Toto Album: “Falling in Between [Japan Bonus Track]”

Veteran rock band Toto has returned with "Falling In Between", their first studio album in four years and their first with all new original material since 1999's "Mindfields". This is also their first album with new keyboardist Greg Phillinganes. While he is new to the band, Greg is no stranger to the music biz having worked with an endless roster of musicians over the last 30 years ranging from Eric Clapton to Michael Jackson and Phil Collins among many others.

With their latest album, we find Toto continuing to hone their chops and progress musically. If anything, the band is stronger and vital than ever and the album shows a definite resurgence in their musical powers.

The opening title track leans on the recent wave of progressive rock heard from bands such as Spock's Beard and Dream Theater. It is a hard-driving mix of shifting time signatures, straight-forward rock and Eastern influences. Singer Bobby Kimball's voice has definitely not lost any magic here either.

Elsewhere on the album are classic Toto moments such as "Dying On My Feet", "King Of The World" and "Bottom Of Your Soul" which features a guest appearance from former Toto lead singer Joseph Williams. The presence of his voice brings back fond memories of the way Toto sounded in the late '80s and sounds like a "Seventh One" outtake.

The album also has its share of rocking moments. "Hooked" lays down a driving groove while "Taint Your World" pays homage to Van Halen with its fast-paced shuffle rhythms and Steve Lukather's stellar guitar work. For the Van Halen buffs out there, this track sounds a lot like "I'm The One" from the first VH album.

There are also a few musical U-turns here which are heard in "Let It Go" - a Steely Dan-like number in which Greg Phillinganes sings lead in a soulful R&B style - and in the gospel-tinged "Spiritual Man" which could be Toto's first foray into Christian rock. There's some great vocal work from keyboardist David Paich, Bobby Kimball as well as Greg Phillinganes on this track.

For the diehard Toto fans, the Japanese version of "Falling In Between" features a short bonus track entitled "The Reeferman". All drug references aside, this brief instrumental piece finds Toto branching into Miles Davis territory with a vamped fusion groove and a great trumpet lead from Jazz legend Roy Hargrove.

"Falling In Between" is an album that will definitely satisfy the most elite Toto fan. The album is loaded with ear-catching hooks and melodies as well as fantastic musicianship from all the members of the band. While there are some guest appearances from such noted talents as James Pankow and Jason Scheff (both from Chicago) as well as Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson and the above-mentioned Joseph Williams, "Falling In Between" is definitely a "band effort". You can hear it in every track here. While the album will probably not be anywhere near as successful as their earlier work, "Falling In Between" will definitely be another hit with Toto's solid fan base.

Another instant classic from Toto!!!

For a band that essentially exists in the realm of mainstream rock, TOTO are an odd entity.

It is well known that the band are essentially alumni of the late 70's/early 80's LA studio scene. Members of the band cut their teeth working as session musicians for the likes of Steely Dan, Michael Jackson, Rickie Lee Jones, George Benson, The Jacksons, Randy Crawford, Boz Scaggs... the list is literally endless. Most famously, members of TOTO were the core band behind Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album.

As a band in their own right, TOTO have (not surprisingly) supplied superlative musicianship but perhaps lacked consistent A-Grade compositions and originality despite their ability to play ANY style for ANY other artist or composer. The one exception to this rule was the knockout album "TOTO IV" released in 1982 and spearheaded with two astonishing David Paich compositions "Rosanna" (named for actress Rosanna Arquette) and "Africa", the remainder of the album was so solid, that "IV" is a 5 star album in the books of many music fanatics.

Strangely the success of this LP marked the end of the 'classic' line-up of TOTO with Bobby Kimball (lead vocals) and David Huntgate (bass) departing.

Since then, the band have (and I know many will disagree with this generalisation) largely struggled to hold a consistent identity that has found any sort of universal following. However, they are such superb musicians that they are always guaranteed an audience.

If, like me, you were most in love with TOTO's classic line-up, you will LOVE this album. Aside from "IV" and arguably their debut, it is their most enjoyable release and their most consistently excellent collection of songs. The playing is extraordinary, and despite those of us who dearly miss the astonishing talent of drummer Jeff Porcaro, Simon Phillips can outdrum the other 99% of the opposition. The sound of the record is very reminiscent of the first 4 TOTO lps, with Bobby Kimball restoring a tasty R&B flavour to kick against the almost anal musicianship of the rest of the band.

The various instrumental breaks (most songs on this CD have at least 2) are jaw dropping affairs with finger crunching chords, keyboards, electrontics and strings flying in and out of constantly shifting time signatures. The playing really is a joy to behold.

