Toto
 

I can't seem to find a Toto thread so i'm starting one. Toto is my favourite band and my top 3 toto albums is:

Fahrenheit
Tambu
The seventh one

I think their last album "falling in between" has some good quality.
i've read that you can see them live. You can see them in Sweden in august i think.


Very good band and i also think that they are very good at doing ballads.
It would be interesting to know your opinion about the band, what is your favorite song for instance. Mine is "africa".

Toto are without doubt one of my favourite all time bands, AOR gave us a whole load of very accomplished and brilliant bands amongst a bunch of mediocre acts, BUT Toto were the best. They ticked all the right boxes from the word go, they had outstanding musicians, fantastic song writers, songs that sat in your head, the right mix between commercial and non-commercial material, heavy and soft material and always fantastic vocalists.

The only thing that surprises me about your above post, is the choice of your favourite 3 Toto albums. The Seventh One is a very good album but Faranheit was poor and Tambu just a good listen. The Toto classics are very much the first 5 albums as those define the band.

I could go on talking about how outsanding and brilliant this band is for page after page, but I don't want to bore people:laughing:

Toto fan myself. And I'd have to agree with Unknown Soldier regarding the first five albums, they are some favorites of mine also.

I agree with you. A fantastic band. Maybe i should have written that they are my favourite albums "right now". Of course Toto and Toto IV has a place among the top three if you ask me.

What is your opinion about Hydra? Is it progg?

Top 5 would be:

1).Isolation
2).Toto
3).Toto IV
4).Hydra
5).Turn Back

Also I'd actually say The Seventh One is a better album than Turn Back just.

Hydra is often regarded as their proggy album, but its not really. Toto were never really into extensive noodling and always sought to pack a punch into their extended instrumentals, the pomp rock label describes Hydra better than prog ever could.

Three of the gems off Hydra.


TOTO - Hydra (Remastered) - YouTube


St. George And The Dragon - YouTube


Mama - YouTube

Which album should I start with US?
I've only heard singles from them, such as Hold the Line and Africa, and have been interested in hearing more.

I would go in order of their release, it tells the best story:

Toto 1978
Hydra 1979
Turn Back 1980
Toto IV 1982
Isolation 1984

Only explore the later stuff if you like these. Bobby Kimball was vocalist on the first four with Fergie Fredrickson coming in as vocalist just for Isolation. Isolation sounds like its by a different band at times, but is just so good, its actually a contender for one of my all time favourite personal albums. Also besides the lead vocalists Steve Lukather and David Paich were also great vocalists that sung on a number of tracks, also Steve Pocaro sings on a couple of songs on the albums I've listed above.

By the way, has anybody here seen them live? And if, are they good live?

I know that they will release a Live-dvd from their tour 2012.

and do they have any good live album?
And another thing. What's their top 3 ballads? Would be interesting to read your opinions about that.

1: Africa
2: Anna
3: Lea

And by the way, i think that Mushanga is very good, what's your opinion about Mushanga that's on the album "The seventh one"?

I've seen them live 3 times, in 1988, 1990 and 2007 and they were good on all occasions and very professional. The best live album is Live in Amsterdam and recommended, it should be fairly easy to get hold of.

Ballads:
1. I Won't Hold You Back
2. 99
3. Africa

* I actually think "Angela" is the best ballad, but is it really a ballad with its heavy guitar and drum section so probably no, that's why I left it out.

Mushanga is a great song and Joseph Williams was a great vocalist in the Toto tradition, I wasn't too keen on him as a writer though or with some of the ideas he brought to the band. "Home of the Brave" is the song though that rules on that album, Steve Lukather's guitar solo's on that song are legendary.

i really like this line in "Africa"

"as sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti"

i'm just a sucker for pompous clumsy lines

What do you think about the album "falling in between"? And what song do you rank the highest? Africa, Hold the line or Rosanna?

Falling In Between is a great album IMO, and up there with The Seventh One, Tambu and Fahrenheit for me. :)

My favorite Toto song happens to be on the debut though, and it's a real cracker!

wow i had no idea Toto had so many albums

got all those

trying to understand your love for AOR

Nobody mentioned "Mindfields". One of the best pop-rock albums I've ever heard. 100% perfect with no weak points and an amazing sound. Something like Tool's "Lateralus".

Sent you a PM on that. Just so as you know the level of my love for soft rock.

Soft Rock > Hard Rock > Heavy Metal (and as you know I'm pretty much obsessed with metal)

I don't think Tool fans will be overly happy with the comparison, personally I think Mindfields is an overly long and quite dull album, which is disappointing as it saw the long awaited return of Bobby Kimball.

Just watched a Toto concert not too long ago, and it was fantastic. Aside from all the pop-ish tunes they've put out I'd like to mention what an incredible guitarist Steve Lukather is. Sure he got schooled by Jeff Beck trying to play his tune, but he did win 8 grammy's. Funny how at 3:45 Jeff kinda says "Here's how it's done, son"...


Jeff Beck & Steve Lukather & Jan Hammer(live) - Freeway Jam.mpg - YouTube

...and Steves work on Merry Axemas is outstanding.

But, yeah. Toto rocks.

