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<\/a><\/p>\nLive at the Electric Ballroom Milwaukee 23\/10\/78 Music offers us a rare opportunity to time travel, especially when an artist\u2019s work is so evocative of the period it\u2019s set in, and such a template for the style they exemplify. This archive two CD issue is, according to its brief sleeve notes, a live feed, so no overdubbing or other studio jiggery-pokery interfering with the live Utopia experience.<\/p>\n I know I\u2019m not the only critic who feels that the punk attitude of the late 70\u2019s had a tendency to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Some of the artists who were labelled \u2018prog rock\u2019, suffered under punk\u2019s \u2018year zero\u2019 policy toward music, and Todd Rundgren, although rightly bearing the stylistic moniker, had far more going for him than many of his overblown, lost-in-translation contemporaries, who spent their young years composing space operas and hymns to the fairy folk.<\/p>\n The jazzy, sweet sounding Supertramp-like \u2018Real Man\u2019 is a good opener, leading into the piano backed, strongly melodic FM radio-friendly ballad of \u2018It Wouldn\u2019t Have Made Any Difference\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2018Love of the Common Man\u2019 brings in those synths that sounded so new and revolutionary in the 70\u2019s, all triumphant chords, with high harmonies and a light, jazzy feel blending well.<\/p>\n \u2018Trapped\u2019 takes us into Biblical, apocalyptic territory, a hard, ballsy rocker of a song that comes to a screaming dead halt at exactly the right moment.<\/p>\n \u2018Abandon City\u2019s funky, jerking \u2018climbing the stairs\u2019 rhythm has some fine synths and an effects-laden guitar, surprisingly punky in parts, with deft keyboard player Roger Powell namechecked for his efforts.<\/p>\n \u2018The Verb \u2018To Love\u2019\u2019 has a great synth clarion intro, good harmonies, and Todd\u2019s voice has a good ring to it here, building up an impression of romantic melancholy you could lose yourself in.<\/p>\n \u2018The Seven Rays\u2019 great, exciting guitar intro has a jangle to it, powered along with plenty of neo-classical riffery and changes of tempo that may not have won Utopia any new fans in the days of punk, but produced a pleasing soft rock sound with Arabic touches that would prove a useful touchstone to a host of 80\u2019s AOR artists.<\/p>\n \u2018Can We Still Be Friends\u2019 has a Steely Dan quality to it, a slow creep and croon that contrasts with the rich, overlaid sound of much of the show.<\/p>\n \u2018The Death Of Rock And Roll\u2019s exciting get-up-and-go tune, lot of stop\/start judders, classical-style vocal and synth keyboard lunacy is enough to persuade you that reports of RnR\u2019s demise is a mere exaggeration, a fitting closer to CD1.<\/p>\n Our second prime cut opens with \u2018You Cried Wolf\u2019, with its jangly, funky guitars, glorious harmonies backing up Todd\u2019s sometimes weak lead vocal; a winning track. \u2018Gangrene\u2019s duad-heavy, hard rocker, with its strong guitars, has a back-to-basics quality that suggests Utopia may have been cocking an ear at some of these young whippersnappers in their leathers and ripped jeans. Drummer John \u2018Willie\u2019 Wilcox is honoured for all his sweating on this one.<\/p>\n \u2018A Dream Goes On Forever\u2019 is a sweet enough ballad, with its piano intro and refrain of \u2018Old Soldiers Fade Away\u2019, but it\u2019s \u2018Black Maria\u2019 that takes us back to the hard rock we\u2019re craving, with its nasty, razor\u2019s edge guitar. A nervous, fighting song with a slick, biting style that wins on all points.<\/p>\n \u2018Easter Intrigue\/Initiation\u2019s story telling has Todd\u2019s voice stronger than usual, moving in and out of a reggae style riff, perhaps a bit too free form for this critic, but has the saving grace of a winner\u2019s chorus.