The first five albums are all great but Isolation is my favorite Toto album. Don't dislike any of the albums but the 90s ones are a step down. Falling in Between and XIV are both underrated. Thanks Gents!
Toto has been one of my favorite bands forever. Choosing a top two is tough, maybe Isolation and The Seventh One, but the moment I choose I regret not choosing all my other favorites. Thank you for stepping up, guys.
Like I said in the live chat “ maybe 4️⃣? Yrs ago PETE made me revisit TOTO with his NEW Jersey shore story and KINGDOM of Desire 1️⃣9️⃣9️⃣2️⃣, which I still periodically spin. As usual, the trio@ knocked it out of park , for a fun filled Saturday afternoon. Thx guys 👍💯
Just brilliant as usual. I would have never sat through a discussion of Toto had these 3 not been doing it... I was rather surprised at how good the song "Falling in Between" actually is. I mean, the musicians are 100% top notch, and Lukather is a beast. But it's not the stuff I expected to hear from them.
I saw Toto for the first time a couple of weeks ago, just based on their biggest hits. Had a very good time, so this comes at the perfect time for me to know where to start when jumping into their discography!
I love Turn Back. I think it gets overshadowed by Toto 4. My faves are Hydra Turn Back Toto 4 Self titled Kingdom of Desire Seventh One Farenheit Isolation
Love the first 4 albums. My 2 favourites would be "Toto" & "Turn Back". I had a compilation called Hold the Line, which covered thd first 3 albums and loved it. Least favourite would be "Farhrenheit". Widecard would be "Falling in Between" or 14.
Great legendary band. Saw them a month ago in rakvere, Estonia. Great mixing of various genres. They really would indeed have been more bigger, if the record exces and radio programmers were more adventuorus.
Finally got round to watching this and glad I did. Great show again guys. Here's my choices for what it's worth... Favourites: Isolation & Turn Back Least favourite: Through the looking glass & Old is new Wildcard: Kingdom of desire 👍
Glad that XIV received some love. My runaway album of the year in 2015, and it absolutely blew me away. Bands who’ve been going for 40+ years hardly ever make an album THIS good. They nailed it.
Toto does what they want, and they're great for it... They're godly. No wonder why they love playing overseas especially. Thank heavens they're not as myopic as some of the fandom. I enjoy the differing views.
Isolation, Tambu and Kingdom of Desire are my favourite studio albums. My favourite Toto album of all is Absolutely Live. It's what their studio albums could have been, especially their early ones.
I'm with you on Fahrenheit. Never could get into that one. Contrary to what the title suggests, it's a very, very cold album with an impersonal production, it really sounds like it was made by a commitee ! Only 3 tracks I like : Till the end, We can make it tonight and Somewhere tonight.
Can't deny "Turn Back!" (Gift With A Golden Gun, Goodbye Elenore, English Eyes, Live For Today). Also, I know that this has been mentioned before in perhaps a slightly different way, but... What a strange concept these UA-cam discussion have become. Oddly, I feel like I could be texting Pete, Steven, Simon, et al to schedule a meet up for a beer only to remind myself that this exists only in the UA-cam world. You guys are the groups of friends that exist alongside my actually group of music friends. Our discussions are so similar. That all being said, thanks for being our UA-cam friends : )
I don't know why alot of people don't hear what I hear but minefields is one of my favorite albums. I love most all of of them but this one has some really great songs on it.
I'm a Toto fan who, somehow, completely missed out on even hearing "Mindfields" when it was originally released. I just finally heard it last night, as part of their massive "All In" CD box set, and to my ears, it's a great album-- rocking, soulful, bluesy, and catchy too, with tons of hooks! It's very underrated!
Toto have really become one of my very favourite bands over the years, so this was hard as I basically love all of their albums (I have never bothered with the covers album so I cannot comment on that). In the end, my two favourites ended up being the ones that really cemented my love for the band when I was getting into them, Faves: Toto IV & Falling in Between Least Faves: Tambu & Mindfields Wildcard: Toto XX: 1977-1997 (one of the better odds and sods collections out there, see also Old is New from 2018)
Catching up on a lot of your back catalog of videos, so a bit late to the party. Favorites: The Seventh One - one of my favorite albums all time Turn Back - this is a new favorite, recently discovered Least favorites: Falling In Between - had high hopes based on the reviews at the time, but it just didn’t move me Kingdom of Desire - had huge expectations after the Seventh One, and like you guys said, they kept changing it up each time, but hadn’t known that at the time. Wildcard: Toto IV - “Africa” and “Afraid of Love”, ‘nuff said.
Toto's debut is one of the first records I ever bought as a kid with my own money and I was so disappointed at the time. As a 13 year old into rock I was expecting an album of Hold The Line type songs and it's not that. As an adult, I absolutely love that album.. Isolation is my second favorite.
I can't believe that none of you chose the 1st album, Turn Back, or 4 😳 My "go to" albums will always be the first five, The Seventh One, and XIV. Choosing my favourite couple of albums from those 7 is almost impossible, but if I really have to choose 2, I'll opt for the 1st and Hydra (but it breaks my heart not to select Turn Back 😢 And So Fired Up by Le Roux is well worth checking out if you're a fan of 80s American AOR 🥰
My favorite Toto album is Isolation. I only heard it for the first time a couple of years ago, but I quickly fell in love with it. I like all the songs on it and I love about half of them. I was in my final year of college when I got into the album and I ended up using “Endless” for part of the audio in my final animation project. “Carmen” often contends for being my favorite Toto song, and “Angel Don’t Cry” isn’t far behind. Yeah, this one’s easily my favorite. My second favorite Toto album is more difficult to narrow down. It’s between two for me-a classic era album with my absolute favorite Toto song, but some others I’m not crazy about, versus a middle period album that’s super intense and heavy but runs a bit long… Today I’m going with the former, which is their second album ‘Hydra.’ The title track is my favorite Toto song and has been since I first heard the album about 6 years ago (again, I’m only 23 so 6 years is a fairly long time). I really like the proggier edge to this album, and it’s what drew me in when I first heard it. Aside from the title track, we have great songs like “St. George and the Dragon,” “99,” “Mama,” and “White Sister.” However, the songs “All Us Boys” and “A Secret Love” aren’t my favorites and they do bring the album down a bit in my estimation. Still, it’s a great album and my second favorite as of today. Okay, so I haven’t actually heard every Toto album (actually I’ve only listened to the first 5, Kingdom of Desire, and select songs from the rest of their discography), so I don’t think I can pick a least favorite yet. So I’ll just move onto my wild card. My wild card is going to be Toto IV. I don’t love this album. Actually I just recently started mildly enjoying it. I hated this one for years because it lacks the power of the other albums I’ve heard from Toto, and I didn’t like the deep cuts on it. But it’s my wild card because of those deep cuts, which I’ve grown to really enjoy. “Make Believe” is a really fun pop song with a solid vocal hook. “It’s a Feeling” is a nice somber track with wonderful instrumentation and a laid back yet effective vocal. “Afraid of Love” is the driving hard rocker that I originally wanted the whole album to sound like. And “Waiting for Your Love” reminds me of the debut album for some reason. It’s still the lowest on my ranking of the 6 Toto albums I’ve listened to, but I like it a lot more than I did when I first heard it.
