Deface the Music
Studio album by
Utopia
ReleasedSeptember 24, 1980
StudioUtopia Sound Studios
GenrePop rock
Length32:06
LabelBearsville
ProducerTodd Rundgren and Utopia
Utopia chronology
Adventures in Utopia
(1979) 		Deface the Music
(1980) 		Swing to the Right
(1982)
Singles from Deface The Music
  1. "I Just Want To Touch You"
    Released: November 1980
  2. "Alone"
    Released: 1981 (Spain only)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Billboard(positive)[2]
Rolling Stone[3]

Deface the Music is the fifth studio album by the band Utopia. The concept of the album was to pay homage to the Beatles and create songs which sounded very similar to the Fab Four's tunes throughout the various stages of their career. Their song "Take It Home", replete with guitar riff, is their homage to "Day Tripper". The first track, "I Just Want to Touch You", was written by Todd Rundgren for the Roadie soundtrack. It was rejected by the movie's producers for fear of legal action because it sounded so much like the Beatles.[4] The original pressing was made to look like an early 1960s Beatles release, with custom inner sleeve advertising their previous three albums even down to the way the vinyl was mastered with wide bands of silence between each song.

Track listing

Track Song Running
time		 Sources and notes
1 "I Just Want to Touch You" 2:00 "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "Little Child"
2 "Crystal Ball" 2:00 "Can't Buy Me Love", "She's A Woman"
3 "Where Does the World Go to Hide" 1:41 "A World Without Love", "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"
4 "Silly Boy" 2:20 "I'm a Loser", "I'll Cry Instead", "Help!"
5 "Alone" 2:10 "And I Love Her"
6 "That's Not Right" 2:37 "Eight Days a Week"
7 "Take It Home" 2:53 "Day Tripper"
8 "Hoi Poloi" 2:33 "Penny Lane", "Lovely Rita"
9 "Life Goes On" 2:21 "Eleanor Rigby"
10 "Feel Too Good" 3:04 "Getting Better", "Fixing a Hole"
11 "Always Late" 2:22 "Yellow Submarine", "A Day in the Life (middle section)"
12 "All Smiles" 2:27 "Michelle", "I Will"
13 "Everybody Else Is Wrong" 3:38 "Strawberry Fields Forever", "I Am the Walrus"

Charts

Chart (1981) Position
US Billboard Year-End[5] 65

See also

References

  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (2011). "Deface the Music - Utopia | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved July 8, 2011.
  2. ^ "Review: Utopia – Deface the Music" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 85, no. 41. 11 October 1980. p. 70. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 30 May 2020 – via American Radio History.
  3. ^ Fricke, David (2011). "Utopia: Deface The Music : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on October 7, 2008. Retrieved July 8, 2011.
  4. ^ Sharp, Ken. "Q&A with Todd Rundgren on His Career and Being in Ringo's All-Starr Band". Rockcellar Magazine. Archived from the original on February 8, 2014. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
  5. ^ "Top Pop Albums of 1981". Billboard. Retrieved February 16, 2022.
Categories