{"id":18889,"date":"2020-06-12T05:30:55","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T09:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=18889"},"modified":"2020-05-21T12:47:49","modified_gmt":"2020-05-21T16:47:49","slug":"album-review-todd-rundgrens-utopia-benefit-for-moogy-klingman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2020\/06\/12\/album-review-todd-rundgrens-utopia-benefit-for-moogy-klingman\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Todd Rundgren\u2019s Utopia \u2013 Benefit for Moogy Klingman"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"After the success of his double LPs Something\/Anything?<\/i> (1972) and Todd<\/i> (1974) as well as the double-album in all but pressing A Wizard\/A True Star<\/i> (1973), Todd Rundgren decided to channel his progressive proclivities into a project separate from his solo work. Utopia was thus born. And while the earliest lineup never recorded, as the lineup settled in around a seven-piece group, Utopia shared with the world its music. Drawing from psychedelia, fusion (a la<\/em> John McLaughlin\u2019s Mahavishnu Orchestra) and progressive rock, that early Utopia made some heady, ambitious works.<\/p>\n

In fairly short order, the band metamorphosed into something else entirely: a four-piece band that moved away from prog toward catchy powerpop\/new wave stylings. But the prog-era Utopia \u2013 featuring three keyboardists \u2013 has a legacy of its own. One of its keyboardists was Mark \u201cMoogy\u201d Klingman. Even after the progressive configuration faded away, he maintained good terms with Rundgren, playing on some of the latter\u2019s solo releases.<\/p>\n

And so in 2011 when Klingman was facing a serious illness and mounting medical bills, Rundgren brought the original lineup together once again (for the first time in three decades) for a benefit concert. Those shows \u2013 in New York City and Peekskill \u2013 were recorded and filmed, and the whole package is seeing release now in a six-disc (4CD + 2DVD) set.<\/p>\n

The first two audio discs document the January 29 show at the Highline Ballroom, and the set features not only Utopia material (\u201cUtopia Theme,\u201d the epic work \u201cThe Ikon,\u201d \u201cAnother Life\u201d \u201cFreak Parade\u201d and such) but songs from S\/A, AWATS<\/em> and Todd<\/em>. The concert \u2013 at which Klingman performed with the band \u2013 also included some of the keyboardist’s own tunes.<\/p>\n

The playful barrelhouse \u201cMoogy\u2019s Boogie\u201d opens the set, and it\u2019s a treat. A piano solo piece that quotes \u201cUtopia Theme\u201d before heading in boogie woogie and Gershwin directions, it sets the eclectic tone for the evening. A mini-set of Klingman originals (including \u201cLadyface,\u201d a tune Rundgren used to play in concert but never recorded) explore the pop side of things. Klingman\u2019s voice is no match for Rundgren\u2019s, but the musicianship is top-flight.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s six tunes in before the full band joins in, but when they do, it\u2019s 1974 all over again. \u201cUtopia Theme\u201d benefits from the multiple keyboardist configuration. In all its progressive glory, \u201cFreak Parade\u201d is tight and exploratory at once. The funky prog of \u201cAnother Life\u201d is superb. At an abbreviated 17-plus minutes \u201cThe Ikon\u201d is still thrilling. Late in the set, the Kasim Sulton spotlight number \u201cSet Me Free\u201d feels a bit out of place, but it\u2019s fun nonetheless.<\/p>\n

The pacing is flawless as the set heads toward a close with three deeply soulful Rundgren classics in a row: \u201cThe Last Ride,\u201d \u201cJust One Victory\u201d and \u201cSons of 1984.\u201d All are flawlessly executed in heartfelt manner. The show ends fittingly enough with \u201cYou Gotta Have Friends,\u201d a Klingman tune recorded by Bette Midler. Klingman\u2019s weedy vocals are tough sledding, but appealing in their own way. (Few listeners, however, will care to spin the track more than once.)<\/p>\n

The third and fourth discs present the Peekskill concert that took place three days after Klingman\u2019s passing at age 61. That show\u2019s set list focuses more on Utopia material, songs that appeared on Todd Rundgren\u2019s Utopia<\/i> (1974) and Another Live<\/i> (1975).<\/p>\n

The Peekskill set\u2019s production values impart an oddly flat and faraway feel to the sound, not unlike a monitor mix or a high-quality audience recording. And the reading of \u201cFreak Parade\u201d has an extended interlude that\u2019s just plain weird, and not necessarily good-weird. The band regains its footing somewhat for \u201cHeavy Metal Kids,\u201d a song that invites a slightly messy reading. By the time of \u201cAnother Life,\u201d things are back on track.<\/p>\n

After a solid take on \u201cThe Wheel,\u201d the reunited Utopia tackles the nearly-full version of \u201cThe Ikon\u201d (this time more than 25 minutes long, still short of the half-hour studio original). The musical interplay is knotty where it should be, but the flat, muddy mix keeps it from shining quite as it should. Oddly enough, the sound seems to improve for \u201cFreedom Fighters\u201d and the closing \u201cJust One Victory.\u201d Before that last tune, Rundgren makes a short speech in memory of his fallen friend, and the audience responds in kind with chants of \u201cMoogy!\u201d The band takes \u201cJust One Victory\u201d at a significantly slower pace than normal, and in the process wrings every bit of emotion out of it.<\/p>\n

Containing filmed version of what is heard on the four CDs, the audio-visual portion of the six-disc set was unavailable for review.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the success of his double LPs Something\/Anything? (1972) and Todd (1974) as well as the double-album in all but pressing A Wizard\/A True Star (1973), Todd Rundgren decided to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,49,56,65],"tags":[4209,2228,2299],"class_list":["post-18889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-multimedia","category-new-release","category-prog","category-review","tag-moogy-klingman","tag-todd-rundgren","tag-utopia","cat-47-id","cat-49-id","cat-56-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18889"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18891,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18889\/revisions\/18891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}