Todd Rundgren/Utopia anyone?

[Ehwmatt]

First, anybody here more than a casual fan (i.e. more than Bang the Drum All The Day and Hello It's Me) of Todd Rundgren? I never see him talked about here and he really is one of the forebears of power pop, a genre our beloved melodic rock owes a fair amount to.

Second, who here has heard Utopia, Todd's prog-rock band with Kasim Sulton, Willy Wilcox, and Roger Powell? So underrated. I was just watching their Live in Columbus 1980 DVD for the first time in a while when I was working out and the rawness of the performance was so inspiring. Every mistake is there, immortalized on film - from a mic that the sound man forgot to turn on for an entire verse, to guys jumping in too late on the harmonies, to slightly "modified" harmonies, this truly is a "one take" live document. And the way the performance comes off as so energetic and GREAT despite the gaffes and technical difficulties is really inspiring to watch. No canned backing vocals or instrument overdubs here... all authentic live shit just like they used to do back in the old days. I wish more DVDs were like this from a performance standpoint (the circa 1980 quality audio/video fidelity, I could probably do without)

[Carlitto H@kk]

I heard the song "Cry Baby" back in the 80's, LOVED it, had it taped from the radio,
lost it, had to order it on '45 in the 90's and then SCOURED Kazaa back in 2002
for it in MP3 format and I am VERY HAPPY that I found it!!!
LOVE THAT SONG :lol:

...But I've never heard anything else from that project.

[yulog]

Something tells me your going to see why he's not mentioned much here pretty soon.

road to utopia
caravan.......only other decent songs i ever heard from this guy


almost forgot

"i saw the light"

[Don]

I just couldn't get into him very much, He reminded me a little of Talking Heads, I may have been going through my Adam and the Ants phase when Utopia was prominent. The guy has an interesting bio. Apparently Liv Tyler Grew up thinking he was her father and Mark Chapman may have been jammin to him before he went out and shot John Lennon. I do love the song 'Hello" but that is about it.

[Ehwmatt]

Something tells me your going to see why he's not mentioned much here pretty soon.

road to utopia
caravan.......only other decent songs i ever heard from this guy


almost forgot

"i saw the light"

If I came off like I'm just discovering Todd or Utopia, I didn't mean to. I've been into him for years. Seen him once solo and twice with The New Cars. I was just curious to see if other people were into him at all. I love him. Plus the guy's an amazing fuckin producer.

[Ehwmatt]

I just couldn't get into him very much, He reminded me a little of Talking Heads, I may have been going through my Adam and the Ants phase when Utopia was prominent. The guy has an interesting bio. Apparently Liv Tyler Grew up thinking he was her father and Mark Chapman may have been jammin to him before he went out and shot John Lennon. I do love the song 'Hello" but that is about it.

I've never heard the thing about Chapman... I'll have to look it up. That's pretty cool. Todd's son is also a minor league baseball who happens to be my uncle's client. My uncle is going to Todd's 4-day birthday bash in Hawaii soon where Todd and others will be jamming. That fucker

The Talking Heads thing I could see with some of Utopia's stuff... have you tried Todd's Something/Anything or anything from his solo career? Songs like "Can We Still Be Friends," "I Saw The Light," and "It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference" represent a whole different side of Todd.

Musically, he's pretty interesting too. His trademark use of jazzy chord extensions with inverted roots is recognized by a lot of musicians (pianists in particular) as distinct "Todd-isms" in the context of pop music. He's also got a bit of musical chameleon in him, as evidenced by his numerous sounds over the years.

BTW, Kasim Sulton from Utopia/Meatloaf/The New Cars has some good solo material... Quid Pro Quo is a real nice album of midtempo poppiness. Great for relaxing with a beer at the end of the week. His singing voice has really come into its own over the years.

[StoneCold]

Something tells me your going to see why he's not mentioned much here pretty soon.

road to utopia
caravan.......only other decent songs i ever heard from this guy


almost forgot

"i saw the light"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbIaIIU5Hvc

Good 70's tune.

