Utopia's Reasonably Big Adventure

Review Score: (6/10)
The second album from Utopia Version 2.0 (Top 40 rock, as opposed to the semi-prog rock of the first few albums) must have surprised a few onlookers, as it was the band's highest-charting LP, hitting #32 in Billboard (just three notches below leader Todd Rundgren's biggest solo LP, "Something/Anything?"). The performances were somewhat tighter than the previous album, "Oops! Wrong Planet," but no one wrote anything quite like the hit "Love Is the Answer" (which, unfortunately, became a hit not for Utopia but for soft-rock dudes England Dan & John Ford Coley), and therein lies part of the problem.

Not really knowing what would make the biggest commercial success (late 1979 and 1980 was a schizophrenic time in rock & roll, with disco being ushered out the door, punk dying off, and new wave not yet having gained a solid foothold), Utopia threw a little of each in the mix. This is a good band - Roger Powell and Willie Wilcox are very good at keyboards and drums, and Todd and Kasim Sultan are multi-instrumental talents. But the songwriting isn't strong here - "Set Me Free," a Top 40 hit, is catchy but inconsequential, and "Last of the New Wave Riders" combines a theme begging for a catchy arrangement with a synth-heavy bombastic arrangement. And while these guys are pretty good singers, the harmonies won't make me forget the Beatles (obviously their fervent hope, although I suspect they weren't targeting me specifically when this was released).

Still, I've always been impressed with the disco/rock hybrid "Rock Love" (which could have been a single in the wake of Blondie's "Call Me"), "You Make Me Crazy" is a clever pop song (enhanced by a now out of circulation video), and "The Road to Utopia" may be one of the catchiest things the band has ever done. So it's a mixed bag - which is one of the charms (or irritations, depending on your point of view) of Todd Rundgren's solo and group output as a whole.

Side note: I'd probably be happier with these guys if they listed who sang lead on which song (perhaps this is listed on the CD booklet; I only have the vinyl version). Sultan and Rundgren sound so much alike it's hard to differentiate.

More Reviews:

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• Wonderful!
• UTOPIA AT ITS MOST ACCESSIBLE