I love Toto, saw them last week and they were amazing - still I miss Paich in the concerts. There is ONE covers album that I really like: Yeah! by Def Leppard. For whatever reason, the vibe is killer and beats practically anything they have done post Steve Clark.
I’m cannot honestly call myself a Toto aficionado as I don’t know all the albums. But I love the Toto I know and it was great to see Stephen mention the last album as a favourite because I also think it’s amazing. I couldn’t believe how great it was when I heard it. Great pick. Fun show as usual gentlemen. Cheers
My #1 favorite band, so it's incredibly hard to pick favorites/least favorites. I love nearly everything they've ever done, save for the collaboration with What So Not (We'll Keep On Running.) That being said: Top two: 1. Tambu - To my ears, it's perfectly recorded, perfectly mixed, perfectly mastered, and as such, it's the album I use to test out sound systems when playing any live shows. 2. The Seventh One - Joseph's vocals are amazing on this one. Plus, it has my favorite Jeff Porcaro drum performance in "Mushanga".
Fav: Hydra/ Kingdom of Desire/ The Seventh One LF: Mindfields/ Falling in Between (Not that I don't like them, but I just don't care for them) Wild card: Turn Back. Cheers.
The first album for me is Toto. Girl Goodbye rips it up. Hold the Line epic. Anthem what an opener. My favorite hands down the best before MTV spoiled the brew.
I ranked their albums in a video. I put the first one number one, but really my favorites are the Seventh One and Kingdom of desire. I ranked falling in between the lowest. To me its not a cohesive album, and they just said here Bobby, there's a few songs for you to sing
I appreciate the diversity in their catalog and also in you guys favorites. But that said, I was first introduced to the band with Hold the Line so it's hard for me to go against the debut and Toto IV. Cheers!
Pete love your channel! Could you do an episode on WAR? Either an album ranking or favorite leadt favourite album episode. No one talks about this band. Thanks keep up the amazing videos!
Stranger in Town is a fascinating song, on the surface it sounds like a simple pop rock song but it has quite a few different time-signatures in it: the intro riff goes in 6, the verse goes in 7, the bridge in 4 and the chorus in 5. But it's all so smooth you don't even think about it.
I do love "Stranger in town" too, even though it sounds a bit too sequenced to me. We can clearly hear that the guitar and sax are not really played as solos but more like overdubs. But I really like this nocturnal and anguished atmosphere.
"Mindfileds" confused a lot of people, it's a very worked album, endowed with an excellent production, which shows a more progressive aspect of the group. The fact that it's long doesn't bother me at all. It's a rich, varied and extremely interesting album. The only song I don't like is "High price of hate".
Toto is a band that consists of incredible studio musicians who can write, produce, and arrange various styles of music. While sometimes overproduced and lacking consistent direction, they are a testament to great musicianship and the notion that skill is more important than image.
I have to agree with Steven - there isn't actually a perfect Toto album...a Best Of is more likely to tick the boxes for me. My favourite way to get my helping of Toto is currently the live Fallling In Between DVD. I've liked subsequent live DVds too, but this one is special. Thanks for another great show.
All I ever had was a greatest hits Cd and some 45s, after watching the show last night went on Amazon, found the box set All In on sale and it was just delivered a few minutes ago, took about 13 hours to get it. Now I have some listening to do, Thanks for the show!
I would echo that Toto are another band who've rarely done anything really bad or awful, which is totally expected due to the calibre of the musicians.. They do, however, have a tendency to stick one or two or more clunkers slap bang in the middle of what otherwise could have been a fantastic album. I tweeted my picks last week and said I'd provide explanations today so without further ado I am going to go with the two that I don't skip any tracks on. Favourites = Hydra and Turn Back. Turn back is the one I've had the longest so that's one of those journey albums for me and Hydra is just start to finish greatness. Least favourite - Past to Present 1977 - 1990 Through the Looking Glass As said they rarely do anything that isnt at least ok to good, however on their compilation past to present 1977-1990 there were four songs that had they been instrumentals or had they had anyone else but the singer singing would have made it a great compilation to have. Unfortunately they had Jean Michel Byron foisted on them who was totally the wrong person sounding like a second rate Michael Jackson wannabee and I remember that awful live video with him that I just cant watch. And then they did that awful covers album - uggh . Wild card - XIV I could have chosen at least 6 namely Isolation, Kingdom of Desire, Tambu, XIV and Old is New After playing them all back to back I found I was more drawn to wanting to re-listen again to XIV so that's my wild card, though it was a close run thing with Isolation and Old is New. I could have taken a safer option though and gone for Greatest Hits - 40 trips around the sun, which I would recommend to anyone who wants a place to start - and the live album is great as well. As for the 1st and 4th albums for me the 1st album is too much of a mixed bag. It has some great songs on it but just as you get into it along comes a bit of 'meh' like You are the Flower, and IV has a few more ok but not greats. Digging out Shout at the Devil to rank the songs - I may, just for the sheer fun of it, go with Bastard as no 1, as technically I am one .😁
This was difficult for me, as I have been listening to alot of interesting music the last few weeks courtesy of Pete's daily show and Steven & Co's choices on In the Prog Seat. Buying at least one of several or in the case of Haken the first 3 & Wobbler the lot. So my Toto history is Hold the Line and Toto iv, which apart from the 2 songs I had not heard until a few years ago. So listening to Toto effectively with a blank slate was hard. I quite liked Kingdom of Desire, Falling in Between, Hydra and what I've heard of xiv. Back again, I had to stop watching after Simon's revelation of his least favourite. The point raised about their versatility going against them, I kind of agree. I had a difficulty connecting with some songs as the intros and the instrumental sections were really good and the parts were there were vocals didn't always grab me. With the debut I only liked Child's Anthem, Goodbye Girl, Hold the Line and Angela.
