I Can Tell By That Look in Your Eye: Toto reviewed 1978-2015

Anteater · 03-22-2015, 12:19 PM

Toto - Hydra (1979, Columbia)

Do you want your freedom from the one you're thinking of?

The Lowdown
Toto, or more specifically David Paich and Jeff Porcaro, came into the recording of sophomore album Hydra with a particular goal in mind: not to make something that would necessarily just appeal to a worldwide audience, but to make a rock-oriented album that fit the growing scope and vision of what Toto "could" be. To that end, that meant making the "progressive" stuff even bigger and bolder, the rock songs punchier and the ballads groovier. While this wouldn't win the band any points with their critics, the resulting album was a varied and compelling listen to the ears of most.

Hydra was released late in '79 at the peak of New Wave's genesis into mainstream radio, and thus the band's now overtly prog-meets-hard rock-meets-R&B stylings didn't move as many units as before. Nevertheless, the record went gold pretty quickly and lead single '99' (despite obtuse lyrical content) made it into the Billboard's top 50 across the U.S. and sold respectably.

This album also marked the first time where other members of the group besides David Paich would contribute directly to the songwriting, with all five of the key members actually developing the lead-off 8 minute title track together.

Toto have done their fair share of experimental outings, but 'Hydra' marked the end of the primarily David Paich-led era of the group and remains one of their most interesting albums from start to finish.

Anteater · 03-22-2015, 12:40 PM

Side One

Anteater: In the two years since Toto first hit airwaves and record stores, a lot had happened: punk and New Wave had come in with full force and AOR was on the rise.

Anteater: Therefore I think it was kinda ballsy of them to start the album off with a nearly 8-minute long behemoth.

Unknown Soldier: This was the second Toto album I purchased after Toto IV, I therefore had three to choose from and picked Hydra strictly for its cover and the title track is as ballsy as that album cover.

Anteater: Hydra wasn't the first Toto album I'd really sat down with, but it was the one that convinced me that they were definitely more than just a particularly sharp pop-rock group. Paich's piano and keyboard syncopation on the opening title track are awe inspiring!

Anteater: It's not even that much of a stylistic leap from the first album. But the lyrics are rather fantastical, which in itself is kind of an evolution.

Unknown Soldier: The track has that opening ambient section that leads into David Paich's work and as great as David Paich's work is here, I find that guitar lead by Steve Lukather (You know the one) to be the perfect complement. It's a pretty basic hard rock lead but so effective.

Unknown Soldier: Musically the band were less all encompassing than the debut as here they are indulging in fantastical themes and I find the lyrics to be something that have never quite left me.

Anteater: Yeah, they tackle more obtuse material. Less "she broke my heart" and more sci-fi and Dungeons & Dragons-esque elaboration.

Unknown Soldier: Have you seen the video to Hydra?

Anteater: I have actually! Was really bad quality when I watched it before, but a lone swordsman going through what looks like the L.A. sewer system with nothing but leather and a big sword was pretty funny.

Unknown Soldier: I first saw it in 1983 I think on an 'Elvira Mistress of the Night' Halloween special and on that show were bands like Devo, the Doors, Clash, Joy Division, Blondie and Alice Cooper etc but the "Hydra" video for me was the pick of the bunch.

Anteater: Agreed. I also remember reading an interview at one point where Lukather mentioned that the band used to spend tens of thousands back in the early MTV days on music videos, but he said they might as well have "taken all that green and set it on fire in the backyard".

Unknown Soldier: Remember "Hydra" video came out before the MTV boom.

Unknown Soldier: And it was pretty great stuff, the kind of video that bands into fantasy rock would've been proud of.

Unknown Soldier: So overall, "Hydra" is one of my favourite Toto tracks, a rock behemoth in the true sense and one of a kind, the band never tried to copy it again either.

Anteater: Completely agreed. It was the epitome of cheese, but I give them props for embracing video at a time when other bands didn't even bother.

Unknown Soldier: I can imagine Dio probably being pissed off, that he didn't get to walk with a sword in a Rainbow video at that time.

Anteater: Lol! This actually leads me to a key observation on the album "Hydra" as a whole: its arguably better sequenced than the first record.

Unknown Soldier: It what sense?

Anteater: Well, because the title track is immediately followed by the lyrically related 'St. George And The Dragon'

Anteater: I'm not saying this is a concept record or anything, but you can tell they thought long and hard about how these songs should follow one another.

Unknown Soldier: Ah ok sure and agree, as the two tracks go hand in hand.

Anteater: Like 'Hydra', it has a strong piano lead and propulsive melody. But whilst the title track was written by the entire band, this one's a solo Paich composition.

Unknown Soldier: …and of course "St. George and the Dragon" is a more accessible track too.

Anteater: Oh definitely. I love Lukather's guitar lead about 2 minutes in!

Unknown Soldier: …and starts with the line 'can you tell me where I might find the hydra' clearly linking the two songs.

Anteater: The title track mentions a Dragon King at several points, but I don't know if that's the same thing as the 'hydra" he speaks of in 'St. George'.

Unknown Soldier: I also think it may be the band's richest track lyrically. For example the title of the journal is taken from a line in this track.............. I just changed 'the' for 'that'

Unknown Soldier: I'm not sure of that either (‘The Dragon King’), but there is a line that says he's 'wearing a familiar face'.

Anteater: The whole thing is a revenge metaphor.

Anteater: It ties the two songs together into the closest thing to a concept in the album, because after this we're led into '99' which was the key single but a completely different beast lyrically.