The addition of the very talented Greg Phillinganes on keyboard (presumably to fill the vocal and instrumental gap left from David Paich quitting life on the road) is a terrific additional layer to TOTO's sound restoring some of the Paich/Porcaro duel keyboard arrangements of their early albums. Phillinganes has similar studio credentials to the rest of the band going right back to the late 70's and his clean, Roachford style vocals add immensely to the scope of the music.

As for the songs, they still feature TOTO's always present weakness; a lack of lyrical maturity, although Kimball's soulful delivery helps to mask the frayed edges of their songwriting. Having said that, if you don't expect poetry in words, you'll be in 7th heaven with the music. "Dying on my feet", aside from the electronics, sounds like a beautiful and nasty bluesy ballad, that would've been equally at home on 'Hydra' or 'Turn Back'. "King of the World" offers up passionate, over the top rock and roll fun with all 3 key vocalists contributing on the same tune. "Simple Life" is one of Steve Lukather's best (and very concise) ballads, and "Spiritual Man" is classic and new at the same time - a nice piece of songwriting from David Paich. It's far from 'innovative' music but it completely succeeds on it's own terms as an uplifting rock anthem.

It's worth pointing out that Steve Porcaro's contribution to this album was so prolific, you wonder why they didn't just list him as a member of the group as he once was. Perhaps it is that he doesn't tour with them any more. Nonetheless, his touch improves every song that features his production work or signature synth playing.

This album is a genuine return to form, and you need make no consolations to the age or shifting personnel in the band. If you are at all partial to TOTO's original line-up, this one's for you. Enjoy it!

Finally, a new album by Toto that includes all the ingredients that makes them such a great band. Falling in Between lasts no longer than 49 minutes (which is far away from the 75 minutes of Mindfields)but nothing is missed, because this record gives you the rock, funk, soul and pop that makes Toto the probably most varied rockband of our time.

Falling in between is almost like enjoying good ice-cream, chocolate or sex. - Something that doesn't last very long and makes you go like "Wow, I could have more of this" ;-)

Each song flow out of the speakers and none of it sounds out of place. I'm happy to say that the album doesn't sound "80es", but modern and fresh, with all the good old elements. Classic and new at the same time - so to speak. Ironically though, if you listen to say Taint your world and Let it go next to each other without knowing that it's Toto, you could easily think they were played by two different bands. But....this is probably a strong reason why I still love this band and have done since the days of Kingdom of desire. The distinctive Toto-feel and sound, though, is still present!!!

Here are my thoughts on each song:

1. Falling in between - The hardest rocking song on the album. Inspired by Led Zeppelin and Dream Theather. I don't care much for any of those bands, but the way Toto puts it makes it a great song. Bobby sounds fantastic on this one. Luke powers out a strong riff and the chorus sung by Greg Phillinganes has a great middle-eastern influence, harmonically. Very "Un-toto", by the way!

2. Dying on my feet - Starts out with a fine bluesy riff from Luke accompanied by some piano and a Bobby singing at a low range, which is something he should do more often. This is the groovy, R&B-ish Bobby that I dig.

The song takes several different turns that is not expected, and includes an awesome solo from Luke, as well as an ending that features hard riffing and funky horns in a latin-rock kind of style. Very cool!

3. Bottom of your soul - A very atmospheric melody with mellow modern synthesizer-sounds and a lot of percussion that gives you a feel of "world music". Lukather sings heartfelt (as usual) on this sad ballad about the loss of human lives, caused by meaningless wars and starving. The chorus is sung by former Toto-leadsinger Joseph Williams, who is still a very good friend of the bandmembers. Nice, but not the high point of the song. Listen to the piano/acoustic guitar solo after the second chorus, as well as the chanting at the end, where Lukather delivers some very high-frequent flowing tones that makes me think of some of the excellent atmospheric guitar-work of U2's The Edge. This gives me shivers! Beautiful, haunting and subtle.

4. King of the world - A rocksong that could have been made in the 80es, but has a modern twist to it, sung by David in the verses - the way only he can sing! In the chorus Bobby delivers great harmony vocals. Steve Porcaro put some fresh new technology into this song, which I really dig. The lyrics are about the fall of Enron, in a narrating style.

