Deface the Music

Utopia - "Deface the Music" (1980) - Bearsville

Hello Friends,

Wow! We're not really sure where to start with this sucker!

Todd Rundgren's Utopia started out in the mid-1970's as a progressive rock band formed to pretty much allow the studio savant/infamous control-freak Rundgren to work more in a collaborative band-setting.  The intention, I guess, was to be as different as possible from the "Hello It's Me"/"I Saw The Light" jangly pop nuggets that Rundgren had huge success with in the early 70's.  Utopia would allow him to break out of the soft rock/pop rock mold, allow him to utilize more complex song arrangements, more elaborate live stage shows and help keep his ego in check (presumably!)

By the late 70's, Utopia (now a quartet) fully abandoned its proggy roots to become a full-fledged pop band that fused art rock, power pop, new wave and even disco styles. Basically they were on their way to becoming "Todd Rundgren for the MTV Crowd".  But things came to a screeching halt of sorts with the 1980 release, Deface the Music, a thirteen song, 30 minute long record whose sole purpose was to parody the Beatles.  

It comes off sounding a lot like a Todd Rundgren pet project (see 1976's Faithful), a little too clever for its own good.  To call it overindulgent would not be an understatement.  

The main problem is that as a parody, its just not that funny.  Much of the joke is lost on the listener and the best that can be said about a lot of the songs is that they sound like a second-rate Jellyfish or a third-rate Wings. Deface the Music is certainly no Rutles!  Its no Weird Al!  Its no B Sharps!  No Fad 3! 

Side One seems to mostly parody the Beatles merseybeat days up through the Help!-era. Things get kicked off with the album's first single, "I Just Want To Touch You"...

Side Two gets slightly more interesting with nods to more psychedelic tunes.  "Hoi Poloi" is a tip of the hat to "Penny Lane". "Life Goes On" is a synthy send-up of "Eleanor Rigby". "Feel Too Good" sounds like a mash-up of Sgt. Peppers' "Getting Better" & "Fixing A Hole".  "All Smiles" sounds like vintage Queen!?!   And the final song, "Everybody Else Is Wrong" is Utopia's answer to "I Am The Walrus".

  

I guess the best you can say about this record is that pretty much the whole time we were listening to it, it just made us appreciate the actual Beatles even more!

Yawn.

RATING: 2.5 you can lead a horse to water, you can lead a lamb to slaughters out of 5