DEFACE THE MUSIC

UTOPIA was never overtly influenced by THE BEATLES, so the decision to create a condensed career retrospective of THE BEATLES on "Deface The Music" is something of a surprise. Almost all of the songs are variations on an earlier BEATLES theme: "I Just Want to Touch You" is a spin-off of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand", "Where Does the World Go" is based on "I'll Follow the Sun", "Take It Home" is inspired by "Drive My Car", etc. The band occasionally succeeds at putting its own twist on THE BEATLES' songs -- the "Penny Lane"- inspired "Hoi Polloi" or "All Smiles" (which combines pieces of "Michelle" and "Fool on the Hill") improve on psychedelic pop much as XTC was able to do, but using tracks like "Eleanor Rigby" and "I Am The Walrus" as templates for "Life Goes On" and "Everybody Else Is Wrong", respectively, casts too great a shadow over UTOPIA's revisions to enjoy. TODD addresses the hopes of many in the opening track: "You might have heard this all before / But from me it could mean something more." Whether it's meant as a parody or novelty, "Deface The Music" sells their own songwriting skills and sound short.

A cute experiment, to be sure, but what was the point again?