Utopia's final album 'POV' is also considered by many as their finest. With internal pressures, lack of success, and a feeling of losing thier initial meaning, Utopia called it a day after recording two more tracks for the compilation 'Trivia'. Utopia later reformed for a series of live shows in Japan in the nineties and these shows are documented in the album 'Redux 92'.
'POV' features a line-up of straight rock tracks, with lyrics which are much more publically accessible than previous albums.
Credits:
Produced by Todd Rundgren and Willie Wilcox
Co-produced by Kasim Sulton and Roger Powell
Mixed by Todd Rundgren
Recorded at Utopia Sound
Package concept by Utopia
Layout by Murray Brenamn
Digital Music System by Fairlight CMI
Management: Eric Gardent / Panacea Entertainment Management
Invluable Assistance: Chris Anderson and Mary Lou Arnold
Track Listing:
Discography:
LABEL Cat.
No Tracks/Title Format Cover Country
Passport 7923 Mated/Stand for something 7"
Single No PS USA
F/f/thought YUM107 Mated/Man of Action 7"
Single PS UK
f/f/Thought RR5511 Mimi get's mad/Stand for
something 7" Single No PS HOLLAND
Rhino R2 72287 Oblivion, POV, and some trivia CD Re-issue Different USA
f/f/Thought GRUB5 POV LP Standard UK
Passport 6044 POV Album Standard USA
Lyrics:
Style
Stand for Something
Secret Society
Zen Machine
Mated
Wildlife
Mimi gets Mad
Mystefied
More Light
Play this Game
I could be jealous and grasping with greed
I could pretend that I want something I don't need
These are the things that go through my head
But then, I could be an angel disguised as a man
I could be the sun that shines in the midnight land
If you would only stand in my corner
Give that advantage to me
Don't you feel something?
You know what I'm thinking but
I can't set it free
We must
Play this game, take the prize
But not before you realize
That win or lose, it's all the same
Then maybe we can play this game
I can't remember the reason I'm here
Sometimes it seems like it's all out of habit or fear
Sometimes I wish I could just go to sleep
But then, I'll have a dream with a beautiful end
I'll wake up and feel alive, then I'm off again
If I could only keep your connection
Give me whatever remains
Then I might win you total liberation
But I can't break these chains
We must
Play this game
Let's pretend that we could never reach the end
For it would be a crying shame
If we can't learn to play this game
Stand in my corner
Give that advantage to me
Stand in my corner
Pull down a message with me
The answer that evades our brains
We only think we're wearing chains
Style must not be underrated
Style is often overlooked
Style is never in the papers
I read it like an open book
Style
If you can't see the substance
Style shows how it's organized
Style is looking for your money
It's in the way you paint your eyes
There is always a way
A way things are done
I've been learning my ABC's
I know what is 10, I know what is 1 in
Style is a naked look
Underneath your style
Style of a different place
Talking through your style
Even the way you hide it
Reveals the thing you hide
Your style may never cause a riot
It's still a style to have no style
There is always a way
To light up a lamp
It's been a crazy year all around
The check never came
I can't let it cramp my
Style is a world for sale
You can't buy this style
Style that you can't resist
You won't cramp my style
When you cry
I know you've got a good reason to cry
If you can't come
I know it's not just an alibi
Now I hear things that are better kept under the hat
Who backs it up?
Look at your hand, you can count on that
When you talk, it's hard to disagree
And when you dance, you're talking to me
When you stand, you stand for something
Stand for something
They can't dim your flame
When you stand, you stand for something
Stand for something
They can't bend your stream
Here I stand
Outside the world of politica
I would not lose that
For all the gold in South Africa
What you wear did not come easy
What you hear sounds different to me
When you stand, you're standing next to me
You put your foot down every day
Make sure you bring it down on the up beat
So walk away those feet of clay
We are fighting and dancing in the street
When we were young they would break our hearts
You and I had to go undercover
We knew in time we would be pulled apart
We found a way we could hold on to each other
Gave our souls to another world
Sealed in blood with a sacred vow
Now we've forgotten but beneath all this
A part of you and me is still there now
Go on and sing
Go on and dance
It'll all come back if you just give it a chance
Don't you remember me?