<\/p>\n \u2018Couldn\u2019t I Just Tell You\u2019s swirly, chunky guitar intro leads into a style that would find full fruition in the 80\u2019s, with good harmonies; the best track so far.<\/p>\n \u2018Hello, It\u2019s Me\u2019 is a disappointment after the previous strong showing, with its dull keyboard chops and watery vocal, with a jazzy riff rather getting lost in the mix.<\/p>\n \u2018Just One Victory\u2019 closes the CD, its romantic vocal supported by the jangly guitar, good harmonies, clean, skilful guitar solo and triumphal keyboards.<\/p>\n With enough distance in time between music\u2019s heady days of late 70\u2019s and today, it could be time for a clearer assessment of the roots of the FM rock style, with respect to the music itself, rather than the package it ended up in. BUY HERE!<\/a><\/p>\n Chewing The Fat <\/b>(Cherry Red Records CDBRED621)<\/em><\/p>\n In these stale musical times, when a mighty throng of music lovers are prepared to stand in a field and listen to a monotonous voice droning over a pre-set soundscape, a refreshing dip into the\u00a0 waters of a not too distant age is sorely needed. Step up, Blue Rondo A La Turk, and remind us that it wasn\u2019t all just sucked-in cheeks and whining synths back in that long, extended silly season of the 1980\u2019s.<\/p>\n In a lavishly packaged double CD, Blue Rondo\u2019s first LP is re-issued, together with a CD covering the remixes of their finest moments, and an informative bonus booklet showing many memorable images from the band to whom style was at least as important as music. Mixing jazz, salsa and Latin rhythms, with the peacock-populated band decked out in wildly coloured and patterned examples of the Zoot Suit, to say they stood out among other popular bands of the period is putting it mildly.<\/p>\n \u2018Change\u2019 makes an excellent start, a good urgent rhythm, easy vocal and enough cross-rhythms to grab you by your loud, plaid lapels and shake you. A devilish bit of piano playing shows these fellahs mean business.<\/p>\n The doomy chords that can only mean \u2018I Spy For The FBI\u2019 are played over congas, a female voice and some sax adding a nice touch to a masterly version of this classic.<\/p>\n \u2018Coco\u2019s held-down high bass notes in the song\u2019s insistent rhythm make it another winner, but it\u2019s \u2018The Heavens Are Crying\u2019\u00a0 that captivate, with the staccato beat, \u2018Gods of Olympus\u2019 vocal, great, echoing saxes and spine-tingling glockenspiel.<\/p>\n \u2018The Method\u2019s strolling rhythm and up \u2019n\u2019 down piano riff engages well, if a little undermined by the disinterested vocal delivery, but the wailing sax saves it. \u2018They Really Don\u2019t\u2019 is more what you\u2019re looking for; a loud, shouty sort of piece, very much the popular end of Latin, lots of rattling drumsticks and spitting saxes with, late-ish on, a sax taking lead. Their precise contemporary, Kid Creole, would have respectable success with this kind of record, not to mention other less worthy competitors, and I feel it a crying shame that more folk didn\u2019t get a taste of Blue Rondo\u2019s hot, gamey stew.<\/p>\n \u2018Sarava\u2019s loose, hothouse strut proves a welcome instrumental break at this point, hugely energetic, steamy atmosphere, leading into perhaps their finest hour, the mysteriously named \u2018Klactoveesedstein\u2019.\u00a0 A crazy, frantic multi rhythmic beat spun out with deadly precision, one crescendo of frustration after another, it\u2019s difficult to see why this great song wasn\u2019t a much bigger hit than the frankly insulting number 50 it was left with.<\/p>\n \u2018Carioca\u2019 proves a lusher production number, all lazy, sexy saxes and languid delivery, building up to a climax, then a release into that brassy sound they used so expertly.<\/p>\n Bonus remixes on this first disc include a Latin-by-numbers treatment of \u2018Me and Mr Sanchez\u2019, admittedly still enjoyable, and with plenty of \u2018Ay Ay Ay\u2019s for all you Carmen Miranda enthusiasts.