''Todd Rundgren's Utopia'' is the debut album by the American rock band

Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...

, released on October 4, 1974 on Bearsville Records. The band was formed in 1973 by musician, songwriter, and producer

Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the bands Nazz and Utopia. He is known for his sophistica ...

who decided to expand his musical style by moving from pop-oriented rock towards

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

. He assembled a six-piece group that featured three keyboardists and toured as a live act. Most of the album was recorded in the studio except "Utopia", the opening track, which was recorded live in concert April 25, 1974. The album peaked at number 34 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and critical reaction towards it was mixed.Utopia chart placings
AllMusicGuide.

Background

Like Rundgren's solo albums '' A Wizard, a True Star'' (1973) and ''

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'' (1975), the album pushed the limits of vinyl. At almost an hour in length, the sound needed to be compressed in order to fit it onto one record, resulting in a decline in audio quality. The CD version avoids this issue. On the first reissue of the album, released in 1978, the title of "Utopia" was changed to "Utopia Theme" and publishing credits were changed from Earmark Music to Earmark Music and Screen Gems - Columbia Music. "Utopia" was recorded live in concert at the Fox Theatre in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

on April 25, 1974.

Track listing

Note: "Utopia" is titled "Utopia Theme" on later editions.

Personnel

Utopia *

– vocals, electric guitar * Mark "Moogy" Klingman – keyboards,

Hammond B-3 organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created from rotat ...

* Ralph Schuckett – keyboards * Jean Yves "M. Frog" Labat – synthesizer * John Siegler – bass guitar,

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

* Kevin Ellman – drums, percussion Production * Todd Rundgren – producer and engineer * David Le Sage – assistant engineer * Maruo Miyauchi – design and illustration at Push Pin Studios

References

{{Authority control 1974 debut albums Todd Rundgren albums Albums produced by Todd Rundgren Utopia (band) albums Bearsville Records albums Rhino Entertainment albums