![\"utopia_disco_jets\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/utopia_disco_jets.jpg\")
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Todd Rundgren<\/b> has long been known for being, as the expression goes, ahead of the curve. His experiments, forays, and even innovations in computer and video technology are well-documented. The same holds true for his pioneering work with artist-to-peer networks, the too-ahead-of-its-time PatroNet service of the mid 1990s. And of course Rundgren has always been in the vanguard of self-contained music, recording entire albums by himself.<\/p>\n
But as much as his legion of hardcore fans looks forward to his every musical excursion and utterance (note that I count myself among said group), it’s true that \u2013 on occasion at least \u2013 Rundgren has been behind<\/em> the curve. (That’s not to denigrate the quality of the associated work.) It can be argued that his adventures in progressive rock and fusion (the first self-titled Utopia<\/b> album, his solo LP Initiation<\/i>) came a bit late in the game. And the (still excellent) bossa nova musical cul-de-sac that was With a Twist<\/i> was released at the trail end of the brief \u201ccocktail nation\u201d mini-craze (see also: Combustible Edison<\/b>).<\/p>\n And so it was, too, with a curious project upon which Rundgren embarked in the year of the American Bicentennial, 1976. Though the form had been around for a number of years (at least in a prototypical guise), the soul\/r&b offshoot genre known as disco rose to the level of mainstream culture in 1974; think of Carl Douglas<\/b>‘ one-hit-wonder \u201cKung Fu Fighting\u201d. By 1975 it was even bigger, thanks in part to Giorgio Moroder<\/b>‘s production for Donna Summer<\/b>, \u201cLove to Love You Baby.\u201d<\/p>\n When those singles were topping the charts, Rundgren was firmly establishing himself in a wholly different milieu with the aforementioned Todd Rundgren’s Utopia<\/i> (October 1974) and Initiation<\/i> (June 1975). Both were recorded with large musician ensembles; Utopia was, in those days, a seven-piece outfit.<\/p>\n Shortly thereafter, Rundgren pared Utopia down to a four-piece, retaining keyboardist Roger Powell<\/b> and drummer John \u201cWillie\u201d Wilcox<\/b>. Initially, the fourth player was bassist John Siegler<\/b>; this lineup recorded Rundgren’s Faithful<\/i> LP (May 1976), but were not credited as Utopia. For what would have been their debut release as a Utopia quartet \u2013 and for reasons unclear \u2013 this streamlined prog ensemble decided to cut a disco album.<\/p>\n No, really. Ensconced in Rundgren’s studio in Bearsville, New York, the group cut what would come to be known as Disco Jets<\/i> in just a few days. And listening now, the entire project sounds like a goof, perhaps the product of some herbally- and\/or chemically-encouraged mischievousness. It’s hard to imagine otherwise: Disco Jets<\/i> is littered with too-topical-by-half subject matter: how else to characterize \u201c\u201dCosmic Convoy,\u201d a nod to C.W. McCall<\/b>‘s November 1975 novelty ode to CB radio and truckers? Or perhaps \u201cPet Rock,\u201d a tribute to the most popular Christmas gift of the 1975 holiday season? Perhaps you’d prefer \u201cSpace War,\u201d replete with analog bloops and bleeps courtesy of keyboard whiz Roger Powell?<\/p>\n There’s a disco version of the Star Trek<\/i> theme, too, as well as a tune called \u201cTime Warp\u201d (not the Rocky Horror Show<\/i> camp classic), and a ditty called \u201cV.H.F.\u201d All of it is very, as Teenage Fanclub<\/b> coined the phrase decades later, bandwagonesque.<\/p>\n So yes, it is surprising that an artist of Rundgren’s caliber would have recorded such an album as Disco Jets<\/i>. It’s perhaps less<\/i> surprising that he and the band ultimately decided against its release. The tapes did circulate among (cough, cough) bootleg aficionados, and Disco Jets<\/i> did get a Japan-only release (as part of an expensive box set) in 2001, a quarter century after its, um, shelf date. Finally and recently, Disco Jets<\/i> has gotten wide release in the USA and elsewhere.<\/p>\n And y’know what? It’s not nearly as terrible as its reputation might suggest! The musicianship is first-rate, although Wilcox’s drumming is mind-numbingly repetitive (hey, that’s what the project demanded). It’s lightweight, to be sure, but in retrospect, that fact seems to have been clearly understood by its makers. In the official release’s liner note essay by Mark Powell<\/b>, keyboardist Roger Powell (no relation, I don’t think), is quoted as saying, \u201cThe album was a hoot to record. I remember laughing so hard that I cried.\u201d Taken in the spirit in which (if official accounts are to be trusted) it was made, Disco Jets<\/i> is a truly fun \u2013 if decidedly inconsequential \u2013 album. Rundgren fanatics will find it that curious creature that is both essential and rarely-played.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Todd Rundgren has long been known for being, as the expression goes, ahead of the curve. His experiments, forays, and even innovations in computer and video technology are well-documented. 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