<\/p>\n \u2018Changeling\u2019 has a delicious chiming guitar over a sexed-up rhythm of the original \u2018Change\u2019 and \u2018Heavens Are Crying\u2019 makes a bid for contemporary popularity, alas to little success. A more hepped-up \u2018Sanchez\u2019, with acres of backing vocal improves on the original, leaving us with \u2018Klacto Part II\u2019 and \u2018The Cities Are Dying\u2019 as closers to a strong and consistent CD reissue.<\/p>\n CD2 offers more alt versions, calling the listener to question just how many versions of \u2018Klactoveesedstein\u2019 they really need, but don\u2019t miss the first; a swampy, bluesy treatment lurking here with intent. BUY HERE!<\/a><\/p>\n New York In The \u201870\u2019s<\/strong> (Cherry Red)<\/em><\/p>\n Referencing chalk hill figures and hurling himself headlong into a personal project about a certain place and time, it\u2019s tempting to assume that Luke Haines is going down that Julian Cope road, with attendant pitfalls. The difference here is that Haines has chosen to celebrate his own real life totems, each one as legendary as any Neolithic cave painting.<\/p>\n The sparse production here on every track lends the CD an air of Germanic cool, in keeping with the bare, financially straitened period it eulogises. \u2018Alan Vega Says\u2019 has a simple guitar figure and a cricket-like chirp in the background, paying much tribute to the similarly named Lou Reed work. \u2018Drone City\u2019s sneering synth has all the fearful, shivering atmosphere of Suicide, with an Elvis style delivery and an emergency siren, just in case you were getting comfortable.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t get a proper scene setter until the third track \u2018NY In The \u201870\u2019s\u2019, a catch with a low, slow organ sound, duad guitar notes and some\u00a0 typical Reed characters, like the \u2018scary transvestites\u2019 this sort of song would be wanting, without. \u2018Jim Carroll\u2019 has a good beat, a fuzzy riff, and dry, humorous lyrics, but then, if you know Carroll\u2019s work, you\u2019d guessed that much anyway.<\/p>\n \u2018Tricks N Kicks N Drugs\u2019 maroons us in a decadent game of Scissors\/Paper\/Stone, and its druggy catch is one of the more expansive tracks here. \u2018Bill\u2019s Bunker\u2019 sees a return to the previous tense atmosphere, an icy-cold synth providing the up \u2018n\u2019 down riff to this nervous tale of isolation.<\/p>\n \u2018Dolls Forever\u2019 sees Haines back in tribute-to-eulogy corner, the notorious NY band glimpsed from across that unbridgeable pond. \u2018New York City Breakdown\u2019 has an unexpectedly sweet tune considering its subject matter. \u2018Lou Reed Lou Reed\u2019 has an alternating synth riff, cymbals hissing like snakes, all to set the scene for the arrival of \u2018the suicide blond with the iron cross\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2018UK Punk\u2019, the most electronic selection here, proudly wears its monotony and ends with an inspired spy-movie swell. \u2018Cerne Abbas Man\u2019 seems an apport from another world, its \u2018mythic m\u2019fo\u2019in rock \u2018n\u2019 roll\u2019 mantra is however another standout. \u2018NY Stars\u2019 at last takes us to Max\u2019s Kansas City, introduces us to this cast of drug fiends and perverts and leaves us with the bar bill. How else would NY behave? BUY HERE!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Todd Rundgren and Utopia Live at the Electric Ballroom Milwaukee 23\/10\/78 (Esoteric Recordings Eclec 22446) Music offers us a rare opportunity to time travel, especially when an artist\u2019s work is so evocative of the period it\u2019s set in, and such a template for the style they exemplify. 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\n<\/b>(Esoteric Recordings Eclec 22446)<\/em><\/p>\nBlue Rondo A La Turk<\/h1>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nLuke Haines<\/h1>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n