Whole Lotta Utopia Goin’ On

by Jeff Boule in Album Reviews, Concert Reviews, Musician Reviews, Reviews

Good readers I return from the Grand Parade Of Life-full Packaging (to paraphrase Peter Gabriel) where I am triumphant and have all the scars to show for it.  Some of the those scars involve taking a thirteen-hundredth look at some previously published blogs that, for some inexplicable reason just, disappeared from the site.  If this seems familiar, you are NOT having a Déjà vu, it is repeating the mantra (again from Gabriel) “Man feed machine, machine feed man”.

In the meantime since these were first “published”, the person who introduced me to Todd Rundgren, my biological sister flew from this earth.  At the time I made a promise to finish reviewing a box set.  In honor of HER, I am going to pick this up at the beginning and start all over again.  If you’re not on board for the ride or read this before, I am sure there is some other riveting reading elsewhere.  Or you could watch Lost, or CSI (insert Who song here), American Idol, you can see where this is going.

I am reviewing some rare, un-earthed, it took me several distributors to find this, live Utopia.  Featuring a frequent blog topic, Rundgren and his four-piece model of Utopia.  This model was the version with John “Willie” Wilcox, Roger Powell and Kasim Sulton.  I can hear you all asking (the same question Sulton confesses to asking upon first sight of the duo of Meatloaf and Jim Steinman): “Who are these people?”

The rare find that will appear under my microscope is a box set of Utopia live from 1977 to 1982.  Last Of The New Wave Riders is a seven-disc set of four different shows. The Oops Wrong Planet Tour, Live In Tokyo `79, Deface The Music Tour and Oblivion Tour were released as individual discs, then later re-released as a box set.  Hence the bold on both the box set name and the individual titles within same.

Each week we will take different shows/discs and give you the lowdown on them.  Before we start with the Deface The Music Tour disc, (I felt this would be most accessible to the general populous, what with the Beatle-style originals and the Pop stuff, leave the heavy prog stuff like “Singring…” for later) let’s talk about the members.

Todd Rundgren, you have never heard of but you have heard.  Ever hear that song at sporting events, “I don’t wanna work, I wanna bang on the drum all day”?  Todd Rundgren.  Ever hear Meatloaf’s first album? Rundgren all over it and was even responsible for putting the money up for getting it recorded.  He recently toured with a revamped Cars lineup, (he replaced Ric Ocasek, who was too busy with his face buried in Paullina Porotskova’s – insert sexual innuendo here -) and is currently touring to promote an album of arena rock songs.  Rundgren is responsible for you being able to interact with your computer through graphic tablet technology.  You know him; you need to know him better.

Every time I have had the pleasure of his company, he has always proven himself to be an affable, funny and hyper-intelligent individual.  Even after getting into a fender bender on the way to his hotel (he was in our town and we showed him to where his hotel was, he followed in a different car)!

Roger Power is much like Rundgren in that you have had experiences with Mr. Powell, especially if you have an iPod, use Mac sequencing or recording software, or play keyboards, specifically synthesizers.  Right now, Powell is a higher-up with Apple’s audio development division in Seattle.  Yup, Roger hangs with Steve Jobs.  Earlier in his career, before and during his tenure with Utopia, he worked for Moog and ARP synthesizers.  He was the earliest of the current and final members.  Powell plays keyboards and does vocals, I guess I should clarify that Rundgren plays guitar and does vocals.  I’d also like to address the purists who say Rundgren should have never let the other members sing.  To you I say

Kasim Sulton! Sulton was the last member to join the now defunct Utopia.  But he has a high, clear voice that harmonizes well with Rundgren’s and the other members.  If you like Meatloaf, odds are you have seen Sulton live with Meat as he is Loaf’s musical director.  Sulton also plays keyboards, guitar as well as bass for both Rundgren and Meatloaf, and has played on a myriad of albums by diverse artists such as Mick Jagger (who yelled at Sulton during the session) to Celine Dion.  Sulton often accompanies Rundgren on tour and vocal gigs as Rundgren likes the harmony between the two.

The last and certainly not least noticeable member was John “Willie” Wilcox.
How do you know of Willie?  Do you watch the Sci-Fi channel?  He is a resident composer for USA and Sci-Fi.  Mr. Wilcox is a most approachable person and has been a highly regarded drummer for many years.  Starting out playing for Bette Midler on Broadway, he did a session for Hall & Oates in 1973 and Rundgren was the producer.  A little while later, after then Utopia drummer Kevin Ellman quit the music business to work at his father’s little chain of steakhouses called Beefsteak Charley’s, Wilcox was recruited and was the final drummer.  As time wore on, and he became exposed to Rundgren’s style of harmonizing, Wilcox developed his vocal abilities as did Powell and lush, four part harmonies became this band’s staple, along with early adaptive technological advances, and quirky, humorous videos.

The show starts off with the first song on the Deface The Music album “I Just Want To Touch You”.  Deface was released in 1980, and Utopia were right in the middle of touring for this album of Beatles style songs, Beatle suits and instruments, arrangements, background harmonies, everything Beatle, during the Winter of 1980.

Do any of us remember a significant Beatle event in December of 1980?  I’ll give you a hint, Mark David Chapman was interviewed in People magazine and they ran a picture of Chapman in a Rundgren t-shirt.