We had a secret society
Refresh your memory
We were the secret society
I never see you in the waking world
We make an effort to avoid each other
But every night we penetrate the veil
Where everybody acts like sister and brother
You never speak the words in broad daylight
They're much too delicate and too naive
But everybody's been a witness sometime
It doesn't change it if you don't believe
So go on and sing
Go on and dance
Someday soon you'll hear that little bell ring
And you'll remember me
We have a secret society
Not just a memory
We are the secret society
You've got to come with me
You're in the secret society
Until eternity
We are the secret society (It's no secret)
You're always finding out
About the things that people never talk about
I didn't ask to know
But now I'm compensating as I go
I know the script I'm in
I'm only thoughts of heaven trapped in flesh and skin
And from the world of men
I try to tighten up the code again
And the code is a play
A play is a song
A song is a film
A film is a dance
Boot me up on the Zen Machine
Log me onto the Zen Machine
Load me down
Everybody get ready
Hook me into the Zen Machine
Sharing time on the Zen Machine
Load me up
Everybody get ready
Sometimes it's clear to me
Then for a moment I'm in timeless ecstasy
There are no reasons why
And everyone's a passer-by
But when they've gone to bed
A fire's burning on the screen and in my head
And on a windy day
You can smell it from a mile away
And the smell is a note
A note is a taste
A taste is a hue
A hue is a touch
Everyone asks
Are we some kind of lovers?
Everyone asks what you're doing with me
I know this is not what they want
They're afraid you've been blinded
But I already know how it's going to be
If anyone should ask
Say we're mated
For as long as this life lasts
We are mated
Why else would you be here right now
And you know we'll still be here tomorrow
Nobody else understands what I'm doing
Nobody else makes me act in this way
And because they can't comprehend
What we mean to each other
They won't leave you alone
So you know what to say
I hold you in my heart
'Cause we're mated
In a very special part
We are mated
Why else would I be here right now
And you know I'll still be here tomorrow
I see things far ahead, maybe light
Maybe beautiful children
I don't have words I'm thinking of
But it's way beyond what they call love
Mommy told me she has everything I want
Mommy told me that I should not worry 'bout nothing else
Mommy told me that I can't do what I want
Mommy told me
But she's only thinking about herself
Can't think about nothing else
I'm thinking about myself
Time to leave and it's just as well
'Cause I can't help thinking there's something else
Wildlife
So I told he that I must have something more than she offered
And she should not worry about my health
I'm a big boy, not her little boy no more
I'm a big boy and I must learn how to protect myself
Hold my own when they give me hell
She can worry about herself
Tiny eagles must leave their nest
Wild horses withstand the test
Old lovers become estranged
Little boys who can't help but change
Could be nothing but who can tell?
I'll never grow up, I won't try
I can live with that, don't ask why
I am resigned that this is me
If I can take it, why can't she?
I am bad at my best, but she will not accept that
I can't get away with things I might regret
She makes me get started when nothing's ever through
And I do the best that I can do but
Mimi gets mad when I make her wait
Mimi gets mad when I phone too late
But then Mimi gets sad if I hurt myself
Can't say that about nobody else
Someone should tell her honestly
She is a fool to count on me
I swore there would be no delay
I should have been here yesterday
So I sneak in the door and there she is again
She could squeeze off a shot just as soon as look at me
She don't say a word and every word is true
And if that's the best that I can do then
Mimi gets mad every time I'm wrong
Mimi gets mad when I sleep too long
But then Mimi gets glad when I do my share
See no smile but I know it's there
There must be a dozen other boys
She could give her anger to
I'm the only one, it doesn't matter what I do
It's not very pretty but it's absolutely true
That I'm still the best that she can do so
Mimi gets mad
I'm sitting here looking at your picture
I see a light all around your head
You got a green I ain't never seen
And what a strange shade of red
And everything is turning inside out
And something gets ahold of me
And turns me inside out
There is a place where the others go
You can forget everything you know
But every night is the same to me
Lying awake and longing to be
Mystified
Cannot help myself
Mystified
Could not stop myself
You got a wishing well in your eye
The surface starts to ripple
Pardon me, what might your entendre be?
I'm seeing double, sometimes triple
Every thought wears a thin disguise
It's not a thing that I can verbalize
But if you knew what I was looking for
You'd get off your ass and walk out that door
Mystified
Last night I was laying down sleeping
You know I was dreaming all to myself
In the evening, darling when the sun goes down
Whoa! You know it's mighty hard to tell
Tell me what more can a good man do?
You hold the world hostage in your mind
Standards and practices are well defined
But if you choose to walk a different road
Hold onto your hat, your head might explode
Mystified
I think the last time I was warm was in my mother
Now I'm listening in the darkness
but there's nothing on the wire
I'm locked inside the refrigerator
So while I sit and shiver
I rub the sticks together
And if it takes forever
I will find my way back to the fire
Heat is not enough
More light
Love is strong enough
More light
Faith is not enough
More light
Everybody must be touched
I think that we don't need another great communicator
And there's a million extended mixers we are ready to retire
We all face obsolescence sooner or later
So while we sit and shiver
We rub the sticks together
And if it takes forever
we will find our way back to the fire
Promotional Videos:
Suggested Listening:
Trivia
