Utopia Utopia

For much of the double-album Todd, Todd Rundgren was exploring weird instrumental avenues, creating a warped, synth-fueled variation of prog rock. This wasn't the culmination of the weirdness A Wizard, A True Star initiated – it was merely the beginning. Not long after completing Todd, Rundgren assembled Utopia, a prog rock group with no less than three synth players, plus guitar, bass and drums…

"Utopia" is a studio project by Olaf Kübler and Lothar Meid. Because it featured several regular members of AMON DÜÜL II (including Chris Karrer and John Weinzierl), it has usually been regarded as part of the DÜÜL discography, and, indeed, the CD reissue credits the album to AMON DÜÜL II…

Recorded live in 1980, this live set from Todd Rundgren and Utopia is largely culled from the albums "Adventures in Utopia," "Oops! Wrong Planet," "Hermit of Mink Hollow," "Back to the Bars," "Something/Anything," "A Wizard, A True Star," and "RA." In total 29 songs are featured, displaying the band's awesome power…

For all their many attributes, Utopia was notoriously uneven on record. They were just as capable of turning out great pop tunes as they were to wander into meandering jams or directionless hard rock – and this applies not only to their earliest art rock records, but also to their mainstream pop/rock albums. That's what makes Rhino's Anthology (1974-1985) such a welcome addition to their catalog…

RA found Utopia moving away from the long, experimental instrumental jams that distinguished their first two albums, but what's surprising about it is how the group changed. Sure, the lineup was different but their approach changed on RA, as they moved away from prog rock and toward hard rock. In that regard, it makes sense that Rundgren's possessive has been stripped from Utopia's name, since the band no longer sounds like an indulgent spin-off of his own albums…