, and reflects the times in which is was written, well – buy some old Beatles records. If you’re looking for a really good Utopia album, this isn’t it – maybe try Ra or their debut album instead. Otherwise, this one is for collectors only. Two stars, and barely that.

peace

What were they thinking?

In my opinion, this is the first complete miss in Todd Rundgren's repertiore. When listening to this album it is very difficult to tell if Todd and the gang were trying to create a tribute album or a parody. If it was meant as a tribute, I think they would have achieved that goal better by doing their own interpretations of Beatles songs. If it was meant as a parody, they come up far short next to the great Beatles parody by Neil Innes and friends "The Rutles".

The only real entertainment value when listening is to try to determine which Beatles songs were the inspiration for each track on this album. Many of the songs sound like they were inspired by multiple Beatles tracks. And too many of the McCartney style songs sound not like Beatles, but McCartney's solo track Another Day.

The good points? It's a short album.

The Beatles Honored? If anyone can... So... why not?...

Travelling down the Prog-Fusion to hard-AOR-Pop pipeline, Utopia followed up 1979's Adventures in Utopia with the cleverly titled, overt Beatles homage Deface the Music. A straight-to-the-point, sugarcoated Pop Rock tribute feels a surprisingly natural progression, regardless of its specific retro focus. I'm glad it hasn't changed much since I recall first seeing it, but the Wikipedia article goes into perfect detail over the specific 'Sources' for each track (curious beforehand how I'd judge them), all originals despite some very sly lifts. It's a wink, yes, but mostly a resounding nod to the Fab Four. Funny to me, linked there as a suggested article, this came 5 years after Idle & Innes's The Rutles had formed, and only 2 after their debut LP. Anyhow, at 32 minutes length, this is certainly easily approachable.

[Wow, I had a lot to say here haha.] Started whistling this to myself before my [Finally!] proper listen--it's been years since I've heard this album--"I Just Want to Touch You", the first single, is really one of those very well contrived, unabashedly Beatles-owing latter-day Pop Rock songs. The difference, though, to my ears, is that this stylistic approach is purposefully past-aesthetic, with far less in the way of modern touches (see just about any late-70s Power Pop band). It's a success, and highly memorable, thus the whistling. To speak to the 'Sources', a certainly accurate amalgam of "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" (though immediately brighter in character), "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (because obviously) and "Little Child" (rhythmically). What I likewise anticipated throughout the album following this, though pleased to catch little of, is the very plastic and then-modern way Todd et al approach songs like this (overall, from this period in his overarching discography). The worst I feel toward some of these sonic choices (how the faux-organ is played and sounds comes to mind) is that it stands as an example of the schlockiest Boomer Rock one can find, that less-than-satisfactory AOR thing, in my opinion. It certainly doesn't ruin the song, but--and perhaps it's something vaguely American, too, which I find disagreeable--it does take me a little out of the attempt. Anyhow, too overly American to be the Beat Boys or not, I also must admit being overly familiar with Todd might not help these moments' cases. And speaking of sly, he certainly was not when he spawned the so-on-the-nose lines "I just want to get inside you / If you'll give just a minute to me"... Goodness.

Can't say I remember much else from this LP, but ringing truer in spirit somehow is "Crystal Ball" to follow, an authentic early-Garage-Merseybeat pastiche ("Can't Buy Me Love", "She's A Woman"). We're then Post-Skifflin' by on "Where Does the World Go to Hide" (McCartney-penned "A World Without Love" given near-nepotistically to Peter And Gordon, and "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away", which I struggle to hear); thumbs up from me with that final 6th-chord. Roger Powell, with harmonies by Kasim Sulton, takes on a sort of naive Ringo role on "Silly Boy" ("I'm a Loser", "I'll Cry Instead", "Help!"). Kasim continues now on lead, with his high register, on the quickened "And I Love Her" try entitled "Alone". In a more negative sense, it's fine, but what I really want to know here is, is this Chanson? "That's Not Right" is next, and I must say it's kinda sweet to hear someone as seasoned as Todd (a well-seasoned 32), at least, performing this cutesy proto-Bubblegum Pop ("Eight Days a Week", but far more "Tell Me Why"); comparing to "Alone", this one works way better.

Running into what I assume was Side 2, "Take It Home" is one of, I've found, numerous "Day Tripper" pastiches out there; who could blame a guy... or a hundred guys? Sounding so much like Utopia vocally, it just barely takes me out of that mid-60s element. Moving on from Revolver era Beatles, "Hoi Poloi" is our first and only taste of Edwardian-esque Psych weirdness (and yes, an interesting mix of "Penny Lane" and "Lovely Rita"). Glad it exists, no doubt about it (really, a solid track), but I'll always be more inclined toward their own more or less unique oddity, "Magic Dragon Theatre" off Ra. And yep, gone back in time a little (this isn't the expertly constructed 'Red Album'), "Life Goes On" couldn't be more obviously "Eleanor Rigby" if they'd tried; Todd back on lead. There's something astoundingly more alarming about the 'strings' here; I assumed it wasn't one, but it evokes a more alien Mellotron.

Another one absolutely unmistakable for what they're going for (from the start, these riffs are "Getting Better"), "Feel Too Good", again, is a bit too Utopia (too shiny?) to be the Beatles. Mixed here with "Fixing a Hole" (a lift heard at the very end to awesome effect) and "I'm Only Sleeping", it's a very interesting, clearly-American-tries-British Psychedelia more overtly than they let on. "Always Late" ("Yellow Submarine", "A Day in the Life", "Don't Pass Me By", this last 'Source' likely the reason I find it at all grating) returns us to the past, now that Pauline 'granny music' come Music Hall; far from a favorite, to say the least... You can't out-Paul Paul (in complements to Paul, if at all unclear). That dark, ugly cloud lifts for the melancholic Kasim-led "All Smiles" ("Michelle", "I Will"), easily one of the most successful tracks, all frills thankfully nowhere in sight. Grateful in that for this relisten; I'm just glad the album isn't just the opener to me anymore. Finally, in unmistakable Psych-creep, replete with tasty Ringo-draggin' from John Wilcox, "Everybody Else Is Wrong" evokes "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "I Am the Walrus" wonderfully. We're certainly familiar with this Todd, thank you very much AWATS [for being one of the greatest albums I've ever heard haha]. In that, I highlighted this track, as, simply for being artsy Psych Pop, it might appeal to some here; most so out of anything on the album.

[A note for the real ones: One of those albums I regrettably only rated early on (three years ago), sans-review. Always wished it were easier to just replace them altogether with new and true reviews...]