Swing to the Right


Swing to the Right is the sixth studio album by American rock band Utopia, released on February 24, 1982 by Bearsville Records. 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 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 executives to release it, even going as far as giving out the phone number and address of Bearsville and instructing audiences to ask for Albert Grossman.
The album cover 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. 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 except where noted.
  1. "Swing to the Right" – 4:21
  2. "Lysistrata" – 2:43
  3. "The Up" – 4:08
  4. "Junk Rock " – 3:13
  5. "Shinola" – 5:21
  6. "For the Love of Money" – 3:40
  7. "Last Dollar on Earth" – 4:13
  8. "Fahrenheit 451" – 2:47
  9. "Only Human" – 5:11
  10. "One World" – 3:24
Some CD reissues include the bonus track "Special Interest".
Note
  • One song entitled "God and Me" was left off the album, but it is available in bootleg form.
  • The track "One World" was originally intended for release on Deface the Music. A demo version from that album's sessions exists, and it was played live on that album's tour with slightly different lyrics.
There were two revisions of this album before Bearsville would agree to release it.
Initial track list as presented to Bearsville in May 1981 with expected release in June.
Side One
  1. The Up
  2. Special Interest
  3. God and Me
  4. Fahrenheit 451
  5. Shinola
  6. Swing to the Right
Side Two
  1. Last Dollar on Earth
  2. For the Love of Money
  3. Lysistrata
  4. Junk Rock
  5. Only Human
  6. One World
Note
  • An acetate copy of this first version has surfaced which contains different takes of "The Up", "Swing to the Right", and "One World" than what made it onto the final version.
Second track listing presented to Bearsville September 1981 with expected release of October.
Side One
  1. Swing to the Right
  2. Lysistrata
  3. The Up
  4. Special Interest
  5. Junk Rock
  6. Shinola
Side Two
  1. Last Dollar on Earth
  2. For the Love of Money
  3. God and Me
  4. Fahrenheit 451
  5. Only Human
  6. One World
The final track listing was presented to Bearsville in December 1981 and approved for release in February 1982

Personnel

Charts

Album – Billboard
YearChartPosition
1982Pop Albums102