Toto Album: “Toto IV”

Once in a while, in the careers of certain bands, an album is produced that rides on a certain, unstoppable creative momentum. TOTO were one of the few bands to experience a wave of this sort in '81-2 when they recorded what is, without a doubt, their most accomplished and accessable album - "TOTO IV".

The industry and record buying public acknowledged them further with a surge of 5 Grammy awards, including Best Album, Record of the Year (Rosanna) and Best Producer (Toto).

It is no surprise to any reader or reviewer here that there are two songs on this LP that far outweigh the others in quality. "Rosanna" and "Africa" are absolute career-peak compositions by David Paich (the latter co-composed with Jeff Porcaro), indeed they are a peak for the eighties pop music canon and would both certainly feature in any serious pop/rock all time top 100 list.

It's also no mystery to pop culture fanatics that "Rosanna" was named, after the song was finished for the beautiful actress Rosanna Arquette who, at the time, was dating Toto's keyboardist/vocalist Steve Porcaro. The song however, was not written specifically for her. Either way, Arquette must have gone very weak at the knees when she first heard this song - it is an astonishing tour-de-force by the band whose musicianship effectively shatters most of the opposition. You have to remember that all of the players in TOTO have 'to die for' studio credits on literally hundreds of recordings including albums like "Thriller" and works from artists like George Benson, Steely Dan, Rickie Lee Jones, Lionel Richie, Boz Scaggs, Melissa Manchester, Randy Crawford, Carly Simon, James Taylor - the list is literally endless. Just the drum track played effortlessly by Jeff Porcaro in "Rosanna", a complex take on the half-time shuffle, has been discussed by drum teachers and included in music text books ever since.

The other track, "Africa" is one of the finest pop performances ever committed to vinyl. Another fantastic groove from the rhythm section, the finest vocal yet from David Paich (I doubt he will surpass it) and a sky high belted out chorus with Bobby Kimball soaring on backing vocals. The scope and grandeur of "Africa" is nothing short of cinematic and the solo keyboard from Steve Porcaro is astoundingly proficient and graceful - you wouldn't expect anything less from any player in the band. Listen carefully for David Hungate's ascending bass riffs at the end of the song. He has been dearly missed by me on all subsequent TOTO releases, and is still one of the most sought after session bass players in the business.

When compared to "Rosanna" and "Africa", the remainder of songs on the album fall short but so does 99% of western popular music. In actual fact, the remaining tracks are superb support tracks and most of them near career high recordings for the band. There is a feeling of 'triumph' about the album which is irresistable.

The horns and strings make every track feel like an anthem and even the lesser tunes are treated to such clever and imaginative arrangements they are a pleasure to listen to. My favourites: "Make Believe", "Good for You", "We Made It" and "I Won't Hold You Back" with Steve Porcaro's "It's a feeling" providing an experimental, uplifting diversion. It's surprisingly tuneful and the variety added by Steve P's voice adds yet another dimension to the album.

Despite a prolific number of vocalists in the band, it's really Bobby Kimball's specialised vocals that let the band soar and lend an organic R&B credibility to the sometimes overly technical arrangements of TOTO. He too was sorely missed after being asked to leave following this album.

If you are familiar with the rest of TOTO's catalogue, then you will know that this is the album where their strengths are most to the fore and their weaknesses are held back. In short, they are at their most inspired here and for artists of this calibre, that means an album that will always be regarded as an iconic classic of it's time.

This multi grammy award winning album including album of the year is totally deserving of all the honours that it got. Even before it was subjected to this great remastering job, it was a very well produced and mastered album jam packed with hit tracks such as "Rosanna", "Africa", "Make Believe", "I Won't Hold You Back Now" as well as other great album tracks like "Waiting For Your Love" and "Good For You". Overall, a very good 80's style pop/rock offering that has aged quite well. This album now comes in a mini-lp sleeve replica packaging and is DSD remastered for a great sound. I got my version from a Japanese site and so got mine much cheaper than it is here but if you don't mind the price, this is the best version of this album that is out there at the moment. Recommended.

Although this is a darn fine album, sadly it's all some people know about Toto. Don't get me wrong, this is as great a place to start with Toto as any, but it shouldn't end here. "Rosanna", "Africa", and "I Won't Hold You Back" were one time radio staples, and deservedly so, but there are songs here that would belong on a Toto fan's greatest hits album including "Make Believe", "We Made It", and "Waiting for Your Love". Buy Toto IV without delay but also check out "Isolation", "Mindfields" and "Kingdom of Desire".

I'll start by saying, Toto is my favorite band of all-time, bar none!

Having said that, I don't think this multichannel SACD got the treatment it deserved. As expected from one of the finest recordings of its time, the stereo track is awesome........but, I and I imagine most, people buy SACD for the multichannel track, and I don't think this one delivers. The only song that is really "opened up" in 5.1 is Africa, every other track appears to just have a bit of reverb or echo here and there. Not the precise localisation of instruments around the listener you get on some other SACD recordings. I must say, my expectations of this SACD was quite high when I heard Elliot Schiener was involved in the 5.1 mix, which makes it even more disappointing having heard some fantastic sounding 5.1 mixes he has done in the past. Eagles, Hell freezes over and Fleetwood Mac, The Dance, to name just two. I only have a few SACD/DVD-AUDIO discs to compare it to, and it falls short compared to the likes of Pink Floyd, Dark side of the moon and The Eagles, Hotel California.

Don't get me wrong, I love this album, and I believe it should be a staple in every bodies record collection, but the multichannel version could have been better.

Cheers, Wags.

TOTO allows the listener to move back to a time when music could really take the mind to exciting places in our beautiful world!!