I saw them in Dec. 1980 in Allentown, after the event.  The show I saw was tighter than the one represented on this disc, I imagine they took a show before the event to capture the more hopeful optimism the album tried to project instead of the death knell it became associated as.  Especially after the event.

“…Touch You” represents the live Utopia experience in the 80’s as their sound engineer at the time was an absolute moron, and NEVER mixed a live show well at all!!  Vocal cues missed, solos lost, just overall muddy sound for a techno-four-piece.  You can hear the playing is there, the vocals are great until later in the show, but the mix is atrocious!!!  The harmony vocals are louder than the lead vocals, but you gotta love the playing!!  Bad mix be damned.

Rundgren even blows a shoulder-mounted harmonica for a solo.  Total Beatles, right down to the Ooohhhh chorus rejoinder.

The second song “Where Does The World Go To Hide” shows some improvement in the mix, the toms aren’t the loudest things on stage anymore, and you can hear Powell’s mastery of theory and composition.  He did study classical piano and theory and composition.  As well as electronics.  Plus he kills on the pitch-wheel!

So why not give him a lead vocal next, “Silly Boy” is one of Rundgren’s contributions also in the severe Beatles style.  Rundgren lays back on the guitar, yet lets it rage full out country, twangs and all.

“Feel Too Good” is a Sulton led Beatleopia song.  You can get the disc and make your own comparisons, sure you can tell what songs the guys ripped-off, but the compositions are different enough that no one can cry plagiarism, but the production style could fool the casual Beatle listener to wonder “Why have I never heard this Beatle song before?”  This could be modeled after “Fixing A Hole”, or not.  They pull it off until Powell utters the line “There’s a strange speaking man on the front lawn making rude noises and gestures” with his hands closing his nostrils and mouth, after that the song falls apart most likely from the members breaking each other up.

Some patented TR babble, leads into a super-sloppy version of “Road To Utopia” (playing the song live, after using a taped intro for the original tour, proved to be continually problematic for Utopia) from the 1980’s Adventures In Utopia.  Once they get their bearings, they actually rock this song up a bit.  They end it strongly, the audience is frenzied up and they do not disappoint by shelling out Utopia’s big hit, also from Adventures…, “Set Me Free.”

By this time the mix is out of hand, I suspect the soundman, Chris Andersen, engaged in fader chasing constantly.  The mix is so bloated, a lot of the finer, more finesse parts are lost in the sauce, or should I say soup, nope, this is a stew, thick, messy and all over the place.  I know Rundgren tried his best to remix this for disc, but you can’t shine shinola.

I sense the monitors are out of pace by this time as the playing, usually flawless, is muddled up as well.

At times, it sounds as if there is a slap-back echo on the drums, the worst thing in the world you can do is alter your timekeepers signal with delay!!!
A relic is pulled from Rundgren’s solo catalog, from Faithful, “Love Of The Common Man”, a spirited version despite slap-back delay and muddy mix.  Another common Andersen mistake, the guitar solo is way too loud.

It seems like the songs that they have been playing for a while come across better as they are more familiar with what to do in such a wretched mix.

To add insult to deafening, the next track from Oops Wrong Planet is a beautiful ballad featuring Wilcox on vocals, and wouldn’t you know, after Rundgren fumbles the intro solo trying to turn down his guitar, Wilcox’s vocal mic cuts in and out!!

So much talent, so little money…

As a long time fan and attendee of many Rundgren/Utopia concerts, I can tell Rundgren is distracted when he can’t pull off the very same melody on guitar he recorded.  Sound has usually always been an issue when Andersen worked the boards.  Thankfully, he no longer does.

The next song is a pre-release from Swing To The Right, “One World”.  While it did have Beatle-esque overtones, they used it to close out the last album they would do for their and Rundgren’s long-time label Bearsville (Warner’s).  This song was featured in the promo for a MY Network TV show, Life Is Wild.

See, you know Utopia.

This is a raging version with older lyrics such as “Annie the clipper” and “waiting for this guy to drop dead on the floor.”  They would refine the background vocals before the final recording.  I am noticing the mix is starting to settle down.  Keep you fingers crossed because the next song needs a good mix.

“Back On The Street” from Oops was, is, and will always be a destructo-rocker.  It details the release and reintegration of an ex-con, with it’s pounding rhythm on the A note, Powell and Rundgren both embellish on top of the rhythm and help maintain it.  The chorus full out rocks up to the time clock like bridge.  The delay on the drums is out of hand, but for the solo bridge, it’s gone and things come through clearly, up to the snap-out-of-it-break.  Full out chorus brings us to the clock-like break to close it out, apocalyptic-like.

You can tell Sulton’s voice is shot.  “Crystal Ball” is another Rundgren-Sulton duo.  Usually Sulton is predominantly louder in these situations, not this time.  Many of the Beatle-style songs are from the Fab-Four days.  There are a couple of latter-day styles but they are few and far between.  Hope you like your mop-top.

Another hit Utopia had from the Adventures In Utopia album was a song called “Love Alone”.  Since Deface came after Adventures, it is safe to assume they were looking for a formula and tried to one-up “Love Alone” with this next track “All Smiles”.  With its light instrumentation, ooohh, backing vocals and predominantly piano sound, and Harrison-channeled smooth solo, it should have been on at least Rubber Soul.

Disc one clocks in at 40:16, but it seems a lot longer as the songs from Deface The Music were two to three minutes in length.  Even Beatle timings!  Let’s take a break, back with disc two next week!