Unknown Soldier: Both "Hydra" and "St. George and the Dragon" are as you say linked tracks, but "99" seems to segue in perfectly to make it three in a row.

Unknown Soldier: "99" is a beautiful dreamy track and the kind of thing that Steve Lukather always sung so well.

Anteater: At this point Paich has gotten pretty good at picking the right lead in the band for the songs he was writing.

Anteater: Himself or Bobby Kimball for the rock stuff, Lukather for groovier material, and Steve Porcaro for the occasional ballad.

Unknown Soldier: Do you think that they did different leads or just chose one to go with?

Unknown Soldier: I think the former but I know some bands tried different leads before choosing just one.

Anteater: I think Toto didn't have a true lead vocalist until 1984's Isolation.

Unknown Soldier: Have you seen THX 1138 the inspiration for the song?

Anteater: Yeah I have: one of George Lucas's "better" non-Star Wars outings

Unknown Soldier: I saw it so long ago that I hardly remember it, but supposedly there's a section in the "99" video that resembles the film.

Anteater: 99 is literally the name of the woman in the song, which is the big obvious connection to the source material. A nameless society where people have numbers assigned to them but little else.

Unknown Soldier: Anyway as said it's such a beautiful ballad, even though you said you don't consider it a ballad as such.....

Anteater: Critics whined at the time, saying that a song with obtuse source material wouldn't connect with audiences…

Anteater: …but I guess they forgot about Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody', among others :P

Unknown Soldier: Toto I think wrote that song with their progressive rock heads on and by 1979 that was kind of out of fashion. There finest ballad in my opinion though is "I Won't Hold You Back" but "99" is a close second…

Unknown Soldier: …and was certainly very contemporary for its time, but "99" is dreamier.

Anteater: '99' is a ballad lyrically, but the groove is faster than your typical love song.

Anteater: Ballads, atleast to me, are slow things with a lot of buildup.

Anteater: Like some of the big power ballad singles of the 80's and such.

Unknown Soldier: But before that, ballads were often a similar pace throughout like "99". It's kind of like 10CC's "I'm Not in Love" which of course is very dreamy as well.

Anteater: Yeah, that's one of the better ballads. Real masterpiece of recording too!

Unknown Soldier: So we've had three epic tracks and very different on Hydra so far.

Unknown Soldier: What do you think of "Lorraine"?

Unknown Soldier: Because for me we've had the best that the album has to offer.

Anteater: I like it a lot actually. Could have been a single. Rather knotty rhythm with some proggy phrasing in the second half.

Anteater: 'Hydra' is one of the few albums in Toto's whole discography that I think was a tad frontloaded though.

Anteater: 'All Us Boys' is pretty nondescript, but 'Mama' was the last song to even get released as a single.

Unknown Soldier: I think the piano intro is great as are David Paich's vocals in ‘Lorraine’, but I really don't like the chorus section: it really sounds like Toto are trying to be a British band in that chorus execution.

Anteater: I'd argue that all the dragons and swords imagery we've seen so far is pretty British of them anyway, but yeah...

Unknown Soldier: Yes but I feel that the band did that dragon and sword imagery with a Californian twang.

Unknown Soldier: Anyway, outside of Lorraine’s chorus, the song does have some pretty epic sections…and I agree "All Us Boys" is very average.

Anteater: Yeah, five minutes of plodding mehness. Which is something that debut managed to avoid.

Unknown Soldier: I guess there is not too much to say about "All Us Boys".

Anteater: Nope.

Anteater: However, the last three songs on 'Hydra' are actually interesting.

Anteater · 03-22-2015, 12:52 PM

Side Two

Unknown Soldier: "Mama" is different kettle of fish altogether and the best on side two.

Anteater: Yeah, 'Mama' is nice. One of the three Kimball cowrites on the album.

Unknown Soldier: "Mama" easily could've been on the debut too and it's the only song on this album that really belongs more on the debut than on Hydra.

Anteater: It's got a great groove, one of the best "Westcoast" songs in all of Toto's canon.

Unknown Soldier: Also Bobby Kimball does the lead vocals on the three last songs as well.

Anteater: Yep, and he helped write all three.

Anteater: …which means we're finally moving into Toto territory that isn't completely dominated by Paich.

Anteater: From Hydra onwards, every member of the band would start getting more co-writes or even solo credits.

Unknown Soldier: That's always refreshing and according to the credits "Hydra" was a band effort.

Unknown Soldier: The only one on the album.

Anteater: Yeah, which makes it rather special even if you took the 8-minute prog length away from it.

Anteater: But moving on, what do you think of 'White Sister'? As I mentioned before, I really like it. One of Kimball's shining rockier moments.

Unknown Soldier: "Mama" has a great groove, how much of that groove do you think the band owe to Steely Dan?

Unknown Soldier: As for your question, "White Sister" is solid rather than spectacular and well suited to Bobby Kimball's voice.

Anteater: 'Mama' is the better song between them, but I like how much 'White Sister' really rips once it gets a little over 3 minutes in.

Unknown Soldier: Toto were pretty good at ripping up a song with Bobby on vocals.

Unknown Soldier: I love when Bobby sings 'such a card game' which kind of describes what the rock industry was probably like at that time.

Anteater: Very much so. Which I suppose leads us to the "whimper' rather than bang-closer of the album, 'A Secret Love'.

