Utopia
Oops! Wrong Planet

The 1977 marked a turning point in the history of music, and the "discovery" that the global audience made of punk could not and did not leave any "old greats" unaffected... And so, while some continued on their path, meeting increasingly less audience approval, others, albeit partially, bowed to the new market rules. No, Todd Rundgren did not become a punk artist, but one might wonder why the long-faced wizard and his Utopia had, in '77, first partially in the transitional album "Ra" and then definitively, abandoned the progressive rock path. Perhaps, in Rundgren's view, punk revolution or not, the path of prog had ended there, maybe he believed, at the time, that there was nothing left to explore in that direction, or maybe he was simply tired of it...

Coincidence or not, "Oops! Wrong Planet" is the first non (and not even partially) progressive album in Utopia's history. It is obvious, however, that a certain "awareness" of being (or having been) something more than a "normal" pop rock band remained, and what did this awareness inevitably translate into? What does progressive mutate into when it is "limited" to the timing and rigor of pop rock schemes? The answer, dear DeBaserian User, is, alas, pomp rock, or Arena rock, if you will.

When speaking of pomp or Arena rock, one immediately thinks of the flat and almost disappointing Asia (about which I think I wrote a little something) but also, in some respects, the stadium Queens (1977 version, indeed) of "We Are The Champions" and "We Will Rock You". Well, Utopia's "Oops! Wrong Planet" resembles neither one nor the other (and at the end of the day, that wouldn’t have been so bad).

What Utopia offers, except for a couple of exceptions, is a skillful mix of ballads and rock pieces, all (even those composed by multiple hands) more or less in Rundgren's typical style, but this time embedded, waterproofed, set in a pomp context that, in my opinion, does not alter its beauty, but at the same time, in the weaker episodes, does not improve its fortunes. When judging the ballads, one inevitably has to consider each individual's taste. And this is not easy to admit, for someone who wants to be a reviewer on DeBaser... Let's take for example "The Martyr", in perfect Arena rock style... It is not important how valid the song is in itself, how sharp and powerful Kasim Sulton's voice is (take that, bicarbonate!) or how excellent the other vocal parts, choirs, and counterpoints are... It is the atmospheres created that condition everything, and if the atmospheres created by pomp rock are not liked, then they will never be liked.

So the ballads end up being somewhat similar: identical is the atmosphere and identical is the matrix, more or less "piano, voice, and old soul" whose appearances are altered by rock and pomp rock arrangements and topoi. So in "My Angel", where Rundgren also tries his hand at the sax, or in the concluding "Love Is The Answer", a mix between the typical '70s ballad (America in the first place) and the inevitable pompous pomp. Or again "Crazy Lady Blue", halfway between Queen's "You Take My Breath Away" (verses) and the Electric Light Orchestra (or the theme of "Love Boat"), in the choruses.

If this scattered half of the album is just as cute as it is devoid of sparkle, six phenomenal RuntRock tracks take care of surprising and thrilling, starting with the opening "Trapped", an irresistible and enjoyable cross between surf and Arena, where the sense of rock triumphs absolutely over pompous magnificence. "Love In Action" is a very amusing surf rendered trivial by overly banal lyrics (the gist is "the world is going to hell and dying, but love in action can never be stopped"). In "Back On The Streets", the guitar and keyboard sound like Eddie Van Halen will during his peak commercial success period; "The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell" is a great street blues rock that is unfortunately supplanted halfway through by the usual interstellar republic anthem; "Gangrene" is a fun rock with a garage glam attitude, while "Rape Of The Young" is a superb and wild Arena hard rock (n' roll).

Usually, I have found Todd Rundgren's rock episodes overly predictable, a clear lack of originality due to choices that are too "derivative", with the only mitigating factors being technical ability, the ingenuity in pulling out a winning card, a new solution, as well as the clever and effective marriage of hard blues and surf... This time, however, the wizard hits and sinks, unleashes and drags, convinces the connoisseurs (also because, in '77, the alternative was punk) and does not fall short in the judgement of those less refined and more fashionable. And if the pretext for doing rock so well is pomp rock, well then (please, dear mother, forgive me) long live pomp rock!