A must have album for the Toto fan/collector, and certainly sits comfortably among anyone’s Toto CD collection, the fact that this is a collection of unreleased material and rarities should make it a compulsory acquisition for fans of the band.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Toto
ALBUM: XX: 1977 – 1997
LABEL: Sony
SERIAL: 4899652
YEAR: 1998
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Bobby Kimball – vocals * Joseph Williams – vocals * Steve Lukather – guitars, vocals * David Paich – keyboards, vocals * Mike Poracro – bass * Jeff Porcaro – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Goin’ Home * 02 Tale Of A Man * 03 Last Night * 04 In A Word * 05 Modern Eyes * 06 Right Part Of Me * 07 Mrs Johnson * 08 Miss Sun * 09 Love Is A Mans World * 10 On the Run * 11 Dave’s Gone Skiing * 12 Baba Mnumzane * 13 Africa
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
One of AOR’s most endearing bands, and one which has a special place in my heart (along with Journey and Boston) as I’ve grown up side by side with these guys since the true beginning of the AOR movement (or since the coin was phrased) back in 1976.
As we all know, Toto have been through some classic highs (Grammy Awards with ‘Toto IV’) and some traumatic lows (i.e; the passing of Jeff Porcaro) and in between times we’ve seen a revolving door policy with band members, vocalists especially.
All of their album releases are reasonably well known, but this particular collection released in 1998 was an ensemble of tracks which never managed to make it onto prior album releases. The footnotes to the songs are an interesting read in itself, and gives some insight into the songwriting quirks of the band members. How some of these songs missed the first cut staggers me somewhat.
The Songs
There are some awesome moments on here. What else have they got in the closet that we haven’t heard yet? For instance, album opener ‘Goin’ Home’ is an AOR stunner of the most extreme proportions. If there is one Toto track you have to hear it’s this one! Apparently record Exec’s thought it wasn’t good enough. Well I have two words for them … and they’re swear words of which the first starts with an F!
‘Tale of A Man’ has that debut/’Hydra’ feel to it, while ‘Last Night’ could’ve easily shuffled onto the ‘Fahrenheit’ album, where Joe Williams vocals competes with brass stabs and a rather cool shuffle beat that only Jeff P can play.
‘Right Part Of Me’ is a tribute to Elton John, a major influence for keyboardist David Paich. Bobby Kimball’s rendition is great too! ‘Miss Sun’ is interesting for the fact that the version was used to grab their deal with CBS, and features Lisa Dalbello doing vocal harmonies with David Paich. In fact Toto weren’t even a band when this was done.
‘Love Is A Mans World’ is an outrageous r&b/disco flavoured workout recorded at the same time. There are also a couple of tracks recorded live on a jaunt to South Africa during 1998 which include the hit single (appropriately) ‘Africa’.
In Summary
A must have album for the Toto fan/collector, and certainly sits comfortably among anyone’s Toto CD collection. The fact that this is a collection of unreleased material and rarities should make it a compulsory acquisition for fans of the band. Go to it.
Video
Entire Album (Select Tracks)