Unknown Soldier: "A Secret Love" is like a reprise than an actual song, but the piano section is kind of unexpected

Unknown Soldier: To me, it sounds more like a Steve Porcaro song than a Bobby Kimball one.

Anteater: Just goes to show you: Bobby could out-Steve the master if he tried.

Unknown Soldier: Truth be told I don't really like the song that much and think they could've done a lot more with it.

Anteater: You’re right. I also think it sounds more like a reprisal than a song unto itself, which lends it an 'incomplete' feeling. It brings us back to the perspective of the protagonist from 'Hydra' and 'St. George...'

Anteater: One of the stranger closeouts to a Toto album, but not terrible by any means.

Unknown Soldier: So overall I think we agree that is a front-loaded album, despite the fact you think the last three are really great songs.

Unknown Soldier: "Mama" is the best of those closing songs by far, even though "White Sister" is solid.

Anteater: ‘Hydra’ is a fun record. Not as good as the debut obviously, but a lot of the songs from the self-titled were songs David Paich had written before the group ever formed.

Anteater: The first album had the benefit of Paich implementing his best material right from the get-go. Hydra, however, was the first album where the group tried writing together more as a unit, so of course it’s more of a mixed bag.

Unknown Soldier: Good points. I classify ‘Hydra’ as one of my favourites simply for the first three tracks and the mystical imagery that the album cover has, that's also contained in the lyrics and videos of the singles as well.

Unknown Soldier: Not as strong as the debut but an indulgent venture away from the more free flowing debut.

Anteater: 'Hydra' was Toto figuring out what they wanted to be whilst grappling with an unprecedented level of success.

Unknown Soldier: For comparison’s sake…the Toto debut kind of mirrors the Steely Dan debut "Can't Buy A Thrill" but whereas Steely Dan then went even deeper for their core sound on "Countdown To Ecstasy" Toto did the unexpected on Hydra.

Anteater: They wanted to stretch their capabilities. Without doing that, I don't think we'd have gotten some of their best future material.

Anteater: On another note, I can also tell Paich had probably been spending time with Ambrosia's 1978 release 'Life Beyond L.A.' before he jumped into writing for 'Hydra'. The two albums share a similar aesthetic.

Unknown Soldier: I've not heard that album but will probably listen to it tomorrow now.

Anteater: Both records have darker title tracks.

Anteater: Plus bigg emphasis on keyboard/piano leads…

Unknown Soldier: In conclusion: I wouldn't pick Hydra out for a Toto newbie to listen to: it should come later to really appreciate the quality of the opening three tracks.

Anteater: It's not an accessible album compared to IV, the self-titled or The Seventh One.

Anteater: Still, definitely worth checking out, especially for those who enjoy it when bands shoot for the moon.

Unknown Soldier: Don't you think Fahrenheit is accessible?

Anteater: Yes and no, but we'll leave that for another weekend.

Unknown Soldier · 03-29-2015, 05:51 AM

Toto Turn Back 1980 (Columbia)

You took the bishop and the king was in front of you.

The Lowdown
After what was seen as a disappointment by the record company in the band’s second album Hydra, the band were under pressure by Columbia to put out something more straightforward or better said, something more palatable for the music listening masses for their third album. Turn Back would certainly result in being an album that was more straightforward in terms of its compositions than that of Hydra, and also as it turned out to be a lot less diverse than their crowning debut. Effectively what Toto ended up doing on Turn Back, was to deliver us a more straightforward hard rock record to appeal to the arena rock market and the album has a tad more depth than it’s sometimes given credit for, largely due to the fact that it failed to deliver any significant hit singles for the band.

Turn Back is an album for hard rock enthusiasts and again imo track for track it’s probably stronger than Hydra (even though Hydra is still the better album as we be discussed below) as I think it only has one weak track and I know Anteater has mixed feeling about this album (more on that below as well) but it’s certainly an album that splits Toto fans.

The album cover is sometimes seen as low key by Toto standards, but I always liked the use of black and red on a white background in the rough shape of a non-smiling face. The band also worked with a different producer for the album in Geoff Workman, who would be a focal point for some people’s dissatisfaction for the album and as with like Hydra the band co-produced the album.

The album sales were poor in the USA but it did go down a storm in Japan and as I’ve often said those Japanese always knew good rock when they heard it, as so many of my favourite bands ended up being so popular there. The album only saw two singles releases in “Goodbye Elenore” and “If it’s the Last Night” and one additional for the Japanese market in “Live for Today” and is well known as being one of Bobby Kimball’s most vocally dominated albums.

Turn Back was the third Toto album that I ever bought after Toto IV and Hydra. Toto IV of course was the album that got me into the band, Hydra with its opening tracks is what made them something very special for me and Turn Back I guess just provided more meat to the Toto bone that I just loved chewing on and some of it was ever so sweet as well.

Unknown Soldier · 03-29-2015, 05:53 AM

The Album
Unknown Soldier: I've got the feeling that I have a higher opinion of this album than you, am I right?
Anteater: I like it.
Anteater: My problem is the way it was produced
Unknown Soldier: That's what you mean when you said that you had mixed views over it.
Anteater: Yeah and I like the songs for the most part
Unknown Soldier: What don't you like about its production.... I have an idea, but in your words? ,
Anteater: The album's first half in particular is pretty muscular
Anteater: Well, it sounds like the equivalent of a stuffed-up nose
Anteater: Like the sound has been flattened out and everything is mixed down reallllly low
[Unknown Soldier: The blame of Geoff Workman do you think?
Anteater: Oh definitely
Unknown Soldier: Sure the four tracks on this side are real hard rock material.