Do you think I care? No. Am I trying to compare both artists? Not at all. I absolutely love both bands. Compositions, groove and sound on both albums are unquestionable.

eraser.time alert!!!

eraser.time alert!!!!

As a hardcore fan of Toto through the ages, I'm going to concur that Mindfields is a bit weaker than some of their other albums. Not because it doesn't shoot for the stars, but because the songs themselves just aren't quite as memorable, especially if we start comparing it to Falling In Between or their debut.

Still, I appreciate the diversity of material on Mindfields (particularly the longer, proggy stuff), and it's definitely a stronger album in some respects than Kingdom Of Desire, Turn Back or Isolation. :pimp:

Kingdom of Desire and Turn Back have a rockier feel than some of the other albums, with me being into a harder rocking sound I really enjoy those albums. Kingdom of Desire has Steve Lukather's stamp all over it as by that time he had become the clear leader of the band, especially after Jeff Pocaro's death. Now Isolation is a different ball game altogether. Its probably one of the most hated Toto albums and no other Toto album sounds quite like it, the band for many a year refused to play anything from it live as well. Despite that, its easily my favourite Toto album and possibly my all-time favourite album as well (believe me I'm making no idle boast here I think its that unique) What do I find so great about it? Well one word "energy" the album has a energy that even today I find few albums can match, the energy was in the music and in Fergie Frederiksen's powerful and at times manic vocals, every song he sung on that album was blistering from start to finish. If any album was ever designed to be played loud it was this album. Problem was though, the album didn't sell like Toto IV and Toto weren't actually known for this sound either. When I heard Fergie Frederiksen had been sacked by the band back in 1986, I remembered being one upset kid back then and swore I'd never listen to the band again:laughing: I was that upset.

A couple of years ago, I actually sent Fergie Frederiksen a message on Facebook telling him how I rated his vocal perfomance on Isolation right up there with some of the best in the history of rock and how that album has remained an integral part of my music life since, about a week later much to my surprise, he actually responded and wrote a few lines thanking me for my words, I treasured the moment.

What' s actually amazing about the whole thing, is that the first couple of times I listened to Isolation in 1984 I hated the album with a passion and couldn't believe how noisy it sounded, then on about the third listen it just hit me!!!

Interesting to read. I like isolation, and I think I know what you mean about that album having "energy". The song stranger in town is great i think. There we can talk about energy. Cool about that facebook thing.
I'm a little interested in knowing why you think that the fahrenheit album being poor. No particular reason, i'm just curious. I myself think it has a good feeling about it. In my opinion it's easy listening and the song "lea" is beautiful.

When I'm talking about the energy on that album I referring just to the Fergie sung songs, "Stranger in Town" has energy of course, but not to the same degree as the Fergie ones, which in general weren't really singles material anyway. These songs often had a jolted feel, short intros, prompt sounding instrumentation and dramatic outros and often with shouted vocals....not what was expected from Toto, that was the magic of the album.

This track captures a lot of that and its great band perfomance as well and some great drumming by Jeff Pocaro.


Toto - Angel Don't Cry (Music Video) - YouTube

The problem with Fahrenheit was that the band attempted to return to the formula of Toto IV whilst adding some new ideas and keeping some of the energy from Isolation on a track or two. Whilst I don't think the album is terrible, its really not up to the standards that I expect from Toto. I mean the title track is just terrible, it sounds like a Michael Jackson song. The bulk of the album is filled out with ballads, whilst the best song on the album "Can't Stand it any Longer" easily could've been on Isolation. I will say though, that Joseph Williams was a very good vocalist on the same level as Bobby Kimball and Fergie.

really digging the debut

some terrific songs here

I've been telling you and people that for years on here.;)

Especially love "Angela" with its quiet/loud dynamics, its one of my all time favourite songs by any band.

What do you think of the vocalists?

what they sing really fits the songs

only song i don't really like there is "Rockmaker" which is kinda run-of-the-mill

Well you've got three vocalists there, Bobby Kimball, David Paich and Steve Lukather, also Steve Pocaro sings for one song on the first four albums.

Hopefully you'll work you way through the rest of the discography.

i will be

listening to Earth now for "Metal Wars"

Should listen to that by tomorrow as well.

Which album would you people choose as your favorite Between Fahrenheit and Tambu? Would be interesting to know.

The Seventh One stands head and shoulders above those two albums. Kingdom of Desire is good as well, despite being overly dominanted by Steve Lukather.

Fahrenheit edges out Tambu a bit for me, but that's mainly because the Joseph Williams era is my favorite of the band. On top of that, 'We Can Make It Tonight' and 'Lea' are two of my favorite Toto tracks, and both are on Fahrenheit. :love:

This is a list of all the girl name tracks that Toto has made. Would be interesting to know your favorite amongst them.

Pamela
Rosanna
Anna
Lea
Holyanna
Carmen
Lorraine
Angela
Melanie
Mushanga

I myself choose Lea.

Well spotted, Carmen is a great song, but surely my vote goes towards Angela here one of the best songs in the Toto discography.

I agree, Carmen is a great song.

You guys forgot Mushanga...that's also a Toto track named after a girl. :hphones:

Sorry, added Mushanga