For anyone looking for some great new music, I highly recommend Toto's new album, titled Toto XIV. It was released recently on Frontiers records.
Toto has released new albums rather sporadically since they left Columbia back in the 90s, and some of those records have been sort of spotty efforts. The best of the bunch was Mindfields which featured the return of original lead singer Bobby Kimball and sported some killer tunes.
For their 2015 release XIV, Toto finds itself firing on all cylinders once again. This is is their first album since the lackluster Falling In Between from 2006, and is easily their best album since the late '80s effort The Seventh One. Four of the original band members are on board (David Paich, keyboards/vocals; Steve Porcaro, keyboards/vocals; Steve Lukather, guitars/vocals and David Hungate, bass). Also on hand is Joseph Williams, who handled lead vocals on the excellent Seventh One and its predecessor, Fahrenheit. The only total newcomer to the proceedings is Keith Carlock on drums, who replaces longtime member Simon Phillips.
The new album was created in response to the enthusiastic reaction to their 2013 tour, which itself was launched in support of original member Mike Porcaro, who is suffering from ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).
Toto's last few albums have each contained a handful of good songs surrounded by throwaways, and have often been marred by over-long blues or "prog rock" experiments, pointless instrumentals, or just hook-free tunes that leave the memory right after listening. Not this time; the long break between albums seems to have invigorated the band's songwriting and playing. This new record contains a lot of memorable tunes and tight, economical performances, and you can still hear the same kind of Toto keyboard figures and guitar soloing that drove the band's hits back in the 70s. The songwriting has gained more sophistication and it takes two or three listens for some tracks to "jell" and work their way into your subconscious, but each repeat listen reveals new layers of each song.
It's hard to pick a favorite song, but I would have to go with "Chinatown." This is probably the song that sounds the most like Toto of old, with a rhythm reminiscent of "99" and Paich and Williams trading off vocals.
Another outstanding tune is the opener, "Running Out of Time." It has a dense production and fine guitar work by Lukather.
It wouldn't be a Toto album if it didn't contain some ballads. Interestingly, the ballads are each sung by a different bandmember: Lukather handles "Unknown Soldier," which is dedicated to founding member Jeff Porcaro; David Paich sounds great on "All The Tears That Shine," and Steve Porcaro turns in a rare vocal on "The Little Things."
The most interesting track is probably the epic closer, "Great Expectations." It does venture into the dreaded prog-rock territory but this time Toto gets it right, with some cool keyboard figures and a terrific Joseph Williams vocal performance.
The whole thing is wrapped in a classy-looking package and is available as a deluxe edition which includes a "making of the album" DVD and an expanded booklet.
Toto has released a handful of live albums (and accompanying videos) over the years, and without fail I have found them to be sort of tiring to watch. Either they leave out too many good songs, or they contain long solos that get tiresome after a minute or two. They finally got it right, though, with a new CD and video called 35th Anniversary: Live In Poland. Not only does it contain fine versions of most of their hits, but it also features an excellent array of album tracks that (a) sound absolutely great, and (b) are just the type of songs that longtime fans will appreciate. The video looks great too, with an assortment of special effects like split-screens, black & white and a few other effects keeping things interesting. And even though it's over two hours long, the program flows by quickly -- a great accomplishment considering there are no costume changes, pyro effects or anything else -- but also because they leave out things like the six-minute guitar solo and eight minute drum solo moments from past concert videos.
The best moment of the show for me is the medley of "99," the new instrumental "The Muse," and the album track "White Sister" (from Hydra, the group's second LP). The audience goes wild when they recognize the familiar piano chords from the intro to "White Sister," and Joseph Williams does an amazing job with the vocals on the song. David Paich (who was celebrating a birthday when the concert was recorded) and drummer Simon Phillips are the most fun to watch, and the band in general is quite obviously having the time of its life.
I'll add these two releases to my long and growing list of albums to recommend when people say there's "no good music being made anymore." Toto proves that statement wrong in spades.
