Utopia – Oblivion (1983)

Oblivion is a 1983 album by American foursome Utopia. The music refines the player’s recent embrace of hi-tech electronic equipment — a trend previewed on the earlier Swing to the Right LP, as well as on Todd Rundgren’s two most recent solo albums, Healing and The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect.

In contrast to the mostly chordal-based material on the preceding three-sided homonymous release, many of the songs here evolve out of layers — an approach embodied in the slow, tilted heaviness of “If I Didn’t Try” and the illuminating, modernist textures of the fold-out closeout “I Will Wait.” The ivory forward and angular, maj7 mid-pace of “Maybe I Could Change” — rendered with arching emotiveness by Sulton — makes for another standout.

Tracklist:
A1. Itch in My Brain
A2. Love With a Thinker
A3. Bring Me My Longbow
A4. If I Didn’t Try
A5. Too Much Water
B1. Maybe I Could Change
B2. Crybaby
B3. Welcome to My Revolution
B4. Winston Smith Takes It on the Jaw
B5. I Will Wait

Credits:
Todd Rundgren – vocals, guitar, production
Kasim Sulton – vocals, bass
Roger Powell – keyboards, vocals
John “Willie” Wilcox – drums, vocals