Side One
Anteater: The track 'Gift With A Golden Gun' is a great opener actually.
Anteater: You can tell Toto was consciously trying to do something resembling a real "arena" rock album here.
Unknown Soldier: But I agree that the production is kind of less than adequate, given the fact that the band had so much energy to give.
Unknown Soldier: 'Arena Rock' sure hence the more muscle approach of the album and "Gift with a Golden Gun" is an ideal opener in that respect.
Anteater: From what I understand, Lukather and Kimball both wanted the band to move away from 'Hydra' sonically, and 'Gift...' is just a taste of it
Anteater: The riff sounds like something you'd start up at a honky-tonk joint, but it works really well.
Unknown Soldier: Also the 'Arena rock approach is probably why David Paich doesn't sing one lead on this album and allows Bobby Kimball to really dominate on five of the eight songs.
Unknown Soldier: Agree that riff is effective rather than outstanding.
Anteater: Yeah, it's not an epic song or anything. Excellent rhythm though, with Lukather's leads accentuating the melody.
Unknown Soldier: Now that leads us into "English Eyes" one of the real muscle tracks on the album and also one of the best imo..... and a nod to their British influences as well.
Anteater: It's probably my favorite cut off 'Turn Back': Lukather almost tricks you at the beginning with that riff, making you think they're going into early glam territory or something.
Anteater: Love that chorus though.
Unknown Soldier: That driving riff is so effective and the killer for me on that track is Bobby Kimball's almost forced or exaggerated vocal approach and it's certainly one of his best ever displays.
Unknown Soldier: I think when I first heard the album it was my most played track way back then and the lyrics I love especially on that song, which is why I quickly chose that song to use lyrics from for the album cover.
Anteater: Agreed on all those points, but the best part of 'English Eyes' comes around 2 minutes in or so, when it completely stops the momentum and shifts into really jazzy/groovy territory.
Anteater: ..... and then some orchestral textures come in and Bobby cuts back in... just awesome.
Unknown Soldier: I know that you've got a real ear for picking up on the jazzy stuff on these albums and I know exactly the point you're talking about when Bobby cuts back in and that was always my favourite part of the song as well.
Anteater: AOR bands just weren't doing that kind of thing back in 1981.
Anteater: .... and its little things like that which illustrate how special Toto really are.
Unknown Soldier: That groovy piece you're talking about kind of reminds me of what Ray Manzarek could've done in brief especially on "Light My Fire".
Anteater: .... and 'Live For Today' is next up isn't it? I think its the only song on the album with Lukather both singing and also his first single writing credit on a Toto album.
Unknown Soldier: Yes "Live for Today" is the first Steve Lukather lead and he actually sings a true hard rock lead for a change and surprisingly does a pretty poor job considering that I always veiwed him as the most rock orientated member of that band initially. Just goes to show that he was far better singing on ballady style tracks.
Unknown Soldier: It was actually the third single from the album and only released in Japan I think.
Anteater: Didn't know that actually.
Unknown Soldier: What didn't you know?
Anteater: That it was the third single. From what I understand, the band didn't even tour to suppor the album, so I assumed all the released singles must have flopped.
Unknown Soldier: None of them did very well and the label even threatened to drop the band as well, due to no hit singles.
Unknown Soldier: I don't like the song at all, what do you think about it?
Anteater: In regards to 'Live For Today', its okay. Doesn't really work as a single. The riff is decent, but it feels a bit too by-the-numbers.
Anteater: We're at least three albums away from Lukather being able to handle harder-edged rock material, but I'll give him props for taking the lead on something other than a ballad here.
Unknown Soldier: Now I think the next track "A Million Miles Away" with Bobby back on lead is a strong track and easily could've been on the two previous albums.
Anteater: It's a good song...but that mix. I have to amp up my speakers big time just to hear it.
Anteater: A nearly inaudible power ballad....its actually kinda funny.
Anteater: Kimball carries it well in any case, nice soulful delivery.
Unknown Soldier: Hahaha I hear you on the mix and sure Bobby's soulful powerful delivery salvages the song.
Anteater: At this point back in '81 I can imagine most listeners would have loved to hang Geoff Workman with his own studio equipment cables.
Anteater: But I digress.

Unknown Soldier: A friend of mine dislikes him a lot as well as an engineer.

