Utopia - Deface The Music [Bearsville Records BRK 3487] (24 September 1980)

Released: 24 September 1980
Country: US
Label: Bearsville Records
Catalog: BRK 3487
Genre: Rock

Item# SR-BEBRK3487
Ratings: C=VG+; LP=VG+


T R A C K L I S T:
01 I Just Want To Touch You
02 Crystal Ball
03 Where Does The World Go To Hide
04 Silly Boy
05 Alone
06 That's Not Right
07 Take It Home
08 Hoi Poloi
09 Life Goes On
10 Feel Too Good
11 Always Late
12 All Smiles
13 Everybody Else Is Wrong




Deface The Music
Utopia


LP to Digital [FLAC] transfer bundle
$42.99 plus shipping


Order ships in 3 to 6 weeks.




Submit an album review.

Album Review

Stephen Thomas Erlewine [allmusic.com]

Having just scored their first big hits with Adventures in Utopia, Utopia inexplicably took a step into arcana with its follow-up, Deface the Music. Foregoing the radio-ready style of Adventures, Utopia delves deeply into Beatlemania, creating a swift, brutally funny and insanely catchy send-up of the Fab Four's entire career. Clearly, the high (nearly arty) concept makes Deface the Music the first Utopia album since Another Live to sound like it is solely the work of Todd Rundgren. The music is so savvy, it's clear that these songs are primarily the work of Todd, even if they're credited to Utopia. Rundgren is able to write songs that evoke specific eras of the Beatles' career and have them be funny without being a slave to parody. Like the Rutles, this music works well on its own merits and, unlike the Rutles, Rundgren is as credible with ''Penny Lane'' psychedelia (''Hoi Poloi'') or ''Eleanor Rigby'' chamber-pop (''Life Goes On'') as he is with Merseybeat (''I Just Want to Touch You,'' ''Crystal Ball''). Unlike the Rutles, it sounds like it was recorded in 1980, not the '60s, which intensifies the feeling that Deface the Music is merely a curiosity or an exercise for Rundgren, but since the entire thing is finished in just over a half hour, it feels more like a burst of cynical joy that is damn near impossible to resist.