Utopia

Todd Rundgren turned away from the fame that arrived with Something/Anything?, choosing instead to pursue fresh musical directions that prompted him to assemble Utopia in 1973. The project began as a prog-rock septet built around three keyboard players, yet over the course of the decade it condensed into a polished mainstream-rock quartet; Rundgren stepped back while his bandmates supplied original songs and lead vocals. By the start of the 1980s the group had become a charting act on its own terms, though most listeners remained committed Rundgren devotees—an illustration of the central difficulty facing Utopia: despite carving out a recognizable style, the band was routinely viewed as Rundgren’s personal indulgence. That assessment contained truth, because the quartet’s musical path frequently tracked his own, and when he dissolved the lineup in 1985 the enterprise ended. By then Utopia had existed for more than ten years, rendering it more substantial than a mere whim, yet even devoted followers concede that the band’s history cannot be separated from Rundgren’s.

The ensemble originated from his wish to investigate synthesizers and prog-rock forms. In its first configuration the septet included keyboardists Moogy Klingman, Ralph Shuckett, and Jean Yves “M. Frog” Labat, bassist John Siegler, percussionist Kevin Elliman, drummer John “Willie” Wilcox, and Rundgren on lead guitar. Its debut album reached stores several months after the solo release Todd. Issued in October 1974, Todd Rundgren’s Utopia contained four lengthy, primarily instrumental pieces, each exceeding ten minutes. Rundgren extended the same exploratory approach on the solo album Initiation, which appeared in spring 1975. Only months afterward Utopia issued Another Live, a sprawling concert recording centered on extended synthesizer passages and the first album to feature Roger Powell in place of Labat. The band’s concerts combined these spontaneous explorations with video projections and chance-generated electronic interludes.

Another Live marked the close of the synthesizer phase and, in several respects, the extended period of deliberately challenging work Rundgren produced in the mid-1970s. After completing the solo pop album Faithful in 1976, he reshaped Utopia by removing Klingman and Shuckett and accepting the departures of Elliman and Siegler; Kasim Sulton arrived as the new bassist. Ra, the first album by this reduced quartet, remained a prog-rock statement yet sounded heavier and less abstract than earlier efforts. Released in early February 1977, Ra was succeeded seven months later by Oops! Wrong Planet, on which the group shifted toward concise pop/rock infused with hard-rock energy.

Utopia supported a club tour that supplied material for the 1978 solo Rundgren live set Back to the Bars, issued after the hit album The Hermit of Mink Hollow; the live collection mixed solo and Utopia repertoire. No new Rundgren or Utopia titles appeared in 1979, but the following year brought the band its widest exposure. Adventures in Utopia, released in January 1980, reached number 32 and remained on the charts for 21 weeks, propelled by the Top 30 single “Set Me Free.” Utopia quickly returned in October with Deface the Music, a pointed Beatles parody that earned praise for its wit yet cost the group much of its newly won audience.

After Rundgren’s solo project Healing in 1981, the quartet delivered Swing to the Right in 1982; the album failed to enter the Top 100. Its commercial disappointment contributed to ongoing tensions with longtime label Bearsville. Rundgren secured Utopia’s release from that contract and moved the band to the fledgling Network imprint. Several months later the self-titled Utopia appeared; buoyed by modest MTV airplay for “Feet Don’t Fail Me Now,” it climbed to number 84 and charted for 19 weeks. Network folded the next year, forcing another label search that ended at Passport. Oblivion, the first Passport release, arrived in January 1984 and peaked at number 74, yet its successor, POV, managed only number 161 in 1985. Part of the difficulty stemmed from the quartet’s glossy arena-rock sound having grown dated. After POV, Rundgren effectively disbanded the group to focus on solo work and computer programming.

Powell likewise turned to software development and created the Powell Probe keyboard. Sulton maintained an active career, issuing several solo albums and serving as a sideman for Cheap Trick, Hall & Oates, and Joan Jett, among others. Wilcox shifted to behind-the-scenes roles as producer and songwriter. Utopia reconvened in 1992 for a Japanese tour documented on Rhino’s live album Redux ’92: Live in Japan. Founding keyboardist Ralph Shuckett died on April 4, 2021, at age 73.