Tag: toto

It’s hard to believe, but Toto were under a lot of pressure before the release of this album. With the success of their first album and the huge single Hold The Line that came from it, the two albums that followed were commercially not very successful. Even though I love Hydra, but it’s almost a Prog album. I think everyone around the band breathed a huge sigh of relief when Rosanna, the lead single reached number two on the charts. Not only is that song superbly written, but it sounds incredible with a grade A top notch production. The band also don’t give up on their muso credentials in the song either, as the long fade out instrumental is killer.

The whole album screams class and is a lesson on how to do everything right. You’d think one mega selling single off an album would be enough, but no, with Africa they topped it and reached number one. Other than Rosanna, which is the best track the album, I’m picking Lovers In The Night as my favourite tune as the instrumentation is great and Luke’s solo sounds just so off the cuff.

Great record and everyone should have one just for the production alone.

10/10 from The Grooveman.

There is no doubt (in my eyes anyway) that Toto are rock royalty. In much the same way that Steely Dan got together, a bunch of session guys getting together to make music they wanted to make and not being told what to play. This short five track live album is from Toto’s first visit to Japan in 1980, and was a a RSD release.

St George And The Dragon opens up the album and it was one of the killer songs from Hydra, it’s great to hear it played live and Lukather’s guitar is just beautiful. Mama is just incredible. A superb funky vibe and Luke’s really on the money. Tale Of A Man closes out Side 1, and what a killer track this is. Jazz, funk, and Rock are all covered here and it’s my favourite track as I love this rendition – killer playing by all.

Side 2 opens up with White Sister, one of my favourite Toto songs. Great playing and this is how it should be, all playing live no overdubs or miming to tape here. The album finishes with Runaway, which I don’t think has appeared on any album before, and is an old school rock n roll romp. Just five tracks isn’t an LP but an EP, I’m not complaining as warts and all recordings don’t exist anymore.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

With their first album, they had success right out of the gate with the single Hold The Line, so when the band recorded this they wanted to stretch themselves musically. They did, but the record company weren’t that impressed as there was no obvious singles (even though the track, 99, had moderate chart showing). That shows you how record companies work – even when you give them an album as good as this, they want more.

This album has a more progressive feel to it, in the same way that Kansas albums feel. Still high on melody with great hooks, and the musicianship is off the charts at times. Give sessions guys free rein and this is what they come up with. They had all worked together on all sorts of projects, and had worked with anyone who was anyone in the business – and it shows. My two favourite Toto tracks are on this album, namely opener Hydra which is an incredible track with Steve Lukather really giving it the beans on guitar, and the incredible White Sister – quite possibly Toto’s finest hour in rock band mode. Of course they had huge chart success with IV with Africa and Rosanna, but for me, when Toto rock out, boy do they shift through the gears.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

How do you follow up an album that was as successful as Toto IV? Well, in Toto’s case, you would struggle to even get the band back in the studio. At the time, there were problems with vocalist Bobby Kimball’s voice due to his ongoing drug problems. The problems really started on the tour for Toto IV, as a lot of shows were cancelled. When it came time to record this album, they gave Bobby the old heavo and recruited Fergie Fredrickson as his replacement. Anyone who knows Toto well will realize that as well as having a lead singer, they had Steve Lukather and David Paich occasionally singing leads on certain songs as well. Surprise, Surprise, Fergie would only last for this album and tour, as he also had vocal issues that caused huge problems.

Before Toto became a thing, all the members were high end session guys that played on squillions of albums in the mid-to-late seventies, and even into the nineties, so these guys knew how to write tunes. Even though Isolation never achieved the chart success that IV did, it was still a great album full of pop rock classic tunes, and the single, Stranger In Town, was the highest charting rock song the band had. Toto being Toto, the instrumentation and playing is second to none, and for guitar aficionados, Luke really rips in his usual style. If you love Toto -especially the more poppy side – then you will love this album.

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.