'cept for what's been mentioned, I'm not a big fan but glad he helped get The Cars going again. If they'd only do a decent full album though.

[O]

I saw Utopia back in '85 sharing the bill with The Tubes in a small community college gymnasium ... talk about a wild show ... midgets flying around the stage shooting off fire extinguishers ...this was in support of their P.O.V. album ... the afternoon of the show they were on a local radio station and referred to the album as "Plate Of Vomit" ... the things that stick in your mind ...

[X factor]

Todd's an amazing guitarist. His work on BAT OUT OF HELL is stellar!
Solo, I really dig YOU CRIED WOLF and PRINCESS OF THE UNIVERSE by Utopia is one of my alltime favorites.

[Lora]

I went to a bunch of Utopia shows back in the day. Went to a bunch of Todd Rundgren solo shows as well. Love his voice, his guitar playing and his song writing (for the most part.) I have some of his early work with Nazz, too.

I always felt there were two sides to him - he can put out commercially successful pop songs but I think he was branded eccentric for the experimental music he also enjoyed writing/playing. Regardless, he is a true artist in every sense of the word.

[Ehwmatt]

I went to a bunch of Utopia shows back in the day. Went to a bunch of Todd Rundgren solo shows as well. Love his voice, his guitar playing and his song writing (for the most part.) I have some of his early work with Nazz, too.

I always felt there were two sides to him - he can put out commercially successful pop songs but I think he was branded eccentric for the experimental music he also enjoyed writing/playing. Regardless, he is a true artist in every sense of the word.

Yeah, Todd is definitely out there when it comes to some of that stuff. A downright killer pop song writer, but damn, he writes and releases some WEIRD shit. One of the things he does that can drive a fan crazy is to show up and play 2 hours of completely obscure material. Now, it's fine to a point - but when it's 2 hours of strange electronic/experimental stuff and not one song is say one of the classics off of Something/Anything than a casual fan is gonna go crazy and even a pretty dedicated fan like me is gonna cry foul. I'm going to see him in Cleveland next Sunday and I hope he plays a decent show. I'm all for deep cuts, as long as they are good. I don't think his setlists are quite as whacky as they used to be - you can't get away with that and not have people find out quickly on the net anymore...

[slucero]

"Elton Rundgren?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsezr0qi ... re=related

[Ehwmatt]

"Elton Rundgren?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsezr0qi ... re=related

Lol, so funny. ANd ridiculous.

[AlienC]

I was the production manager for "The Individiualist" tour in 1995.
Dream come true for me at that point.
He's very cerebral, almost to the point of humorlessness. Let's just say he won't engage in idle chatter while on the bus.
Introvert.
Enjoys Bushmill's Black Label, Patron Silver and NorCal Green.

He signed all my TR albums at the end of tour party. sweet.l

[Ehwmatt]

I was the production manager for "The Individiualist" tour in 1995.
Dream come true for me at that point.
He's very cerebral, almost to the point of humorlessness. Let's just say he won't engage in idle chatter while on the bus.
Introvert.
Enjoys Bushmill's Black Label, Patron Silver and NorCal Green.

He signed all my TR albums at the end of tour party. sweet.l

That's incredible. My dad sat at dinner with him for 2 and a half hours and said he's real easy to talk to, but he definitely has a sharp biting sarcasm and is very to the point. Sounds pretty close to what you're talking about.

Bushmills... good taste. I love Todd even more now

[Lora]

That's incredible. My dad sat at dinner with him for 2 and a half hours and said he's real easy to talk to, but he definitely has a sharp biting sarcasm and is very to the point. Sounds pretty close to what you're talking about.

I was sitting in an airport terminal with him once but was way too shy/chicken/scared to say hello.

[hoagiepete]

After nights of serious partying, I would often chill in my dorm room listening to Adventures in Utopia. Great album.