POV
	Produced by Todd Rundgren and Willie Wilcox Co-produced by Kasim Sulton and Roger Powell
	Released on January 1985
	US CHART POSITION #161
	Find it at GEMM
PB 6044 cover [high resolution scan]

F rom my point of view, Utopia has earned the right to release mediocre albums at the end of their career. Whether you want to pay good money to hear them exercise that right is your decision. Oblivion was something of a stinker, POV is no better. Both albums retrace the steps of old Adventures and encounter fewer monsters, adding not an iota to the Utopia legend. If you want to champion “Mated,” go ahead, but I can think of 20 Todd Rundgren ballads that are better. It’s a sense of deja entendu that prevents me from giving POV any credit. “Mimi Gets Mad,” “Zen Machine,” “More Light,” you’ve heard them before. Apparently, Utopia Now is a place where nothing new ever happens. The first time I listened to POV, I realized my mistake. I also realized that Oblivion wasn’t a great album either, and wondered why I expected this to be any better. As a Utopia fan, I got acclimated to POV’s shortcomings pretty quickly and enjoy the record now on some level. I’m pretty confident that other Utopia fans will have the same reaction. The band hasn’t knocked me on my butt since Swing to the Right, but I’ve learned to expect something/anything when buying Todd/Utopia albums, from genius to generic rock. It’s not like I don’t enjoy listening to “Secret Society” or “Play This Game,” but they’re nothing like hearing “The Road to Utopia” or “Shinola” for the first time. In retrospect, the Utopia dynamic had probably played itself out; the band actually sounds bored with the prospect of making another record. Rhino reissued this on CD in the ‘90s with Oblivion and the two new tracks from Trivia, if you’ve got the Utopian fortitude to tread that far.

TRACK LISTING

1. PLAY THIS GAME    4;12
2. STYLE    4:14
3. STAND FOR SOMETHING    3:50
4. SECRET SOCIETY    4:17
5. ZEN MACHINE    4:07
6. MATED    3:56
7. WILDLIFE    3:36
8. MIMI GETS MAD    3:44
9. MYSTIFIED    5:21
10. MORE LIGHT    3:54
    
    All songs written by Utopia

CREDITS

ROGER POWELL --
TODD RUNDGREN -- mixing
KASIM SULTON --
WILLIE WILCOX --
Lynn Goldsmith -- photography
Utopia -- package concept
Murray Brenman -- layout

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