Todd Rundgren

presents

Utopia

The early 1970 presented an explosion of sounds for concert-goers, far more exploratory than today. On the same bill as e.g. an unpretentious band like Foghat, you might also have:

• Billy Preston & The God Squad, funk with three keyboard players
• The Mahavishnu Orchestra playing complex free-form jazz or even
• Utopia, playing cosmic prog rock

...it was all part of the mix, part of what happened because of the massive upheaval of the Sixties.

Utopia Mk 1 might seem bloated now...but their sheer existence...fronted by a singer song-writer who had more in common with Carole King than Emerson, Lake & Palmer was cool enough in itself.

And, of course, there was Rundgren himself, a stick insect with multi-colored hair, who'd often start a show singing his pop hits to backing tracks and then unleash his "band".

LIVE Freedom Fighters 1975

Like The God Squad, Utopia also had three keyboard players (in those days synthesizers could do a lot less than now)...and Todd Rundgren presents Utopia is an album loved by prog-rockers around the globe with a standard of musicianship that's up there with the big guys of the genre. 

There are four tracks on the album:

• Utopia Theme
• Freak Parade
• Freedom Fighters &
• The Ikon (clocking in at around half an hour)

...all very Seventies and there are a whole lot of Amazon reviewers who report that this is one of the great lost albums of that time. So, how does Todd Rundgren presents Utopia stand up after all this time?

As a pop fan, I'd have to say that it's almost unintelligible. This is not pop! 

However, as a Prog. Rock fan (and I certainly was one), it's really quite different from the English school (ELP, Yes, King Crimson) and is much more positioned towards Zappa's sense of instrumentation. Musicianship, of course, is very high and there's no doubt that all these guys can play. Like with Zappa, though, Utopia sounds like Todd + sidemen rather than as a democratic band and the album suffers more than a little because of that. Critics might say it sound like a big jam session whereas fans of the genre might say that its great ensemble playing.

I can't offer much more than that because this form of prog rock only existed for a few years way back when and you'll have to try it to see if it fits right for you.