Pete, I have to say, your channel and your shows, are very detailed, and fun. I am a huge fan of this channel, and there are some music channels that I don’t particularly care for, but this channel hits different. All the things you talk about for music are things I have had on my mind for such a long time. I would love to chat music with you sometime. I am a 23 yr old musician from Rhode Island, that likes a lot of the music you cover, and you keep a very fun, and personable front about you and the shows. I would really love to do a cool show with you sometime. I hope you see this because I am a huge fan Been one since high school playing lacrosse.
Another great show gents. Have to admit that Toto are a "Greatest Hits" band for me, so can't really add much to the discussion. Maybe it's time to explore more!!!
Deciding to include albums from artists that might not be well-appreciated by someone (or other) on the panel? Interesting. Does this mean Simon will participate in a possible upcoming ranking of tracks from Zep IV? I *have* to see that one, lol. Toto - not a band I've explored much beyond a couple of albums, and even then, I can't say that I was ever compelled to pull them out very often (some great songs notwithstanding.) Yes, its members have been featured on far too many blockbuster albums (and tracks) to count; If you don't know them, you DO know them. Consummate professionals. Even though I'm sure there are a few somewhere in the back of my mind that could serve as exceptions, I generally share in the distaste for cover albums. "That could be on a British beach near you, couldn't it?" 😂 Damn!!! Great episode!
Happy to have a go at albums I dislike as it will have been a while since I last listened to them. It might be interesting to see if younger Simon was wrong.
Out of all the covers albums I've heard, Joe Lynn Turner's Under Cover was the one that I had in constant rotation when it came out and I still return to it for a listen to this day. His ability to sing nearly anyone's songs in the Rock genre is unparralled. I enjoyed Under Cover 2 as well but, I didn't get it when it was released and I didn't "live with it" like I did the first one. That version of "Vehicle" is the essential version for me.
I absolutely love the Album Hydra. It is the sound of a bunch of brilliant musicians doing the sort of music they really want to make regardless of the commercial potential. Full of blistering hard rock, the occasional Proggy touch and a hint of the ultra smooth slick sound they would present on the Four album with "99".The title track itself is my all time favourite -cinematic, explosive and bombastic- pure ear candy. My other favourite album is 40 Trips around the Sun. OK it's a compilation but it is such an enjoyable listen. It includes three new tracks which are all pretty good, all the best tracks off the debut and Four and "Jake To The Bone" which is a terrific jazz-fusion instrumental
Favourites: Isolation and The Seventh One Least Favourites: Through The Looking Glass and Tambu Wild card: Toto XX, that terrific and halfway forgotten gem from 1998, containing previously unreleased recordings from the band´s first 12 years or so. I am astonished that it didn´t even get a mention in this otherwise spectacular and profoundly enjoyable episode. Check out Mrs. Johnson and Goin´ Home from 1977 and 1989, respectively. Both feature Bobby Kimball on vocals.
it's interesting in that each on off these guys choose Isolation one of theirs favorites and that is album that started Toto's downfall. Well, it's my top 2 also.
I watch this lot no matter what or who they're talking about, but it's always extra special when they cover an act of extra importance to me and Toto were, for YEARS my favourite band (and are still my favourite US band). Faves: Isolation and The Seventh One (generally prefer their heavier stuff to the, shall we say, frothier side of them, but that album is just perfect - and was the first I heard beyond the hits). New Past to Present tracks and TTLG make for an easy bottom two, wildcard...Hydra. Definitely bold for a sophomore effort, only thing wrong with it is they left Tale of a Man off, I'd have had that in place of Lorraine (a decent track but Tale kicks its arse, would also have given Bobby more than a single lead vocal on side 1 of the album!). Love all 3 proper 90s albums, despite them being 90s albums, and therefore too long. Mindfields was in my top 2 for a good number of years, but has fallen since, but Cruel, Better World, Caught in the Balance and a few others are GREAT songs. Feel honour bound to point out that Luke's actual first solo album came out 3 years before KOD. He was also expecting Paich to split lead vocals with him 50/50 on that album, but Dave kept (in Luke's words) 'wimping out on him'!
Excellent show Guys. I’ve never seen Toto live but I have seen Lukather live at The Brook Southampton, he was fantastic although he was pissed 🤣 Fahrenheit I have a strong bond with an album I’ve enjoyed. Tambu fantastic the track ‘I will remember’ great album Toto XIV great consistent album the track ‘Unknown soldier (for Jeffery)’ what a track WOW! Toto IV excellent
Another great video guys! I like Toto a lot and my two favourites are `Turn Back` and `Hydra`. I`m not interested in owning the covers album but if I did it would be my least favourite as I have listened to it on you tube. Incidentally I`m not a massive fan of the massive selling `IV`. If it wasn`t for the beautiful `I Won`t Hold You Back` I would rarely play it. I think IWHYB sold poorly because the radio stations were still too busy playing `Africa` and `Rosanna` and therefore declined to give much airplay to the new single! So annoying it should have been a big hit.
Oh, forgot the wild card! When I put my Toto playlist together I was a little surprised to discover that I ended up with several tracks from `Kingdom of Desire`.
@@SJHUE Isn't "I Won't Hold You Back" gorgeous? It's my fav from IV, without question. It did receive some airplay on U.S. radio, but it was nowhere near as massive as "Africa" or "Rosanna."
@@knightvisioniixv Hello there. Yes it is gorgeous! It is such a shame it is little known. I do recall it not doing too badly in the US. Do you ever hear it nowadays on the radio and does it ever appear on rock ballad compilations over there? Thanks for reply btw, it's good to know I'm not the only fan of this song!
@@SJHUE I'm honestly not too sure about the compilations, but some years ago, I would occasionally hear IWHYB playing in the background when stopping at gas stations, or walking up and down the aisles of a supermarket. I did hear the song a little more on local FM radio back in the '90s, but nowhere near as much as the two 'big' ones. It could possibly be different, depending on the region in the US - stations in certain areas might play it more frequently than in others. You are definitely not the only fan of this song - I've loved it for years!
@@knightvisioniixv I always think that if a not so well known song can get itself onto a compilation album now and again it has a better chance to survive as people who might ordinarily not be into (in this case)Toto, will own and hear the song even though they didn`t buy the cd for this particular track. They will play the cd and hopefully like the track, they`ll play it in the car with passengers hearing it, maybe put it on at a party etc. You get the idea. Good to hear it did or does get played now and again in the US. I haven`t heard it on the radio for 37yrs! Oh well. Anyway, thanks for that information much appreciated. All the best.