5. Hooked - First of, you get to hear some electronica-stuff from Steve Porcaro. Definitely sounds more like Depeche Mode than Toto, but it's great. The verse is carried along by a cool, funky guitar and Bobby's voice, while the chorus is almost shouted by Greg, Luke and his son Trevor + James Torme. Not really my cup of tea, but effective. The instrumental middle-part is probably the greatest part of this song. Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull puts his nice overtone-flute on there, along with some heavy guitar and synth and does some strange chord-changes that gives a cinematic feel. Afterwards the song closes with some more shouting chorus. The lyrics are very clever and ironic. They tell about being addicted to things that aren't nessesarily healthy. At the same time, this ain't a very Bush-friendly song as they sing: "It's oil, it's guns. Bad guys we never see. It's war, dead sons. Be all that you can be". Lastly, Bobby gives a nice hint back to the days of Dire Straits' Money for nothing and the line "I want my MTV", by singing "We love our MP3's" the same way ;-)

6. Simple life - A short beautiful ballad sung by Lukather. It builds up slowly with chorused piano, electronic rhythms and some guitar, and explodes in a great chorus with crunchy, powerful guitar and a wall of aahs and oohs. Then, after the very first chorus the song just ends and you want to play it again. Only 2 minutes and 22 seconds long. Very unusual for at Toto-song

7. Taint your world - My least favourite of the whole album. Still, I like it because it really sounds like the guys are having fun and it's definitely very energetic. It's a "nice F****** boogie" (listen to the last few seconds and you'll know what I mean ;-)) driven by a guitar-riff, and the whole song is inspired by a band that is nothing to me really: Van Halen!

After the second chorus you would probably think there would be a guitar-solo, but surprise surprise, you get an interplay between guitar, organ, bass and drums and some tasty modern electronica by Steve Porcaro instead.

8. Let it go - Greg's lead vocal debut. A funky, R&B-ish thing with great lyrics about being released from pain and agony in life. Greg sings the way only a black man can and I really dig it. Lukathers guitar sounds crunchy and funky, which is something I have really missed since Tambu. In the bridge after the chorus, Luke and Greg shares the lead vocals and blend perfectly together, drawing in some (to my ears) very obvious influence from the chorus of Rockmaker from Toto's very first album in 1978. Furthermore, Let it go includes a typical, but very cool solo from Lukather, as well as an instrumental fusion-part that reminds me of Jake to the bone from 1992's Kingdom of desire as well as Dave's gone skiing from 1995's Tambu.

9. Spiritual man - Being a personal Christian, it is wonderful to finally hear Dave sing about Jesus Christ. This is indeed a very personal song to him and he sings it both soulfully and narrating at the same time. Bobby and Greg also each sings a verse as the songs builds up from being a piano driven ballad, and until it reaches a "gospel-high", with Ooh-choir, organ, sax and guitar. This tune goes to show how powerful Toto can make a 4-chord song sound like. Really great and something that doesn't remind me of anything the band has ever done before.

10. No end in sight - The last song on the album and one of the best. A quite simple rocksong sung by Luke in the verses and Bobby in the chorus. It deals with the issue of the Iraq war and ends up the album with a true message that oughta speak to the rest of the world about what is really going on: "Until you see the light, there ain't no end in sight", Bobby sings, and boy is he right. Sadly so!

What I like the most about this song is the atmospheric synthesizer and piano and the crunchy guitar that puts it somewhere between being an uptempo ballad and a hard rocking song.

All in all, Falling in between is right up there with my other alltime favourites Toto (1978) and Tambu (1995). It's a serious and a fun album at the same time, played and sung with the brilliance and perfection of Luke, Dave, Mike, Simon, Greg and Bobby. My greatest love and respect for them. God bless!!!

First of all, if the only non-compilation Toto album you own is IV...WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU? But also, don't come to this album expecting anything vaguely similar, you will be disappointed.

As with the vast majority of their best albums this CD rocks hard, with only a few softer moments along the way to add stylistic variety - and to give you the chance to catch your breath. It's not the easiest of albums to get into - there is simply so much going on within each song that you need to give it a good amount of detailed listens to fully appreciate the effort that's been put into it. That's not to say there's an absence of hooks - nothing could be further from the truth - merely that there's so much more to 'get' beneath the surface of hooks and typically superb musicianship.

Special mention also has to be given to the vocals on this album, no fewer than 5 lead voices feature, but they are all at the top of their game - Bobby Kimball continues his strong run since his return to the band and Steve Lukather sounds better than he has in a decade - and the mixing of different lead vocals within many of the tracks takes us back to one of the best features of their first 5 releases.

I'd name some highlights, but I'd end up listing every track. Suffice to say that this is an album for real fans of the band to absolutely relish. Slightly more casual fans will also find this one sticks around in their stereo and/or car for an extended period of time. As for those who just like IV...well, you're missing out.

Okay, there's a word on there that would embarrass me in front of the missus, who thinks even Chicago can be too hard rock at times (go figure). But I really do love the album, and am glad they're still trying hard to please their many fans - and their own toughest critics, themselves. I appreciate liner notes that tell what goes into making the songs, and am just generally pleased as heck with their latest effort.