Toto has released new albums rather sporadically since they left Columbia back in the 90s, and some of those records have been sort of spotty efforts. The best of the bunch was Mindfields which featured the return of original lead singer Bobby Kimball and sported some killer tunes.
For their 2015 release XIV, Toto finds itself firing on all cylinders once again. This is is their first album since the lackluster Falling In Between from 2006, and is easily their best album since the late '80s effort The Seventh One. Four of the original band members are on board (David Paich, keyboards/vocals; Steve Porcaro, keyboards/vocals; Steve Lukather, guitars/vocals and David Hungate, bass). Also on hand is Joseph Williams, who handled lead vocals on the excellent Seventh One and its predecessor, Fahrenheit. The only total newcomer to the proceedings is Keith Carlock on drums, who replaces longtime member Simon Phillips.
The new album was created in response to the enthusiastic reaction to their 2013 tour, which itself was launched in support of original member Mike Porcaro, who is suffering from ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).
Toto's last few albums have each contained a handful of good songs surrounded by throwaways, and have often been marred by over-long blues or "prog rock" experiments, pointless instrumentals, or just hook-free tunes that leave the memory right after listening. Not this time; the long break between albums seems to have invigorated the band's songwriting and playing. This new record contains a lot of memorable tunes and tight, economical performances, and you can still hear the same kind of Toto keyboard figures and guitar soloing that drove the band's hits back in the 70s. The songwriting has gained more sophistication and it takes two or three listens for some tracks to "jell" and work their way into your subconscious, but each repeat listen reveals new layers of each song.
It's hard to pick a favorite song, but I would have to go with "Chinatown." This is probably the song that sounds the most like Toto of old, with a rhythm reminiscent of "99" and Paich and Williams trading off vocals.
Another outstanding tune is the opener, "Running Out of Time." It has a dense production and fine guitar work by Lukather.
It wouldn't be a Toto album if it didn't contain some ballads. Interestingly, the ballads are each sung by a different bandmember: Lukather handles "Unknown Soldier," which is dedicated to founding member Jeff Porcaro; David Paich sounds great on "All The Tears That Shine," and Steve Porcaro turns in a rare vocal on "The Little Things."
The most interesting track is probably the epic closer, "Great Expectations." It does venture into the dreaded prog-rock territory but this time Toto gets it right, with some cool keyboard figures and a terrific Joseph Williams vocal performance.
The whole thing is wrapped in a classy-looking package and is available as a deluxe edition which includes a "making of the album" DVD and an expanded booklet.
Toto has released a handful of live albums (and accompanying videos) over the years, and without fail I have found them to be sort of tiring to watch. Either they leave out too many good songs, or they contain long solos that get tiresome after a minute or two. They finally got it right, though, with a new CD and video called 35th Anniversary: Live In Poland. Not only does it contain fine versions of most of their hits, but it also features an excellent array of album tracks that (a) sound absolutely great, and (b) are just the type of songs that longtime fans will appreciate. The video looks great too, with an assortment of special effects like split-screens, black & white and a few other effects keeping things interesting. And even though it's over two hours long, the program flows by quickly -- a great accomplishment considering there are no costume changes, pyro effects or anything else -- but also because they leave out things like the six-minute guitar solo and eight minute drum solo moments from past concert videos.
The best moment of the show for me is the medley of "99," the new instrumental "The Muse," and the album track "White Sister" (from Hydra, the group's second LP). The audience goes wild when they recognize the familiar piano chords from the intro to "White Sister," and Joseph Williams does an amazing job with the vocals on the song. David Paich (who was celebrating a birthday when the concert was recorded) and drummer Simon Phillips are the most fun to watch, and the band in general is quite obviously having the time of its life.
I'll add these two releases to my long and growing list of albums to recommend when people say there's "no good music being made anymore." Toto proves that statement wrong in spades.