Reading Luke’s auto biog at moment, a fascinated read, agree. My favs are Isolation and Hydra too. Covers album prob the poorest. Wildcard prob kingdom of desire, or Turn back
In the 80s I tested the waters of Toto with IV, Fahrenheit, The Seventh One and decided they weren't the band for me. After listening to this I'll check out the debut, Hydra, Isolation, Kingdom of Desire and the covers album.
I still don't own the whole Toto catalogue. I picked up the first 5 albums in my late teens and always liked the band but they weren't in the must buy everything bracket. I picked up Falling in Between on release, and it remains my favourite Toto album, with XIV up there too. Only seen them live twice (1995 and 2007)
Simon mentioned their reputation in the UK as being faceless, and even though I liked them a lot maybe that was why I went to see them live expecting possible a sterile performance, that was wrong as Steven say they were outstanding. My favourite 2 Isolation, and IV, even now i’m not bored when I hear those two songs on the radio. Plus I like Holyanna too. Least favourite , I have a few missing so maybe two of them as I like all the ones I have. Wildcard XIV which was a very pleasant surprise when it landed.
Good evening gents! Sadly I'm going to be unable to watch the video this week, the person who first got me into Toto (and much more amazing music) died unexpectedly this week, and I don't think I can cope with listening about Toto at the moment! That said here's my list... Favourites- Toto IV. My uncle taped me this in the 80s, and listened to it loads! My friends thought I was a dickhead, but I didn't care! Tambu. It's just an absolute cracker. Least favourites- Through the looking glass. It's OK but it's a covers album so, you know!! Old is new. When other legacy bands are releasing some of their best stuff they just didn't!! Wildcard is a bit of a cheat it's Steve Lukather's Candyman album, not actually a Toto album but it ace!! What do you mean that doesn't count!!! Ok then I've got a proper soft spot for the Dune soundtrack, sounds nothing like their other stuff but I think it's great!! All the best!!!
I guess Isolation is my favorite Toto album as well. I really liked the slickness of Fahrenheit and The Seventh One as well though. Quite a hattrick if you ask me...
so um like you said, even if you don't like it much, you can still rank it! but in the case of toto I sadly haven't heard all the albums, so I'll restrict myself to one pick per category, I hope that's ok fav: toto least: toto wildcard: toto
The guitar tone on 'Hold The Line' single in 1978 was smoking as it got on FM radio that year, it was like Foreigner's 'Hot Blooded' (both Lukather and Mick Jones play Gibson Les Pauls, right?) a nasty and aggressive guitar sound, and their debut is my choice. Cheers.
There IS a covers album by John Mellencamp that is quite good ! It is called Trouble No More and it has covers of very old folksongs. Go check this alum out ! Nothing to do with hardrock or prog, but really good music in of itself.
Great points about Isolation, it does rock hard and that guitar tone is never heard again on any other album. Great wildcard pick from Steven... Dune is a great soundtrack. Tough one, hmmmm(I'm gonna cheat on this one) Favorites: 1. Hydra - so many killer songs on this one 2. Isolation - the only songs that I don't like are the songs that end side 1 and 2. If you take How Does It Feel and Holyanna off, it's a perfect album imo. The album should have ended with Change of Heart(my version does). 3. Toto - classic Great tunes in multiple genres. Least Favorite: 1. Past to Present 1977-1990 - The new songs on this compilation are dreadful... If this would have been released as an Ep of new songs with Jean-Michel Byron, it would suck. 2. Fahrenheit/The Seventh One - These two are super slick, but I still like a couple of tunes on each one. Wildcard: Turn Back - I dig the songs and proggy vibe. Goodbye Elenore just smokes!
Man,…if pressed: 1.) IV 2.) XIV 3.) Fahrenheit 4.) Toto 5.) Hydra 6.) The Seventh One 7.) Isolation 8.) Kingdom Of Desire 9.) Mindfields 10.) Turn Back 11.) Tambu 12.) Falling In Between 13.) XX 14.) Old Is New I don’t own Through The Looking Glass or Dune
My favorite is Toto-Turn Back My favorite song on this album is If it’s the Last Night!Steve Lukather amazing guitarist Actually all of them incredible musicians. RIP to Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro this band over there career together sold over 40 million records why they are not in the hall of fame?
I'm actually really happy Steven brought up Toto XIV as a "best" album. I was very suspicious of this prior to its release. First, it was coming through Frontiers, and something frequently happens to legacy bands that end up on Frontiers. (Hint: it's not good.) Second, Toto is notoriously dysfunctional. How cohesive was this going to sound? Third, it seemed even then that nobody cared much about the band beyond "Africa," so were they actually going to put any effort into this thing? Well...yes. Yes, they did. Joseph Williams sounds terrific, Lukather does that Lukather thing, Paich does the Paich thing, and it all just works. "Fortune" is one of those classic-sounding Toto songs that nearly dip into jazz-rock (it's probably the Michael McDonaldness of it all). "Orphan" was the right choice for a single, as was "Burn." Given that I don't consider Old Is New as a proper last album, and thinking this is the last Toto album in name, this is a pretty accomplished way to close that door.
I think a "problem" with Toto never reaching the status they might want or deserve is that they are musicians musicans who tried to make music for the casual listener. They have a track with Miles Davis - Very cool. Does the common "Africa"-fan or AOR-guy know much about Miles Davis? They mix styles a lot.. Which I appreciate but I think they lean a bit much to the soft side. I like many of their softer tracks but I think in general people prefer an album with more uptempo. Hardrock, Pop/Rock or just Pop. When it is too many soft tracks I think many people lose interest. One or two soft tracks on an album is enough for most bands. For favorites? Toto (1978): Great introduction to the album and one where there is a bigger hit but I think all songs could have worked on the radio. Perhaps not huge hits all of them but catchy and unique enough. Toto XIV (2015): Modern sound and very muscular... Even the slower songs have a bit more bite to them. It's quite heavy too. I thought about Toto IV or The Seventh One for this spot but song for song I prefer this a bit above the others. I must admit that "Mindfields is the only album I never heard. I heard a few songs on the live-albums and others on UA-cam but I just never bothered much more about it. So I won't mention it here. Least favorites: Through the Looking Glass (2002): Musically good but just doll. It sounds more like an album they did for somebody else when they didn't want to be there. I don't dislike it as much as Pete, Steven and Simon but honestly? I never listen to it. Just like Pete said... I might have listened to it twice. Falling in Between (2006): Quite heavy and progressive but I just never return to it. While interesting to hear Toto make such a heavy records I don't find much reason to return to it. I think Toto XIV makes a better job of being more modern but still sound like Toto. Surprise pick: Live in Amsterdam (2003): I like most of their live-albums. This came out in a time where I am not crazy about the studioalbums but this live-show might be my favorite. I really like the tracklist.
