SWING TO THE RIGHT

As interesting as it is to see Rundgren make an overtly political album, I can't really recommend this album to prog fans. Perhaps you should bear in mind that I'm of those people who thinks that Utopia's best prog (found on Todd Rungren's Utopia and Ra) is overrated, but I really don't think the most dedicated fan of Utopia's prog will maintain that Swing To The Right is a prog album.

What it is is basically some quality 80s pop-rock with lyrics that criticise the hypocrisy and outright stupidity that fuelled Ronald Reagan's America. With some decent songs (Swing To The Right, Lysistrata, Last Dollar On Earth, the soulful Only Human and the totally exuberant closing anthem One World) I actually think it can be compared quite favourably with contemporaneous albums by Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and Jackson Browne, but then again, it's also got some real tuneless synthy rubbish like Junk Rock (Million Monkeys), For the Love Of Money and Farenheit 451. Aside from the opening track, there are hardly any solos to speak of, which is just more evidence that points to the fact that Swing To The Right is not a prog album.

It's hard to believe that just five years earlier this same line-up of Rundgren, Powell, Sultan and Wilcox made Ra. ... 18% on the MPV scale