Inspired by Jax's Utopia video in the other thread, I found one of my all time favorite Utopia songs. It's a concept about four "brave adventurers" traveling to the four corners of the earth to find the four keys that will unlock the chest holding the "glass guitar"....um...yeah, anyway.....each adventurer has to fight a different element and is represented by a different instrument...first the drums (water), then the bass (wind), the keys (fire), and then finally Todd Rundgren's guitar (earth). These guys are incredible musicians but this is obviously a tough one to pull off live as there are a few mistakes (especially in Todd's guitar solo at the end), and some of the vocals are almost impossible to nail while playing. This is done in three parts. Hope you enjoy some of these solos (the bass player kicks ass! and the keyboardist is weird but really knows how to use the analog boards). Oh, and the videos seem to be off from the audio by an entire second. Here is Singring and the Glass Guitar:
Part One
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmoE3A04tc8&feature=related[/ame]
Part Two
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz76Mxb2kEw&feature=related[/ame]
Part Three
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk0H46EqGyU&feature=related[/ame]
Here's and interesting tidbit on the keyboardist Roger Powell:
For Utopia's live shows, Powell created the Powell Probe; the first remote, hand-held polyphonic synthesizer controller, which featured a custom-made shell used to access a complex stack of sequencers and other peripherals offstage. He was also the protege of Robert Moog (who created the Moog synthesizer), the composer and player of several solo albums, a touring musician with David Bowie and others, and an author who wrote a Keyboard Magazine column on synthesizer technique.