You need to listen to Mindfields. A powerful collection of songs, including the beautiful "Melanie". Toto are on fire with this album. Simon Phillips' drums are a powerhouse and Bobby Kimball has never sung better. This together with Tambu are my favourite Toto albums. In fact the more I listen to Tambu, the more I realise how many great songs it contain. Check out "Heart full of mirrors" or "I will remember". Both songs make "I'll be over you" sound ordinary. The first four albums are great in their own way, but don't match the intensity of Mindfields and Tambu. Isolation is their poorest offering in my opinion. The Seventh One has some good moments.
I take it we won’t be getting a ranking the albums of Mötley Crüe. What about, Favourite/Least favourite album from a band that only made one album that may or may not have had a one hit wonder single?
I think it's important to split covers albums into two categories. The 'start of career' albums- see first few Stones albums, the Beatles, a fair few 60s/70s acts- these can be throwaway but are often a good representation of a young and hungry band's live set- great energy but maybe enough writing skills yet. The late period 'contractual obligation' albums deserve to be ignored- look at all those Status Quo releases (famous in the last century, anyone?). Has 'great albums which are 50%+ covers) ever been a SoT vid?
The first five albums are all great but Isolation is my favorite Toto album. Don't dislike any of the albums but the 90s ones are a step down. Falling in Between and XIV are both underrated. Thanks Gents!
Toto has been one of my favorite bands forever. Choosing a top two is tough, maybe Isolation and The Seventh One, but the moment I choose I regret not choosing all my other favorites. Thank you for stepping up, guys.
Like I said in the live chat “ maybe 4️⃣? Yrs ago PETE made me revisit TOTO with his NEW Jersey shore story and KINGDOM of Desire 1️⃣9️⃣9️⃣2️⃣, which I still periodically spin. As usual, the trio@ knocked it out of park , for a fun filled Saturday afternoon. Thx guys 👍💯
Just brilliant as usual. I would have never sat through a discussion of Toto had these 3 not been doing it... I was rather surprised at how good the song "Falling in Between" actually is. I mean, the musicians are 100% top notch, and Lukather is a beast. But it's not the stuff I expected to hear from them.
You're too kind Luis.
I love the appreciation for Isolation....thier most underrated imo
Change of Heart it's one of their best songs
I saw Toto for the first time a couple of weeks ago, just based on their biggest hits. Had a very good time, so this comes at the perfect time for me to know where to start when jumping into their discography!
I love Turn Back. I think it gets overshadowed by Toto 4.
My faves are
Hydra
Turn Back
Toto 4
Self titled
Kingdom of Desire
Seventh One
Farenheit
Isolation
Love the first 4 albums. My 2 favourites would be "Toto" & "Turn Back". I had a compilation called Hold the Line, which covered thd first 3 albums and loved it. Least favourite would be "Farhrenheit". Widecard would be "Falling in Between" or 14.
Great legendary band. Saw them a month ago in rakvere, Estonia.
Great mixing of various genres. They really would indeed have been more bigger, if the record exces and radio programmers were more adventuorus.
"Hydra" and "Turn back" for me. Two of my favourite albums of all time.
Finally got round to watching this and glad I did. Great show again guys. Here's my choices for what it's worth...
Favourites: Isolation & Turn Back
Least favourite: Through the looking glass & Old is new
Wildcard: Kingdom of desire
👍
Glad that XIV received some love. My runaway album of the year in 2015, and it absolutely blew me away. Bands who’ve been going for 40+ years hardly ever make an album THIS good. They nailed it.
Toto does what they want, and they're great for it... They're godly. No wonder why they love playing overseas especially. Thank heavens they're not as myopic as some of the fandom. I enjoy the differing views.
Isolation, Tambu and Kingdom of Desire are my favourite studio albums. My favourite Toto album of all is Absolutely Live. It's what their studio albums could have been, especially their early ones.
Great episode !
Favorites :
Hydra and the first one(tied with Isolation)
Least :
Fahrenheit and Through the Looking Glass
I'm with you on Fahrenheit. Never could get into that one. Contrary to what the title suggests, it's a very, very cold album with an impersonal production, it really sounds like it was made by a commitee ! Only 3 tracks I like : Till the end, We can make it tonight and Somewhere tonight.
@@aubindemontfalcon5967 Right on. I would add the Miles Davis track too
Can't deny "Turn Back!" (Gift With A Golden Gun, Goodbye Elenore, English Eyes, Live For Today).
Also, I know that this has been mentioned before in perhaps a slightly different way, but...
What a strange concept these UA-cam discussion have become. Oddly, I feel like I could be texting Pete, Steven, Simon, et al to schedule a meet up for a beer only to remind myself that this exists only in the UA-cam world. You guys are the groups of friends that exist alongside my actually group of music friends. Our discussions are so similar.
That all being said, thanks for being our UA-cam friends : )
I don't know why alot of people don't hear what I hear but minefields is one of my favorite albums. I love most all of of them but this one has some really great songs on it.
I'm a Toto fan who, somehow, completely missed out on even hearing "Mindfields" when it was originally released. I just finally heard it last night, as part of their massive "All In" CD box set, and to my ears, it's a great album-- rocking, soulful, bluesy, and catchy too, with tons of hooks! It's very underrated!
Toto have really become one of my very favourite bands over the years, so this was hard as I basically love all of their albums (I have never bothered with the covers album so I cannot comment on that). In the end, my two favourites ended up being the ones that really cemented my love for the band when I was getting into them,
Faves: Toto IV & Falling in Between
Least Faves: Tambu & Mindfields
Wildcard: Toto XX: 1977-1997 (one of the better odds and sods collections out there, see also Old is New from 2018)
Catching up on a lot of your back catalog of videos, so a bit late to the party.
Favorites:
The Seventh One - one of my favorite albums all time
Turn Back - this is a new favorite, recently discovered
Least favorites:
Falling In Between - had high hopes based on the reviews at the time, but it just didn’t move me
Kingdom of Desire - had huge expectations after the Seventh One, and like you guys said, they kept changing it up each time, but hadn’t known that at the time.
