Notes

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Currently OOP, though several vinyl and digital releases have been out at one time or another

Utopia: Todd Rundgren (vocals, guitar); Roger Powell (vocals, keyboards); Kasim Sulton (vocals, bass); John Wilcox (vocals, drums).

In 1975, Todd Rundgren released FAITHFUL, an impressive technical feat that found him perfectly re-creating six classic '60s pop-rock singles by the Yardbirds, Beatles, Dylan, Hendrix, and the Beach Boys. Side two consisted of an equal number of Rundgren originals in the same stylistic vein.

In 1980, Rundgren and his band Utopia returned to this idea with DEFACE THE MUSIC, an album that sounds exactly like the '60s pop songs that inspired it. The Beatles are the most obvious influence, but there are also hints of the Beach Boys, SELL OUT-era Who, and the Kinks. Rundgren and keyboardist Roger Powell even approximate some Simon and Garfunkel-like harmonies in moments. If you're a fan of the Rutles or XTC's albums as the Dukes of Stratosphear, you will love DEFACE THE MUSIC.

Like The Beatles Utopia rotated lead vocals and shared writing credits, although Rundgren was the undisputed leader. One distinctive feature of Utopia was its stylistic breadth, which ranged across psychedelic-progressive '70s rock, soul-pop, blues, 'stadium rock' and heavy metal. Another was the band's unabashed optimism, as evidenced by its name.

Deface the Music --undoubtedly the most misunderstood and under-appreciated album in the Utopia canon is a deliberate and calculated set of Beatles parodies--but whether it's meant to flatter the Fab Four or send them up is debatable (I think it was born out of frustration at the acusations against him as a "McCartney rip off artist"). A terrific Beatles send-up that still manages to be an entertain listen on its own, Todd lovingly recreates the signature sound from different periods and adds funny, tongue-in-cheek lyrics. Making fun of the Beatles? Grow up! No one goes to this much trouble without having studied and loved the original records. But hey, irony isn't for everyone.

Turntable - A vintage VIP Boyscout circa 1966 recently upgraded with a custom plinth hand made of Nubian Dragon wood illegally harvested from Djibouti at great personal risk but used for it's exceptionally nubian tonal response.
Tonearm - SMEK series 1984 modded with X-1R Crawler Track Lubricant from the Space Shuttle to give an out of this world character.
Cartridge - Koetsuzuki Ivory Platinum, a very limited production run of fifty three units, each one hand carved from a white key removed from the Blüthner Grand Piano that was used by The Beatles during the "Let it Be" sessions. The resulting musicality and magical aura is thought to be obvious to all.
Phono stage - Womanley Labs Marlin all tube stage with Edison tubes that were actually hand made by Edison himself.
A/D converter - Apologee Schmenke 192 converter with firewire and vintage ESDI interfaces.
Software - Audacious for Vistakon OS with proprietary dither program written for me by Peter Gotcher because we're boys.

Ugh...okay...I made all of that up...here is the actual "mid-fi" system that was used...

Fisher Direct Drive Turntable MT-6225
Audio-Technica AT440MLa Cartridge
Marantz Model 2230 Receiver (Phono Pre)
Digidesign Digi 001 (ProTools Hardware)
Protools Software (pencil tool, levels and track splits)
Lightly polished with ClickRepair
No other signal processing is used

Another quality GALEMARK needledrop