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Great Todd Almighty!
A DVD of some historic musical importance, "Utopia: Live In Columbus, Ohio, 1980" captures for posterity a 2+-hour evening with this exciting ensemble at the top of its game. Comprised of Todd Rundgren on guitar, Roger Powell on keyboards, Kasim Sulton on bass and Willie Wilcox on drums--four truly multitalented virtuosos--the band dishes out a program here that draws on a wide swath of Rundgren and Utopia material; a whopping 28 songs in all. Highlights, for this viewer, are anything from the band's 1977 album "Oops! Wrong Planet," one of my favorite records of all time, and one that is sadly and inexplicably O.O.P.S. (out of print...shite!) itself. Five tunes from this collection are performed here, including "Gangrene," during which the band members show off on different instruments (Todd on drums, Kasim on guitar, Willie on bass), and "Love Is The Answer," on which Todd displays some awesome singing pyrotechnics. Other notable moments of the evening are "Caravan," with its wild guitar and keyboard interchanges; "The Last Ride," with its amazing ax work from Todd; the very amusing video that accompanies the song "You Make Me Crazy"; and "Cliche," one of Rundgren's prettiest numbers, performed here with just Todd on acoustic guitar and Roger on piano. Sound quality is decent enough, certainly for my modest setup, although the video looks a tad grainy; still, one must be grateful for the existence of this document at all, I suppose. As a bonus, this DVD gives us an interview with Rundgren today that is very revealing and informative. The man has had a long and varied career and speaks articulately on the things that he has learned during it. Now if we could only make him get over his stage fright! LOL!
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- ferbs54
- May 5, 2010
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