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.
