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Roger Powell is a former synthesizer player for David Bowie (touring and appearing on Bowie's 'Stage' album (1978), and staying on for 'Lodger' in 1979), but is best known for his work with Todd Rundgren. Powell eventually replaced three keyboard players when Todd Rundgren's Utopia went from a six-man band to a four-man unit in 1976, and also added his sound to many of Rundgren's productions, most notably on Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell, and Steve Hillage's 'L' album. While working for ARP Synthesizers in the early '70s, Roger Powell created an album, Cosmic Furnace, that caught the attention of many progressive-rock artists, including Rundgren, but while it was technically brilliant, it was somewhat raw and only appealed to a very small market. Atlantic Records released Cosmic Furnace in 1973, and Powell continued to write music with Utopia through 1985's POV album. One song Roger wrote for Utopia, Windows (from their 1977 LP, Oops! Wrong Planet) appears with a slightly different arrangement on Air Pocket. Air Pocket, originally recorded in 1976, wasn't released by Bearsville Records until 1980. Like Cosmic Furnace, Powell continued to perform brilliantly, but still appealed to a small audience, mostly comprised of Rundgren's fans that had seem him perform with Utopia. Unlike Cosmic Furnace, Air Pocket sustained a higher level of songwriting and performance, and Roger enjoyed the benefits of the evolved synthesizer technology, using more drum machines, different synthesizer sounds, and even singing on three of the album's ten tracks. Highlights from this album include the title track, the moody Landmark, the urgency of Emergency Splashdown (a tour favorite with Utopia in the late '70s/early '80s), the ethereal Morning Chorus (with Todd Rundgren adding e-bow guitar), and Dragons 'n' Griffins/Mister Triscuits Theme, the latter originally coming from Powell's earliest input with Todd Rundgren's Utopia in 1975. This steady album is very well produced and engineered, and sounds fantastic on compact disc, and it's for the combination of stellar performance and technical craftsmanship that I give this disc an excellent rating. Fans of instrumental soundscapers like Brian Eno and Eddie Jobson will have a lot to enjoy with Air Pocket.Read full review
If you enjoyed Roger Powell's work on the Utopia records then you're sure to love this album. I give it two thumbs up.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
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