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.