Wildcard:
Toto IV - “Africa” and “Afraid of Love”, ‘nuff said.
Toto's debut is one of the first records I ever bought as a kid with my own money and I was so disappointed at the time. As a 13 year old into rock I was expecting an album of Hold The Line type songs and it's not that. As an adult, I absolutely love that album.. Isolation is my second favorite.
My all time favorite is Toto IV
Others:
- S/T Debut
- Isolation
- Fahrenheit
- The Seventh One
Hydra not on your list?
The classic 99
@@truckerkevthepaidtourist 99 : OK track but not my favorite. I love the title-track, St George and White sister more !
I can't believe that none of you chose the 1st album, Turn Back, or 4 😳
My "go to" albums will always be the first five, The Seventh One, and XIV. Choosing my favourite couple of albums from those 7 is almost impossible, but if I really have to choose 2, I'll opt for the 1st and Hydra (but it breaks my heart not to select Turn Back 😢
And So Fired Up by Le Roux is well worth checking out if you're a fan of 80s American AOR 🥰
My favorite Toto album is Isolation. I only heard it for the first time a couple of years ago, but I quickly fell in love with it. I like all the songs on it and I love about half of them. I was in my final year of college when I got into the album and I ended up using “Endless” for part of the audio in my final animation project. “Carmen” often contends for being my favorite Toto song, and “Angel Don’t Cry” isn’t far behind. Yeah, this one’s easily my favorite.
My second favorite Toto album is more difficult to narrow down. It’s between two for me-a classic era album with my absolute favorite Toto song, but some others I’m not crazy about, versus a middle period album that’s super intense and heavy but runs a bit long… Today I’m going with the former, which is their second album ‘Hydra.’ The title track is my favorite Toto song and has been since I first heard the album about 6 years ago (again, I’m only 23 so 6 years is a fairly long time). I really like the proggier edge to this album, and it’s what drew me in when I first heard it. Aside from the title track, we have great songs like “St. George and the Dragon,” “99,” “Mama,” and “White Sister.” However, the songs “All Us Boys” and “A Secret Love” aren’t my favorites and they do bring the album down a bit in my estimation. Still, it’s a great album and my second favorite as of today.
Okay, so I haven’t actually heard every Toto album (actually I’ve only listened to the first 5, Kingdom of Desire, and select songs from the rest of their discography), so I don’t think I can pick a least favorite yet. So I’ll just move onto my wild card.
My wild card is going to be Toto IV. I don’t love this album. Actually I just recently started mildly enjoying it. I hated this one for years because it lacks the power of the other albums I’ve heard from Toto, and I didn’t like the deep cuts on it. But it’s my wild card because of those deep cuts, which I’ve grown to really enjoy. “Make Believe” is a really fun pop song with a solid vocal hook. “It’s a Feeling” is a nice somber track with wonderful instrumentation and a laid back yet effective vocal. “Afraid of Love” is the driving hard rocker that I originally wanted the whole album to sound like. And “Waiting for Your Love” reminds me of the debut album for some reason. It’s still the lowest on my ranking of the 6 Toto albums I’ve listened to, but I like it a lot more than I did when I first heard it.
I love Toto, saw them last week and they were amazing - still I miss Paich in the concerts.
There is ONE covers album that I really like: Yeah! by Def Leppard. For whatever reason, the vibe is killer and beats practically anything they have done post Steve Clark.
Loving the Oor Willie t-shirt jings crivvens help ma boab 🤓
I’m cannot honestly call myself a Toto aficionado as I don’t know all the albums. But I love the Toto I know and it was great to see Stephen mention the last album as a favourite because I also think it’s amazing. I couldn’t believe how great it was when I heard it. Great pick. Fun show as usual gentlemen.
Cheers
My #1 favorite band, so it's incredibly hard to pick favorites/least favorites. I love nearly everything they've ever done, save for the collaboration with What So Not (We'll Keep On Running.) That being said:
Top two:
1. Tambu - To my ears, it's perfectly recorded, perfectly mixed, perfectly mastered, and as such, it's the album I use to test out sound systems when playing any live shows.
2. The Seventh One - Joseph's vocals are amazing on this one. Plus, it has my favorite Jeff Porcaro drum performance in "Mushanga".
Fav: Hydra/ Kingdom of Desire/ The Seventh One
LF: Mindfields/ Falling in Between (Not that I don't like them, but I just don't care for them)
Wild card: Turn Back.
Cheers.
The first album for me is Toto. Girl Goodbye rips it up. Hold the Line epic. Anthem what an opener. My favorite hands down the best before MTV spoiled the brew.
I ranked their albums in a video. I put the first one number one, but really my favorites are the Seventh One and Kingdom of desire. I ranked falling in between the lowest. To me its not a cohesive album, and they just said here Bobby, there's a few songs for you to sing
I appreciate the diversity in their catalog and also in you guys favorites. But that said, I was first introduced to the band with Hold the Line so it's hard for me to go against the debut and Toto IV. Cheers!
My favorite five
1.-Toto
2.-IV
3.-Turn Back
4.-Hydra
5.-Isolation
Pete love your channel! Could you do an episode on WAR? Either an album ranking or favorite leadt favourite album episode. No one talks about this band. Thanks keep up the amazing videos!
Stranger in Town is a fascinating song, on the surface it sounds like a simple pop rock song but it has quite a few different time-signatures in it: the intro riff goes in 6, the verse goes in 7, the bridge in 4 and the chorus in 5. But it's all so smooth you don't even think about it.
I do love "Stranger in town" too, even though it sounds a bit too sequenced to me. We can clearly hear that the guitar and sax are not really played as solos but more like overdubs. But I really like this nocturnal and anguished atmosphere.
Mindfields is my favorite album haha and thet's the truth :)
"Mindfileds" confused a lot of people, it's a very worked album, endowed with an excellent production, which shows a more progressive aspect of the group. The fact that it's long doesn't bother me at all. It's a rich, varied and extremely interesting album. The only song I don't like is "High price of hate".
This was a great video.Nice analogy of their albums
Toto is a band that consists of incredible studio musicians who can write, produce, and arrange various styles of music. While sometimes overproduced and lacking consistent direction, they are a testament to great musicianship and the notion that skill is more important than image.
I have to agree with Steven - there isn't actually a perfect Toto album...a Best Of is more likely to tick the boxes for me. My favourite way to get my helping of Toto is currently the live Fallling In Between DVD. I've liked subsequent live DVds too, but this one is special.
Thanks for another great show.
