Swing to the Right
Swing to the Right is the sixth studio album by Utopia. It followed the Beatles parody-homage "Deface the Music". "Swing to the Right" moves into hard-edged commentary on corporate raiders, warmongers, political villains, and despicable music industry moguls. There is little in the way of progressive rock on this album, which is limited to its title track. Recorded in winter 1981 and set for release that June, Bearsville Records was reluctant to release the album because of its political and religious themes. In protest Utopia took this material on the road for a full  year begging audiences to petition Bearsville Records execs to release it, even going as far as giving out the phone number and address of Bearsville Records and instructing audiences to ask for Albert Grossman. The cover photo is a retouched and tinted reproduction of a well-known photograph taken at a public burning of Beatles records, which took place in August 1966 in the town of Waycross, Georgia, in response to John Lennon's controversial "more popular than Jesus" remark. The photograph, distributed by UPI and printed on front pages of newspapers including "The Savannah Morning News", depicts the burning  of the Beatles albums in Waycross in a large bonfire, while in the foreground a boy holds an LP which is about to be thrown into the fire. In the original image, the album the boy holds is a copy of The Beatles' Capitol Records debut LP "Meet The Beatles", but on the Utopia cover this has been photographically replaced with an image of the "Swing To The Right" cover (thereby creating the illusion of an endless regression of the same image). The August 1966 event was promoted by WAYX radio in Waycross and was one of dozens that took  place across the country in August 1966 in response to Lennon's remarks. Track listing. All songs by Utopia (Rundgren, Powell, Wilcox, Sulton) except where noted. "Some CD reissues include the bonus track "Special Interest"". Note There were 2 revisions of this album before Bearsville would agree to release it. Initial track list as presented to Bearsville in May 1981 with expected release of June of '81. Side One Side Two Second track listing presented to Bearsville September of '81 with expected release of October of '81 Side One Side Two The final track listing (as released) was presented to  Bearsville in December 1981 and approved for release in February 1982 Charts. Album – "Billboard"