“Back To The Bars” was Todd Rundgren‘s first concert album: released in December 1978, it was a nice summary of his solo career to the date, “solo” being the keyword here. At that time, though, Todd ran a parallel course as a leader of prog unit UTOPIA, and it’s their show, recorded a little earlier, in August, at “The Old Waldorf” in San Francisco, that will be out on November 27th as “Live 1978” – with a little cross-reference between the two documents. While featuring the material from the band’s then-latest studio effort, 1977’s “Oops! Wrong Planet,” the forthcoming 2CD set largely ignores their collective efforts, focusing instead on Rundgren’s songs – not unlike it was on "Live At The Electric Ballroom", preserved for a radio broadcast in October 1978 and issued by Esoteric last year.
Still, there’s a difference between the two recordings, and here’s an earlier, if not earliest, documented on-stage appearance of “Can We Still Be Friends” and a rare airing of “Back On The Street.” The full breakdown of the new addition to the official Todd archive series looks like this (read the review):
& UTOPIA –
Live 1978
Disc One:
1. It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference
2. Love Of The Common Man
3. Trapped
4. Abandon City
5. The Last Ride
6. The Seven Rays
7. Can We Still Be Friends
8. Back On The Street
Disc Two:
1. You Cried Wolf
2. Gangrene
3. A Dream Goes On Forever
4. Black And White
5. Eastern Intrigue / Initiation
6. Couldn’t I Just Tell You
7. Hello It’s Me
8. Just One Victory