All I ever had was a greatest hits Cd and some 45s, after watching the show last night went on Amazon, found the box set All In on sale and it was just delivered a few minutes ago, took about 13 hours to get it. Now I have some listening to do, Thanks for the show!
Enjoy Steve!
that toto pkg reminds me of the " rainbow bridge " reissue. i can never figure it out. especially after a few big rocks.
I would echo that Toto are another band who've rarely done anything really bad or awful, which is totally expected due to the calibre of the musicians.. They do, however, have a tendency to stick one or two or more clunkers slap bang in the middle of what otherwise could have been a fantastic album.
I tweeted my picks last week and said I'd provide explanations today so without further ado I am going to go with the two that I don't skip any tracks on.
Favourites = Hydra and Turn Back.
Turn back is the one I've had the longest so that's one of those journey albums for me and Hydra is just start to finish greatness.
Least favourite -
Past to Present 1977 - 1990
Through the Looking Glass
As said they rarely do anything that isnt at least ok to good, however on their compilation past to present 1977-1990 there were four songs that had they been instrumentals or had they had anyone else but the singer singing would have made it a great compilation to have. Unfortunately they had Jean Michel Byron foisted on them who was totally the wrong person sounding like a second rate Michael Jackson wannabee and I remember that awful live video with him that I just cant watch. And then they did that awful covers album - uggh .
Wild card - XIV
I could have chosen at least 6 namely Isolation, Kingdom of Desire, Tambu, XIV and Old is New
After playing them all back to back I found I was more drawn to wanting to re-listen again to XIV so that's my wild card, though it was a close run thing with Isolation and Old is New.
I could have taken a safer option though and gone for Greatest Hits - 40 trips around the sun, which I would recommend to anyone who wants a place to start - and the live album is great as well.
As for the 1st and 4th albums for me the 1st album is too much of a mixed bag. It has some great songs on it but just as you get into it along comes a bit of 'meh' like You are the Flower, and IV has a few more ok but not greats.
Digging out Shout at the Devil to rank the songs - I may, just for the sheer fun of it, go with Bastard as no 1, as technically I am one .😁
This was difficult for me, as I have been listening to alot of interesting music the last few weeks courtesy of Pete's daily show and Steven & Co's choices on In the Prog Seat. Buying at least one of several or in the case of Haken the first 3 & Wobbler the lot.
So my Toto history is Hold the Line and Toto iv, which apart from the 2 songs I had not heard until a few years ago. So listening to Toto effectively with a blank slate was hard. I quite liked Kingdom of Desire, Falling in Between, Hydra and what I've heard of xiv.
Back again, I had to stop watching after Simon's revelation of his least favourite. The point raised about their versatility going against them, I kind of agree. I had a difficulty connecting with some songs as the intros and the instrumental sections were really good and the parts were there were vocals didn't always grab me. With the debut I only liked Child's Anthem, Goodbye Girl, Hold the Line and Angela.
I've finally watched the video and it's fantastic! I've cried a bit, I've laughed a lot!! Thank you!!
Best wishes, Matt.
Favorites... (top 2)
1. Hydra (1979)
2. Falling in Between (2006)
Pete, I have to say, your channel and your shows, are very detailed, and fun. I am a huge fan of this channel, and there are some music channels that I don’t particularly care for, but this channel hits different. All the things you talk about for music are things I have had on my mind for such a long time. I would love to chat music with you sometime. I am a 23 yr old musician from Rhode Island, that likes a lot of the music you cover, and you keep a very fun, and personable front about you and the shows. I would really love to do a cool show with you sometime. I hope you see this because I am a huge fan Been one since high school playing lacrosse.
Another great show gents. Have to admit that Toto are a "Greatest Hits" band for me, so can't really add much to the discussion. Maybe it's time to explore more!!!
Deciding to include albums from artists that might not be well-appreciated by someone (or other) on the panel? Interesting. Does this mean Simon will participate in a possible upcoming ranking of tracks from Zep IV? I *have* to see that one, lol.
Toto - not a band I've explored much beyond a couple of albums, and even then, I can't say that I was ever compelled to pull them out very often (some great songs notwithstanding.) Yes, its members have been featured on far too many blockbuster albums (and tracks) to count; If you don't know them, you DO know them. Consummate professionals.
Even though I'm sure there are a few somewhere in the back of my mind that could serve as exceptions, I generally share in the distaste for cover albums.
"That could be on a British beach near you, couldn't it?"
😂
Damn!!!
Great episode!
Happy to have a go at albums I dislike as it will have been a while since I last listened to them. It might be interesting to see if younger Simon was wrong.
I’ll always be sad that I missed Toto and Yes playing together because I had Krisiun tickets already.
Simon so right... Music makes us happy 😊 so right.
Another great show. Love this band.
Hi Pete and Simon and Steven great fun as always , this is a band that I don't have much albums from them so I can say what is my picks
Out of all the covers albums I've heard, Joe Lynn Turner's Under Cover was the one that I had in constant rotation when it came out and I still return to it for a listen to this day. His ability to sing nearly anyone's songs in the Rock genre is unparralled. I enjoyed Under Cover 2 as well but, I didn't get it when it was released and I didn't "live with it" like I did the first one. That version of "Vehicle" is the essential version for me.
I also have a great affection for Yngwie's album Inspiration and I played the shit out of that one as well!
I absolutely love the Album Hydra. It is the sound of a bunch of brilliant musicians doing the sort of music they really want to make regardless of the commercial potential. Full of blistering hard rock, the occasional Proggy touch and a hint of the ultra smooth slick sound they would present on the Four album with "99".The title track itself is my all time favourite -cinematic, explosive and bombastic- pure ear candy. My other favourite album is 40 Trips around the Sun. OK it's a compilation but it is such an enjoyable listen. It includes three new tracks which are all pretty good, all the best tracks off the debut and Four and "Jake To The Bone" which is a terrific jazz-fusion instrumental
I may have to investigate that album...
It's amazing how many people have looked at toto hits on FB..... In the millions and millions.... But not a lot else? 🤔
Favourites: Isolation and The Seventh One
Least Favourites: Through The Looking Glass and Tambu
Wild card: Toto XX, that terrific and halfway forgotten gem from 1998, containing previously unreleased recordings from the band´s first 12 years or so. I am astonished that it didn´t even get a mention in this otherwise spectacular and profoundly enjoyable episode. Check out Mrs. Johnson and Goin´ Home from 1977 and 1989, respectively. Both feature Bobby Kimball on vocals.
