Audio Insight
"Oops!" Wrong Planet"
Utopia's Masterpiece
Todd Rundgren’s'Utopia has always
been known for their cosmic doodlings,
impersonal rambling and general syn
thesized mindlessness. A few of Utopia’s
songs have meandered for as long as thirty
minutes without any real strong melody.
Todd’s newest Utopia band along with
their latest album “Oops! Wrong Planet”
has changed all of this. “Oops!” is
comprised of mostly three and four minute
songs with some of the strongest pop rock
numbers he has ever recorded.
Side one begins with the rapidly paced
“Trapped.” Rundgren yells through most
of the vocals, plays some driving guitar,
and adds bizarre lyrics such as “The
crowd shouted, ‘Off with his head’; the
priest said, ‘Have mercy, let’s burn him
instead!’ ” Trapped is followed try
“Windows.” This is not a bad song and it is
over before it gets a chance to get boring.
The next number “Love in Action” is one
of the best songs on the album. The
strength of the song lies in its pop vocals
and harmonies, with just enough of a sharp
edge to compete with some of the heaviest
rock ’n roll. “Crazy Lady Blue” doesn’t
•really add up to much of anything and just
gets in the way. The last two songs, “Back
on the Street” and “Marriage of Heaven
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and Hell” bring side one to a strong en
ding.
Bassist Kasim Sulton, more up front
than any other Utopian besides Rundgren,
does an excellent job of vocalizing the
futile anger expressed by the lyrics.
The last tune “Marriage” is the best
song on the album. As the song goes
through four tempo changes,-it sounds
almost schizophrenic. Every song on the
first side seems to lead up strongly and the
rest of the album serves as an anti-climax.
Great music.
Side two is shallow in comparison to its
flip side, although it does have its
moments. “Rape of the Young” is Run
dgren’s protest song to war, abortion, and
other violence. It is sung with the passion
that seems to come natural to Rundgren
and his feelings just flow into the listener’s
ears. “Love is the Answer” is the best slow
pop song on the album. It is classic Run
dgren. He could not have written a better
song to finish an album.
The strengths in “Oops! Wrong Planet”
lie in Rundgren’s song writing and sen
sibility as a producer. It would be
satisfying to see the present Utopia con
tinue in this style of performing and
release some of the excellent albums of
which they are capable.
OR RAW HI FI
YOUR PRESENT SPEAKERS?
PRICE ON PRO STEREO GEAR?
BUILDING YOUR OWN SPEAKERS?
• FRED JANOSKY
455'6310
SPEAKERS ?
Foreigner Appears in Scranton
Out of all the new bands that have ap
peared on the rock scene in 1977,
“Foreigner” seems to be one of the most
powerful, as demonstrated by the strength
of their recent appearance in Scranton.
Often times with many first year bands,
that which was created in the studio
cannot be duplicated on stage. This,
however, was not the case with
“Foreigner.” Hieir performance con
sisted of every song from their debut
album, save one, and each piece not only
stood on its own, but was improved upon.
The singing of the band’s four vocalists,
especially lead vocalist Lou Gramm,
showed no signs of strain, with all of the
harmony parts being sung just as on the
record. The 'band’s playing was im
peccable. The trio of bassist Gagliardi,
percussionist Dennis Elliott, and A 1
Greenwood on keyboards',, formed as
Movie Review
Something For Everyone
Kentucky Fried Movie: Hilarious! This
is the perfect movie for those individuals
with fried brains. It is a side-splitting piece
of sarcasm at its best. The movie is
generally a spoof about television and
commercials but consists of many more
interesting and funny sections such as:
Karate movies of the Bruce Lee Era, the
HariKrisha on their “Wilier Time” break,
and other selected zany moments. If you
like to laugh and you’re a bit silly, go see
“Kentucky Fried Movie.”
The Last Remake of Beau Geste: Marty
Feldman, the prince of madcap humor.has
finally made his own movie. Co-starring
with Feldman is Michael York and Ann
Margret. Michael York is at his best,
humor wise, in years. Beau Geste is a
desert classic of past decades. Feldman
and his humorous, warped mind take a
serious plot that is great to begin with and
transform it into a brilliant piece of 1978
The Highacres Collegian, November 12,1977 >
By Jim Lyman
Collegian Staff Writer
strong and as tight a rhythm section I have
seen in a long time. Mick Jones’ lead
guitar was also impressive, far surpassing
all of his work on their album.
However, the biggest surprise of the
night for me was the power of Dan
McDonald’s stage presence. In the course
of the evening he played keyboards,
saxophone, flute, and guitar; showing a
proficiency on each instrument which is
not readily perceptible on their recorded
work. McDonald, who, along with Jones
formed the band and served as an anchor
to the group’s sound. Jones acted as the
catalyst which drove “Foreigner” through
their set. This certainly seems to be a
winning combination.
As long as “Foreigner” maintains this
high level of entertainment they will
continue to be as electrifying as they were
that night.
By Craig Oswald and James Ferry
Collegian Staff Writers
satire. The story follows the adventures of
Michael York (Beau) and his not so heroic
twin brother Marty Feldman (Digbey)
through the adventures of the French
Foreign Legion. The characters involved,
and the slapstick comedy in a Monty
Python style keeps you laughing hours
after. If you liked Feldman in Young
Frankenstein, you will love him in “The
Last Remake of Beau Geste.”
OTHER CURRENT RELEASES
The Lincoln Conspiracy: This movie
consists oLa detailed documentary about
events during the presidency of Lincoln
and the events that followed. There are
excellent special effects as the nineteenth
century is beautifully recreated. The flaw
with this film is that you know how it will
end, and what will happen after the first
five minutes. The film is from Sun
International, famous for documentaries,
but they cannot compare with those
productions of Universal, Columbia, or
United Artists with the development of the
plot, acting or direction.
Star Wars: What can one say about Star
Wars that hasn’t already been said? For
those of you who have been locked in a
closet for the past year, “Star Wars” is the
sleeper of the year! It is a box office smash
despite the often used plot. The film
evolves around a twenty-first century
hero, Luke Skywalker, and his quest to
free the princess of the ‘federation.’ Along
these lines he runs into the strangest
looking beasts you could imagine. The plot
is an old one that could have been out of an
old western movie but the special effects
and the filmation is fantastic! They make
the film what it is. After all we are all kids
at heart. May the force be with you!
y ) Brine The Family For
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