Unknown Soldier · 03-29-2015, 05:55 AM

Side Two
Unknown Soldier: So we now move onto side two.
Anteater First track 'Goodbye Eleanore'....I dunno about this one. It's decent, but it feels like a slightly more faceless version of 'Gift With A Golden Gun'
Unknown Soldier: Well it was the lead single and when I hear it I like it, but when I see the official video it kind of feels lacklustre.
Anteater It just doesn't hold a candle to the best stuff on Side A. The energy is good though, and Luke rips it up like always around the second half somewhere, but I feel like they're treading water.
Unknown Soldier: I don't think that the double lead in places works on it either.
Unknown Soldier: But agree its too similar to "Gift with a Golden Gun" but I do think that they could've developed Steve Lukather into the song more as well.
Anteater Yeah, since his guitar tone throughout the album is actually one of the best things about it.
Anteater Speaking of him, we get back to more interesting territory with 'I Think I Could Stand You Forever', which is my favorite of the Luke-led songs on Turn Back.
Unknown Soldier: Even more so than his final track? But it is a great track btw.
Anteater Hmn...tough call. The chord progression is nice. Even so, its just a warm up for Kimball and the outstanding title track.
Unknown Soldier: His vocal at the beginning is great and I love how the song then gets that haunting section, before we're then hit with that hard rock guitar of his.
Unknown Soldier: The song moves through quite a few chord changes as you've mentioned already.
Anteater Toto are at their best when they play with a song's arrangements more
Unknown Soldier: Well basic tracks are kind of wasted on them.
Anteater The more straightforward they get, the more generic the result tends to be.
Anteater Yes, exactly.
Unknown Soldier: Goes to show that when they try to be a normal rock band it just doesn't work, but anyway onto the title track "Turn Back"
Anteater Tied with 'English Eyes' as the best cut on the album, hands down and Porcaro's drums and Paich's synths are huggeee.
Unknown Soldier: I have to agree there as I especially love that kind of oriental feel to it at the beginning.
Anteater Its the only song on the record that doesn't feel particularly squashed by Geoff Workman's abysmal production
Anteater Which makes me think it would have even been more amazing if someone else had been behind the boards.
Unknown Soldier: Styx did something similar on "Just Get Through This Night" and "Brave New World" with that oriental tinge.
Anteater Good observations there. I agree there's a similarity.
Unknown Soldier: So you see Turn Back the album as a lost opportunity? Much like Metallica fans go on about that same album that they always go on about with its crappy production

Unknown Soldier: "Turn Back" for me is the perfect late album track to have on this kind of album anyway.
Anteater It wasn't a complete loss. I've heard the 2014 Rock Candy remaster of Turn Back and it went a long way to repairing the main issues I had with the album originally.
Unknown Soldier: I've not heard that remaster btw.
Anteater But I do consider 'Turn Back' to be the weakest of their AOR period.
Unknown Soldier: I agree but their weakest is still better than the best of some of their rivals.
Anteater Oh definitely. I think its a stronger album than anything Boston did after '78 after all

Unknown Soldier: My favourite Boston album is Third Stage and when I mention that I get funny looks or comments, but its certainly better than Boston's second album.
Unknown Soldier: I really love the final track "If It's the Last Night" and it would've been even better without that heavier section that it has.
Anteater It's an interesting song in some ways. Has a vaguely Southern/Country twang to the chorus.
Anteater ...which isn't something Toto have done since actually, so there's some novelty in that.

The Conclusion
Anteater So, all in all, where does 'Turn Back' rank for you in Toto's canon?
Anteater For me it might be the bottom simply because it only has 2-3 realllllly strong tracks out of 8.
Unknown Soldier: It has great personal memories, as it was the third album I bought of theirs and played it to death back then. Of the first four main albums sure it's the weakest but it only has one poor track, two classic songs and five songs that could've been better. Not an essential listen but if you like the band you'll enjoy it.
Anteater I don't have a personal attachment to 'Turn Back', but I think that's the result of me being from A. a younger generation and B. the order of albums I've experienced from Toto has been pretty haphazard.
Anteater The first two albums I ever bought from them were their first and "last" (at the time).
Unknown Soldier: That I can understand as when I got into them they just had four albums!
Anteater Its only been in recent years that I've gotten to spend more time with stuff like Turn Back or IV.
Anteater And I share your general opinion on Turn Back (attachment aside).
Unknown Soldier: Next we'll be doing their most famous album Toto IV.
Anteater Yep. And in regards to 'Turn Back' I'd recommend listeners to drag out the first two songs, the title track, and perhaps "A Million Miles Away" or one of the better Lukather ballads and call it a day.

Anteater · 04-04-2015, 10:04 AM

Toto - Toto IV (1982, Columbia)

Hands, don't let her go, 'cause then the midnight icy winds will blow

The Lowdown
While not a disaster sales-wise, 1981's Turn Back had the weakest commercial showing of the three Toto albums released at that point. In response, Columbia had this to say to the band:

“Okay, guys. We let you do what you want to do. Are you gonna give us a hit record? Because if you don’t, we’re gonna drop you.”

...and thus the group once again consolidated their strengths, wrote together, and came up with the biggest selling juggernaut of their career. Taking an opposite approach to the recording process of Turn Back (where the recording and mixing had been left up to 3rd parties), David Paich and Steve Lukather labored to create "the most obnoxiously overproduced record of all time", a process which involved mixing over a dozen plus tapes down to a 24-track for the various songs and utilizing multiple consoles.

The effort ended up paying off in a big way: Toto IV won SIX Grammys that year, including Album Of The Year, and sold millions thanks to a couple key singles. The extensive production process also paved the way for key members of the band to get involved in the recording, writing and production of Michael Jackson's Thriller, which was released later that year.

Unfortunately, internal discord and problems were inevitable. Singer Bobby Kimball imploded with drug-related problems and founding bassist David Hungate moved to Nashville. This created several huge holes that the band needed to fill, a situation that marked the beginning of Toto's ongoing battle to find a competent lead vocalist as the 80's wore on...

That being said, IV is a landmark record in many respects, featuring Toto's most well known set of songs and being a fine representation overall of their early "arena rock" era.

Anteater · 04-05-2015, 10:13 PM

The Album

Unknown Soldier: Well Toto IV is probably best described as the album that the record company wanted and certainly got.

Anteater: Yeah, Columbia wanted a hit and they got a helluva lot more than they expected.

Anteater: As I noted in my intro, it won six Grammys in one shot that year.

Unknown Soldier: Five singles were released from it as well and two of those became super famous.

