So what does it take to get me motivated to review a certain
\ngroup on “The Daily Vault”? Sometimes, all it takes is just asking
\nme to do so.<\/p>\n
I’ve had albums from the pop-rock group Toto sitting in the
\nPierce Archives (8-tracks? We don’t need no stinkin’ 8-tracks), but
\nas often as I’ve thought about reviewing some of them, I’ve just
\nnever gotten around to them. Thanks to a suggestion by reader John
\nMarshall III, who reminded me that 1998 is the 20th anniversary of
\nToto’s self-titled debut, I finally dug through the Archives and
\nfound my copy of the record.<\/p>\n
They were admired by their fans for their catchy riffs, and
\nreviled by critics for their super-polished sound. Taking some of
\nthe better aspects of acts like Steely Dan, Kansas and Boz Scaggs,
\nToto knew how to write tracks that caught the ear of the listener
\nand didn’t let go, but while their debut album features many like
\nthis, it did show a few weak links in the chain.<\/p>\n
\nToto<\/i> is best remembered for the hit “Hold The Line,” a song
\nthat I still can remember hearing when it came out. The drumming of
\nJeff Porcaro, the keyboard work of David Paich, screaming guitar
\nfrom Steve Lukather and smooth vocals from Bobby Kimball, Toto
\nearned their nomination for the Best New Artist Grammy award on the
\npower of this one song. (Even 20 years after it came out, “Hold The
\nLine” is still, for lack of a better term, a kick-ass track.)<\/p>\n
What might surprise first-time listeners is that Kimball is not
\nthe sole lead vocalist. Paich, keyboardist Steve Porcaro, and
\nLukather all take their turns on the microphone. Lukather’s vocals
\nare often on the soft side, but are pleasing, while Paich does a
\nbetter job when he doesn’t try to accent his vocals (as he does on
\n“Manuela Run” – it’s rather annoying).<\/p>\n
Toto also occasionally mimics the sound of groups they’ve
\ninfluenced (or been members of) to the point that you wish they’d
\ncome up with a different sound. Sure, “Georgy Porgy” is a decent
\ntrack, but it’s so close to the sound of Steely Dan’s light jazz
\nthat you might swear you’re listening to Steely Dan. (Members of
\nToto have also been members of the often-revolving collective of
\nmusicians that made up Steely Dan, so it’s not like they’re
\nstealing the sound blind.)<\/p>\n
For all of this, one wonders why other songs off of
\nToto<\/i> didn’t become hits. Tracks like “Rockmaker” and “You
\nAre The Flower” are incredibly pleasing, while other songs like
\n“Girl Goodbye” and “Angela,” besides being a little
\nsaccharine-sweet, are also decent efforts.<\/p>\n
For such a collective of musicians, Toto do know how to put
\ntogether a solid pop song and make the groove capture the ear of
\nthe listener, something hundreds of bands would kill to have the
\npower to do. The polish of the band doesn’t bother me, but
\nsometimes I found myself wishing they would choose a style – rock,
\nlight jazz, ballads, instumentals – and stick with it.<\/p>\n
\nToto<\/i> is still a very pleasing album to listen to, especially
\nbecause the greatest-hits compilation doesn’t tell the whole story
\nof this album. It’s occasionally trying to listen to, but more
\noften than not will leave you smiling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7529],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-39290","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-toto","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39290"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}