Todd Rundgren's Utopia* – Todd Rundgren's Utopia

wacky yo... I bought this album at a Half Priced Books just today for a few bucks because I was told this album was "Pink Floyd-Esk" and while it is prog rock, I find it to be incredibly heavy on the keyboards and synths and is far more experimental than a lot of prog rock. Very strange album but would recommend.

Terrifying, ripping playing explodes out of this thing. Psilocybin Prog. Total abandon.

Early Utopia always gives me an odd feeling of an American band who really wants to do the prog thing like their British contemporaries. And sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. This album is an example where it definitely works.
Musically there are aspects similar to the European prog of the early 70s, but I feel this goes on a bit of a tangent on some of the details. You get bass lines that sound fuzzier than those of most prog bands, and some super distorted guitars throughout the album. Yes, I know they weren't the only band doing this, but too me it feels like a channeling of early american rock & roll (a la Bo Diddley) from the 50s. I have no way of verifying this but a lot of the drum flourishes on here remind me greatly of what Neil Peart would later go on to do with Rush in the second half of the 70s. As I said, I can't verify any influence, but god some of those fills sound Peart-esque. Also, I love a lot of Todd's vocal work on here. It's frequently not pretty, but is passionate and stands out in the mix when he shrieks or yells his lyrics.
The first side of this LP is nearly perfect, although it loses some of my attention near the end of the side. Side 2 is wonderful as well, but not quite on par with side 1, and feels like it runs a bit too long. This theme of running too long, or longer than normal was common for Todd and his Bearsville releases overall (Wizard/True star was over an hour i believe, Initiation was about an hour and 10 or 20, etc.) Much like those lengthy single disc records, there is a noticeable loss of fidelity to the sound. It doesn't take away enough to ruin the experience or anything, but it's there. After getting into Todd's work all at once, it's come to feel like his signature sound, which I guess isn't the worst thing. I'm rambling at this point.
After that mess of a review, I can say that I think this has got to be my favorite Utopia album, by quite a lot. Not perfect, but very Very good.
Rating- 8.5/10

M Frog Labat on synth is awesome on this recordings

What's the story about the removal of the image supporting the "Some versions of this release may glow under UV lighting (see photo)." note? I see the same effect under blacklight, not seen under the same conditions with at least some random black vinyl records I tried. Is it typical for this edition? A "color" variation? I see the same effect on https://www.discogs.com/Utopia-Todd-Rundgrens-Utopia/release/10692538

Wow!!! I always felt that TR's music was sometimes a hard pill to swallow, this LP is simply, brilliant, mesmerizing. This has so many undertones of what the mainstream prog bands follwed suit to. If you want to get lost in a LP, this is it.

Shazammmmm....love it....all of Todd's stuff is super