Unknown Soldier: "Rosanna" and "Africa" of course.

Anteater: Yep. One thing that'll be fun to determine from our review here is whether or not Toto's most popular album ranks among their overall best or not. It's the only album that most non-Toto fans have atleast heard of after all.

Anteater: Which means it was also the biggest punching bag for critics and detractors of the band.

Unknown Soldier: If a rock collector says they have at least one Toto album in their collection, it's sure to be this one.

Unknown Soldier: Now what would you say before we go into the songs, were the vital ingredients that made this album so big?

Anteater: Well, from my perspective, every band that has sold tens of millions has atleast that "one" album.

Anteater: You know, the one that's like their 15 minutes of fame in the forefront of mainstream consciousness.

Anteater: Going by sheer exposure, Toto IV is an album that left a big mark on a lot of people. If the songs weren't any good, it wouldn't have taken off to the degree that it did.

Unknown Soldier: Agreed on that score, but I really felt that they worked harder on their melodies here than they had done previously and also the greater mixing of different vocalists working together on the same songs like on "Rosanna" and "Africa".

Unknown Soldier: Have you also noticed that this really BIG album for these kinds of bands is often album no.4

Anteater: The recording process behind IV is also the stuff of legends, kind of like what Steely Dan went through with 'Aja' a few years before this.

Anteater: IV is often used as a benchmark for recording quality by audiophiles...

Anteater: ...when testing out different types of sound systems and such.

Unknown Soldier: It's like they reach their creativity as a band before finally going over a plateau.

Unknown Soldier: Hell the amount of additional musical credits for the album is huge as well.

Anteater: And I did notice the "number four" phenomenon

Anteater: Foreigner had the same sort of breakthrough a year before Toto did.

Anteater: So they're a good example.

Anteater: The early 80's in general was an interesting period where AOR hit maximum commercial viability, steadily giving way to glam and New Romantic as the decade wore on.

Unknown Soldier: Yes the perfect example.

Unknown Soldier: I always felt that glam metal stole AOR's thunder anyway, as being at the lighter end of the metal spectrum they appealed to the commercial rock crowd as well to a degree.

Anteater: Yeah, you've gotten some good insight into that through your Pounding Decibels journal actually.

Side One

Anteater: Anywho, let's start by taking a look at opening #1 smash single 'Rosanna'.

Unknown Soldier: Sure as half the metal albums on there are literally running into AOR territory in the 80's anyway.

Unknown Soldier: "Rosanna" the lead single from the album.

Anteater: It's one of their most recognizable songs

Anteater: Porcaro and Hungate in perfect sync of course on the rhythm. One of their smoothest songs!

Unknown Soldier: .... and a video with a sexy blonde in a red dress and black heels (cool)

Anteater: Yeah, that blonde was great.

Anteater: As someone who wasn't really part of the MTV generation, I look back on music videos with something resembling bemusement

Unknown Soldier: ...... and Kimball and Lukather working a great vocal tandem as well.

Unknown Soldier: I can understand that of course but for me they were great of course.

Unknown Soldier: Is the chain link fence in the video typical in the USA, as I always associate them with urban USA? :P

Anteater: Yeah, you'll see those in a lot of AOR vids in general

Anteater: I recall some of Saga's music videos from around the same period involving them

Anteater: And they're from Canada, so I think it was a border-crossing trend

Unknown Soldier: I kind of expect Starsky and Hutch to be chasing some lowlife down an alleyway when I see the Rosanna video and squashing his nose up against the fence.

Unknown Soldier: Anyway the song is an accomplished piece without doubt even if I was never really crazy over the song personally.

Anteater: I like it a lot, but its not my favorite from IV by any stretch of the imagination.

Anteater: I like the circular-grooving 'Make Believe' a little more actually.

Unknown Soldier: Again I was never mad on that, but when I lent the album to two of my friends they both liked that song the best.

Anteater: Toto name so many songs after various women you could create an album simply based on that.

Unknown Soldier: Good point.

Unknown Soldier: I guess the reason that I don't like "Make Believe" that much, is because it sounds like the kind of borefest song sung by Billy Joel or Elton John.

Anteater: IV is undoubtedly Toto's most laidback album of the 80's, so 'Make Believe' fits right in. I like the sax that comes in later too.

Unknown Soldier: Well the song sums up the mood of the album and is the kind of album track that would be expected on an album like that.

Anteater: Yep: Kimball takes lead and does well with it. He supposedly was dealing with drug addiction in a big way during this period, but his performance is great.

Anteater: And speaking of mood, that leads us to the big power ballad 'I Won't Hold You Back'

Unknown Soldier: For me not only is this one of the greatest Toto songs of all time but probably my favourite rock ballad ever.

Unknown Soldier: I think the song is totally beautiful from beginning to end and the perfect song for romance, what a pity you're not a woman

Anteater: It's an interesting song, kind of like something the Eagles might have done crossed with The Alan Parsons Project.

Anteater: It has a certain gravitas with some orchestral touches here and there which was characteristic of the latter band's material.

Unknown Soldier: Agreed and it's great that it's not super famous like the other two singles........ despite the fact that I do tend to hear it fairly often these days on the radio.

Unknown Soldier: I seem to remember that somebody covered this song recently as well.

Anteater: I'd probably use it to get my girlfriend into Toto (assuming she wouldn't hate 80's material)

Anteater: Yeah, it's not as famous as 'Rosanna' or the big A…

Anteater: ….but one of the best ballads of the era for sure.

