I have my doubts as to whether Utopia, in its '70s incarnation, can claim to be a proper label. The only examples I have seen feature a standard Mercury label with a Utopia logo on it - not enough, in my opinion, for it to qualify. However, singles on this Utopia / Mercury hybrid had their own catalogue series, TANGO-0, and some of them came in a company sleeve; given that degree of individuality, they just about squeezed on to the site. Billboard of the 24th of December 1977 reports that Phonogram had signed a deal to market Utopia's records worldwide, but the agreement seems not to have run to a discrete label identity. The company was owned by producer Phil Wainman, a stalwart of the Glam years, and was linked to his Utopia studios and music publishing firm. It scored a novelty Top 20 hit with its first single, Richard Myhill's, 'It Takes Two To Tango', mainly by virtue of making it available in square form (TANGO-1) as well as in the usual round shape (6007-167; 3/78). It was the first time that a differently-shaped record had been issued, and it started something of a craze for shaped singles, but the novelty wore off eventually. Subsequent Utopia singles were round and were less successful. The agreement with Phonogram seems not to have lasted into the '80s, which indicates that it may have been a three-year one. In 1982 Utopia had another go at issuing records, this time through PRT; this time around it received a proper individual label identity (2). Numbering in this new incarnation was in a UTO-0 series.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.