Toto was formed in 1977, and brought with them a combination of pop, rock, soul, funk, hard rock, R&B, blues, and jazz. Their style led a storied history, consisting of fourteen studio albums, fifty million records sold worldwide, and multitude of massive hits.
The member's roots can be traced back to humble beginnings as studio musicians, working on albums for the likes of Steely Dan, Seals and Croft, Boz Scaggs, and Sonny and Cher. David Paich would be the first to rise to fame after contributing the majority of the writing to Scaggs album, Silk Degrees.
Rewinding a tad, Paich met Jeff Porcaro when they were in high school together and formed the band Rural Still Life. During this time, they would frequently work together on recording sessions but would often talk about starting a new band. They'd ultimately invite Scaggs alum David Hungate, and Steve Lukather to join them, also nabbing Pocaro's brother Steve, and Bobby Kimball to round out the group.
The boys signed with Columbia Records and records their self-titled debut in 1978. The problem was that at this point, they didn't have a name. Depending on who you ask, their name would come from any number of scenarios. One recount states that in order to distinguish their own demo tapes from other bands' in the studio, Jeff Porcaro wrote the word "Toto" on them. Another explanation was that singer Bobby Kimball's "real" name was Robert Toteaux, pronounced "toto". Regardless of which story you go with, the band announced at a press conference in 1980 that the name was based on the dog from The Wizard Of Oz.
Singles, Hold The Line, I'll Supply The Love, and Georgy Porgy, featuring Cheryl Lynn, quickly catapulted them up the charts. However, critics would quickly dismiss them, despite being nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
Undeterred, Toto embarked on their first tour of America, and upon completion, returned to the studio to record 1979's Hydra. Inspired by George Lucas' cult film THX 1138, the album would feature the hit 99. Despite the songs massive appeal and popularity, Lukather would later reflect on how much he hated the song, thus why it was rarely performed after the Hydra support tour.
By this point, the band were no strangers to promotional music videos. For their debut, they recorded ones for their three aforementioned hits, and for Hydra, recorded four more: 99, Hydra, St. George And The Dragon, and All Us Boys. In a way, they were helping to pave the road for an upcoming MTV and consistently released new videos to support their albums.
Toto ventured into arena rock for 1980's Turn Back. While it would later become a fan favorite, at the time it was poorly received. Lukather would later recount that while the studio let them do what they wanted for the album, upon its release essentially told them to get back to work and produce a hit record of be dropped. They responded with one of the most commercially successful albums of all time, 1982's Toto IV.
Hits Africa, Rosanna, Waiting For Your Love, Make Believe, and I Won't Hold You Back, catapulted the band into 80's superstardom. Aided by music videos for the first three noted singles, Toto was not only dominating radio stations, but MTV. Rosanna would be the biggest among the bunch, leading to multiple Grammy nominations, with the band ultimately winning six. Steve Porcaro would also contribute to the writing of Human Nature for Michael Jackson's Thriller, with several members of Toto contributing as session musicians.
At the peak of their popularity, David Hungate would opt to leave the band to pursue a career as a session musician in Nashville. This decision was mainly based on the popularity of Toto IV, which Hungate felt would prevent him from spending time with his family. Third brother, Mike Porcaro, was brought in to replace him.
Things were on a downward spiral for Bobby Kimball as well. Battling substance abuse, the singer reached a point where it severely affected his vocal performance, reliability, and ability to record during the Isolation album sessions. The decision was made to fire him in 1984. Prior to replacing him with Fergie Frederiksen, the remaining members recorded and produced the soundtrack to Dune.
Isolation wouldn't perform as expected, ultimately being labeled a failure. Though it would reach gold status, mainly aided by the singe Stranger In Town, critics and fans would pan it for simply not sounding like Toto IV. While the band toured in support, this would wrap up relatively quickly in just three months. Frederiksen was also fired at this point, with Lukather stating he simply didn't mesh with the band.
With Frederiksen out, and new member, Joseph Williams, son to composer John Williams in, Toto began work on what would become Fahrenheit. The album is noted for bringing the band back to its pop rock roots, and despite Williams singing on the majority of the songs, it would be the two Lukather sung tracks, I'll Be Over You, and Without Your Love, which would become the takeaway hits.
To me, Fahrenheit feels too polished and over produced. Perhaps one would think that's a crazy assessment, but it's overly glossy finished product kind of detracts from it. There's no room, or perhaps tolerance for imperfections from the band, and the end result is that it just feels like it's trying too hard.
Yes, it does have some good stuff on it. Among the bunch, for me, were Till The End, Can't Stand It Any Longer, I'll Be Over You, and the title track itself. It's by no means a bad album. It's just trying too hard to be perfect.
I think one of the key aspects that is missing for me is the harmony aspect that made previous hits stand out. Williams is for sure a good singer, but his voice doesn't mesh as smoothly with Lukather as Kimbell's did. The album also seems to stay in a downbeat tempo, not reaching the dance friendly levels of prior releases. Again, it's okay, but there's definitely a steady decline in quality from Toto at this point.
Tired of the rock and roll life, and the grueling touring schedule that came with it, keyboardist Steve Porcaro would opt to leave the band after the album was released. The band would opt not to replace him and instead carried on as five members.
In 1988, Toto released their final studio album of the decade, which is what I'll be listening to tomorrow. Until then, this post has plenty of words at this point.
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