Anteater: I'm going to bring up several songs in a row now, since we're getting into the B-side. I like both 'Good For You' and the Oriental-sounding 'It's A Feeling'.

Anteater: The latter I feel is pretty underrated, and I think it could have been a big single in its own right on late night FM radio.

Unknown Soldier: "Good For You" is a great song with Kimball back on vocals and I like it so much more than "Make Believe"

Unknown Soldier: "It's A Feeling" could only be written by Steve Porcaro, as his track were real oddities on the Toto albums.

Anteater: We're in prime time "pop" Toto territory at this point

Anteater: I'm sure the relatively small minority of fans who got into Toto over songs like 'Hydra' or 'Girl Goodbye' would have preferred more intricate material, but IV is surprisingly consistent.

Unknown Soldier: oh yeah the track is clear pop and I love how the track picks up towards its end as well.

Unknown Soldier: Toto IV by the end of its first side is totally tight, nothing too intricate but neither too basic, just right I guess like the perfect cooked egg.

Anteater: From that observation, it’s their best "total package" since the first album.

Anteater · 04-05-2015, 10:23 PM

Side Two

Anteater: And that consistency carries into the second side fairly well with the punchy 'Afraid Of Love'.

Unknown Soldier: …which is also followed by ‘Lovers in the Night’ I associate them together as they are the two most rock orientated tracks/harder edged tracks on the album and also the former almost leads into the second.

Anteater: Yeah, there’s a nice bridge moment between them.

Anteater: I think it was a good idea to open the second side with a pair like that…

Anteater: …since it sends the overall pacing of the album way back up to where it was at the start.

Unknown Soldier: Also at last Steve Lukather sings a rock track properly, on "Afraid of Love" not like on "Live For Today" a drivel of a track from the previous album.

Unknown Soldier: Part of the strength of Toto IV is its song placement, I think a lot of time was spent on its song order.

Anteater: Yeah, this is the first album where we hear Lukather actually melding more on the upper tempo stuff as a singer. He's come a long way since the beginning.

Anteater: I guess that applies to everyone here though.

Anteater: They only held this lineup together for IV before all hell broke loose, but this was the classic lineup at its best in some respects.

Unknown Soldier: I love the piano intro of David Paich into "Lovers in the Night"

Unknown Soldier: ...... and it's surprising that this is the first David Paich vocal on the album.

Anteater: Yeah, Paich has been scaling back his vocal role in the band since 'Hydra'.

Unknown Soldier: Do you know that when I first got this album, those two tracks were my most played which of course shows that I was always a bigger fan of their more rock centric stuff.

Anteater: That applies to me as well: Toto really shine on their uptempo material

Unknown Soldier: "Lovers in the Night" of course has that classic Toto sound halfway through, before Steve Lukather kicks in with his guitar and I'm sure you know the bit.

Anteater: His tone is absolutely snarling. It's not heavy metal or anything, but he's always just ahead of Paich's rolling keys.

Anteater: The second half of this song has a flavor to it that reminds me a lot of the first album

Unknown Soldier: That now leads us into another strong Kimball track "We Made It"

Unknown Soldier: I kind of put "We Made It" in with "Make Believe" and "Good For You" all similar tracks that were destined to be strong album material.

Anteater: Do you think it’s a good or bad thing that IV is so tonally consistent?

Anteater: People never hold that against the classic heavy metal records or other types of genres, but a lot of folks seem to treat that as a strike against a lot of the "radio rock" albums

Unknown Soldier: In hindsight for a true Toto fan bad as there is little variety, but it was the album that the band needed to put out, so it was a perfect from this aspect.

Unknown Soldier: I know when I finally got the previous three albums, Toto IV became the least played.

Anteater: Variety is the spice of life, but its a hard thing to balance

Anteater: Toto thankfully have quite a bit of that over the course of their whole discography, but every album had a different balance.

Anteater: In any case, I do like 'We Made It'. It leads into my favorite song on the album actually, 'Waiting For Your Love'.

Anteater: Pretty much Kimball's 'Georgy Porgy', and he does so well that I think they should have used him more often on that slower stuff.

Unknown Soldier: Now I don't really dig that song, maybe because it's the "Georgy Porgy" of this album. Also the video for it if I remeber was shot in a club environment, not the sort of place a rock band should be doing a video.

Anteater: Hah, I remember seeing that video a long time ago. They didn't really look out of place at a club though, TBH

Anteater: Hell, even Yes used to play in clubs like that one.

Unknown Soldier: maybe it was the thing back then.

Unknown Soldier: So the album finished with its second monster single "Africa" which was even bigger than "Rosanna" here.

Anteater: Great groove, but the chorus on that one always annoys me!

Anteater: But I'm not surprised at all that it ended up being the band's biggest hit of all time

Anteater: Fun fact: the album had been out nearly an entire year before 'Africa' was released as a single. So the fact it went to #1 so fast just goes to show you how much people must have latched on to it.

Unknown Soldier: Well that's the key behind these monster selling rock albums, in that the third of fourth single can still be a massive seller almost a year after the release of the album, it's almost like the label hold something special back.

Anteater: That's a neato trick: it doesn't seem to work in today's mainstream musical world though.

Unknown Soldier: It happened with the Cars on their Heartbeat City album with "Drive" which was released further down the pecking order.

Anteater: <3 that album

Unknown Soldier: Things have changed so much since then of course.

