ALBUM: Deface the Music
MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$$
I don’t know what to think of these guys. Where do they fit in the pantheon of Beatles imitators?
Utopia uses Beatles’ sounding vocal harmonies, use of harmonica and some familiar sounding guitar riffs. But it’s mostly patched together pieces of Beatles.
They are more polished sounding than the 1970’s band The Flamin’ Groovies whom, I believe, deliberately chose to present a garage band version of Beatlemania.
And Utopia’s lyrics are an odd lot. Their very first song on the album sends up “I Wanna Hold Your Hand.’ It’s called “I Just Want to Touch You (Do You Want me to Touch You Too?”)
They lead off side two with a song called ‘Hoi Poloi, with it’s ‘Penny Lane’ trumpets, followed by ‘Life Goes On’ with lyrics such as ‘The world keeps turning.’
The song ‘All Smiles,’ with its sound effects, resembles the Kinks more than the Beatles.
Overall the songs flow together well and if you weren’t paying attention you might think you were listening to the Fab Four.
But there have been others who did it better, the Spongetones from the 1980s and, original British Invaders the Dave Clark Five, to name a couple.
Todd Rundgren was the leader of Utopia and it was called Todd Rundgren’s Utopia in its early days. Mostly known as a progressive band with songs clocking in at 30 minutes, Utopia’s Deface the Music was a departure from that style.
Rundgren is best known for his solo hit ‘Hello It’s Me.’