''Adventures in Utopia'' is the fourth studio album by

Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...

. Mixing their earlier

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

style with mainstream

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

and

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

music, ''Adventures in Utopia'' achieved success both with the band's established

fan base A fandom is a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significant portion of ...

and wider commercial success, with the track "Set Me Free" released as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

. The song became the only Top 40 single for Utopia in the United States. "Umbrella Man" was its

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

. The by-then established Utopia line-up of

Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the bands Nazz and Utopia. He is known for his sophistica ...

Kasim Sulton Kasim as a given name, a variant of Qasim. It may refer to: People known only by the given name Kasim *Kasım Pasha, Ottoman general and governor *Kasım of Karaman, the last bey of the Karaman Beylik, a Turkish principality in Anatolia *Şehza ...

, Roger Powell and John "Willie" Wilcox wrote, performed and produced the album on their own. According to Rundgren, the album was intended to be the soundtrack for a TV show the band was working on. Even though the album was recorded in a place with video equipment, they never got around to writing or producing the TV pilot.Rundgren, Todd comments from the 2018 CD reissue of the album put out by Friday Music

Track listing

All tracks are written by Utopia (Rundgren, Powell, Wilcox, Sulton).

Personnel

- Electric guitar, lead vocals (1, 3, 6–8, 10), backing vocals, Saxophone (4) * Roger Powell - keyboards, lead vocals (5), backing vocals, *

- bass, lead vocals (1, 4, 6, 7, 9), electric piano (4), backing vocals *

Willie Wilcox John "Willie" Wilcox (born September 21, 1951, in Trenton, New Jersey) is an American drummer, vocalist, producer, recording engineer, sound designer, composer, and senior audio director. He is best known for being a member of the band Utopia (A ...

- drums, lead vocals (2), backing vocals Engineered and produced by Rundgren, front cover concept by Rundgren

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1979 albums Todd Rundgren albums Utopia (band) albums Albums produced by Todd Rundgren Bearsville Records albums