Unknown Soldier: Me too one of my all time favs

Anteater: The best thing about 'Africa' is that looping keyboard refrain.

Anteater: It was pretty unique for the time.

Anteater: I just wish some other song had become the huge multi-million dollar seller, because the lyrics are completely nonsensical.

Anteater: And as a result the group was unable to move away from the mainstream's perception of them as some cheesebox soft rock ensemble.

Unknown Soldier: Yes that looping keyboard is special as is the chorus and the video again was perfectly done.

Unknown Soldier: I think the song reached no.2 on the UK singles chart and Toto IV I know reached no.4 on the album chart here. Not bad for an AOR band that wasn't exactly liked here.

Anteater: That's pretty impressive actually. This was definitely the "soft rock" era.

Anteater: Remember that Christopher Cross had won a bunch of Grammys back in 1980 for his first album too

Anteater: I remember reading some people's reviews of IV saying "how could THIS album had won a bunch of critical awards over *insert obscure post-punk album*" and such…

Anteater: Like it was completely unprecedented.

Anteater: But IV was in vogue, and thus it did well. I'm actually happy it did so well too. If it hadn't, Toto would have broken up completely.

Unknown Soldier: Well albums like Hotel California and Breakfast in America were still in people's minds and the people that made those multi-million sellers would've led the way buying Toto IV.

Anteater: You were actually alive back then, unlike myself :P

Unknown Soldier: yes hahaha but didn't listen to stuff like Supertramp and the Eagles until the late 80s though.

Anteater: People didn't really start digging into cassettes until the mid 80's right?

Anteater: CDs didn't even come into minority use until the early 90's

Anteater: I'm guessing most people heard IV on vinyl

Unknown Soldier: Exactly. 80% of people here bought vinyl and far fewer cassettes. Cassettes were more popular there, as there is a greater culture there of listening to rock music whilst driving, as you drive much longer differences there than we do here.

Unknown Soldier: Most people then replaced a lot of the vinyl with Cd's in the 90s.

Anteater: Thought as much.

Anteater: Taking that into consideration, I consider IV to be Toto's second most successful attempt at a full-fledged album up until the mid 80's.

Anteater: It flows well from song to song and has a decent level of variety without any abrupt tonal shifts.

Anteater: I don't like it as much as their first album, and nothing on it quite measures up to Hydra's title track or something like 'English Eyes' off of Turn Back:, but IV has a pacing that appeals to the driver in me.

Unknown Soldier: It's a safe album and the perfect starter album for anybody listening to Toto. It's more consistent than the previous two albums but of course doesn't have the mystique of Hydra or the grit of Turn Back: and of course it doesn't have the intricate feel of the debut. Toto IV has been polished until it shines and that was what AOR was meant to be for many people anyway.

Anteater: It's definitely one of the best places to start.

Anteater: It's not in my top five albums for Toto, but it's in the top ten.

Anteater: 'It's A Feeling', the monster ballad 'I Won't Hold You Back', and everything on side B bar 'Africa' are my favorite moments on IV

Unknown Soldier: I'd agree with that too and "I Won't Hold You Back" is my favourite track but I really like "Africa" as well, it's just so smooth sounding.

Unknown Soldier: Next of course Toto try something very very different, but when a band are at the top of their game commercially they usually have the freedom to do this type of thing anyway.

Unknown Soldier · 04-12-2015, 03:37 AM

Toto Isolation 1984 (Columbia)

I'm stranded here in a dream and there's no ticket back.

The Lowdown
After their phenomenal fourth album Toto were very much at the top of the world in terms of commercial success and were now a world famous band, and AOR as a genre was at the height of its powers. They had also worked on the Jackson’s Victory album, along with being the principal artist on the Dune soundtrack after the success of Toto IV. Now bands in this situation are then usually faced with a number of choices and that normally includes following the album up with another similar album (usually what the record label wants) or the band decide that they want to indulge/experiment a bit in something slightly different and this is what Toto did for their fifth studio album Isolation.

The band underwent though two important changes as already mentioned by Anteater in his Toto IV preview, which saw bassist David Hungate departing the band and his replacement was one of the Porcaro brothers Mike, who was literally an in-house replacement anyway. The other notable change was that of principal vocalist Bobby Kimball, whose drug taking ways finally saw him being sacked by the band and his replacement was Fergie Frederiksen (Trillion and LeRoux) who had been recommended by drummer Jeff Porcaro, after Richard Page of Mr.Mister had declined to join Toto.

Now before I go any further with this album intro, I should point out that not only is this my favourite Toto album, but also my favourite album of all time regardless of genre, my ultimate desert island disc if you like! When I first heard the album though in 1984/1985 things were initially very different, as I saw it as a betrayal of the typical Toto sound and of course there was no Bobby Kimball either on the album (I was so disappointed at the time) but then after a few more spins the whole thing just fell into place and blew me away with its sheer energy, offbeat feel and go for the jugular approach (I eventually wore my vinyl version of the album out) In hindsight this is the band’s most AOR release and to this day I’ve never heard anything quite like it and probably never will from another AOR band, which is why it has always been so special to me.

The album produced two obvious singles in “Stranger in Town” a great song and video and “How Does it Feel” along with the light-hearted “Holyanna”. The other single was the heavier “Angel Don’t Cry” and the only single to feature Fergie Frederiksen on vocals, which goes to show just how much his material was overlooked on the album as he sings the lion share of the album’s tracks. The album sales wise was seen as a disappointment, prompting the band to reject doing this 'cut to the quick' approach again.