

User Score
3 votes
After a thirty-year-plus hiatus, Todd Rundgren's Utopia graced the Chicago Theater stage, with the hopes of promising fans an extraordinary, other-worldly concert experience. In the 1990s Todd retired Utopia and reverted to making his own music, with varying degrees of success, and then last year came the announcement of the long-awaited U.S. reunion tour, where the album in review here originates. Recorded in Chicago on 22nd May 2018, the music reflects a run through many of the finer moments of the Utopia back catalogue. Todd is joined by fellow original members Willie Wilcox (drums) and Kasim Sultan (bass), alongside replacement keyboard player Gil Assayas who covered at short notice for an indisposed Ralph Shuckett. The original 70's-formed band established a stellar reputation for stretching the prog rock/pop. MUSICIANS Todd Rundgren – Guitar, Lead Vocals Kasim Sultan – Bass, Guitars, Lead Vocals Willie Wilcox – Drums Gil Assayas – Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Status
Released
Original Language
EN
Hello explores changes in two people’s working lives: a Mexican trash picker who separates and collects recyclable materials from landfills to sell by the kilo, and a German freelance computer-animation designer working for the advertising industry in Berlin. The double interview is controlled and manipulated by a computer-generated severed hand which Maria describes as an object once discovered in the trash while working in the violent northern town of Mexicali. This CGI hand was in turn produced by Max, who was born with no arms, and sought refuge in computer-imaging as a means to operate and manipulate a digital reality.