I'm with you for your favorite albums... But I also love Tambu, a very melodic album even though there's probably a bit too much ballads on it !
That first album by Toto STILL blows me away
Mushanga might be the most underrated song Toto ever wrote. The Seventh One is also an overlooked album.
I always think of Mushanga as the cousin of Africa. Both are absolutely fantastic tracks and The Seventh One is such an underrated album 👍🏻
And please don't forget "Home of the Brave" !!!
Steven you've made my day wearing an Ooor Wullie t-shirt... How about The Broons next week....
Steven how about a ranking the songs episode of the Sensational AlexHarvey band “Impossible Dream” album? Cheers from the Captain!
it's interesting in that each on off these guys choose Isolation one of theirs favorites and that is album that started Toto's downfall. Well, it's my top 2 also.
Cracking video guys….just home from Spain and I read the Jeff Porcaro biography “it’s about time” by Robyn Flans…
Highly recommended.👍👍
I've just looked for the book. It's very expensive. Where did you get it from?
@@simonbrayfromsot1375 Amazon U.K. have it,just checked👍🥁
@@rikgay857 That's where it was too expensive for me! I'll wait for the paperback!
@@simonbrayfromsot1375 No worries,as a drummer JP is one of my heroes and it was a must buy!👍🥁
I watch this lot no matter what or who they're talking about, but it's always extra special when they cover an act of extra importance to me and Toto were, for YEARS my favourite band (and are still my favourite US band). Faves: Isolation and The Seventh One (generally prefer their heavier stuff to the, shall we say, frothier side of them, but that album is just perfect - and was the first I heard beyond the hits). New Past to Present tracks and TTLG make for an easy bottom two, wildcard...Hydra. Definitely bold for a sophomore effort, only thing wrong with it is they left Tale of a Man off, I'd have had that in place of Lorraine (a decent track but Tale kicks its arse, would also have given Bobby more than a single lead vocal on side 1 of the album!). Love all 3 proper 90s albums, despite them being 90s albums, and therefore too long. Mindfields was in my top 2 for a good number of years, but has fallen since, but Cruel, Better World, Caught in the Balance and a few others are GREAT songs.
Feel honour bound to point out that Luke's actual first solo album came out 3 years before KOD. He was also expecting Paich to split lead vocals with him 50/50 on that album, but Dave kept (in Luke's words) 'wimping out on him'!
Looking forward to classic maiden ranking. Guessing it will be number. Please include total eclipse. Great show though
Excellent show Guys. I’ve never seen Toto live but I have seen Lukather live at The Brook Southampton, he was fantastic although he was pissed 🤣
Fahrenheit I have a strong bond with an album I’ve enjoyed.
Tambu fantastic the track ‘I will remember’ great album
Toto XIV great consistent album the track ‘Unknown soldier (for Jeffery)’ what a track WOW!
Toto IV excellent
Another great video guys! I like Toto a lot and my two favourites are `Turn Back` and `Hydra`. I`m not interested in owning the covers album but if I did it would be my least favourite as I have listened to it on you tube. Incidentally I`m not a massive fan of the massive selling `IV`. If it wasn`t for the beautiful `I Won`t Hold You Back` I would rarely play it. I think IWHYB sold poorly because the radio stations were still too busy playing `Africa` and `Rosanna` and therefore declined to give much airplay to the new single! So annoying it should have been a big hit.
Oh, forgot the wild card! When I put my Toto playlist together I was a little surprised to discover that I ended up with several tracks from `Kingdom of Desire`.
@@SJHUE Isn't "I Won't Hold You Back" gorgeous? It's my fav from IV, without question. It did receive some airplay on U.S. radio, but it was nowhere near as massive as "Africa" or "Rosanna."
@@knightvisioniixv Hello there. Yes it is gorgeous! It is such a shame it is little known. I do recall it not doing too badly in the US. Do you ever hear it nowadays on the radio and does it ever appear on rock ballad compilations over there? Thanks for reply btw, it's good to know I'm not the only fan of this song!
@@SJHUE I'm honestly not too sure about the compilations, but some years ago, I would occasionally hear IWHYB playing in the background when stopping at gas stations, or walking up and down the aisles of a supermarket. I did hear the song a little more on local FM radio back in the '90s, but nowhere near as much as the two 'big' ones. It could possibly be different, depending on the region in the US - stations in certain areas might play it more frequently than in others. You are definitely not the only fan of this song - I've loved it for years!
@@knightvisioniixv I always think that if a not so well known song can get itself onto a compilation album now and again it has a better chance to survive as people who might ordinarily not be into (in this case)Toto, will own and hear the song even though they didn`t buy the cd for this particular track. They will play the cd and hopefully like the track, they`ll play it in the car with passengers hearing it, maybe put it on at a party etc. You get the idea. Good to hear it did or does get played now and again in the US. I haven`t heard it on the radio for 37yrs! Oh well. Anyway, thanks for that information much appreciated. All the best.
Help ma boab! Liking the Oor Wullie shirt, Steven👍😁
Reading Luke’s auto biog at moment, a fascinated read, agree. My favs are Isolation and Hydra too. Covers album prob the poorest. Wildcard prob kingdom of desire, or Turn back
Never thought i'd ever see Oor Wullie on SOT hahaha, Excellent stuff :D
I've been listening to Toto a whole lot lately.
In the 80s I tested the waters of Toto with IV, Fahrenheit, The Seventh One and decided they weren't the band for me. After listening to this I'll check out the debut, Hydra, Isolation, Kingdom of Desire and the covers album.
Frankly speaking, Toto do very little for me but being in the fine company of these three gents means I still thoroughly enjoyed the show.
Jings Mon! Steven! Help ma boab! Loving your "Oor Wullie" t shirt! 😂🏴👍
I still don't own the whole Toto catalogue. I picked up the first 5 albums in my late teens and always liked the band but they weren't in the must buy everything bracket. I picked up Falling in Between on release, and it remains my favourite Toto album, with XIV up there too.
Only seen them live twice (1995 and 2007)
Simon mentioned their reputation in the UK as being faceless, and even though I liked them a lot maybe that was why I went to see them live expecting possible a sterile performance, that was wrong as Steven say they were outstanding.
My favourite 2 Isolation, and IV, even now i’m not bored when I hear those two songs on the radio. Plus I like Holyanna too.
Least favourite , I have a few missing so maybe two of them as I like all the ones I have.
Wildcard XIV which was a very pleasant surprise when it landed.
Good evening gents! Sadly I'm going to be unable to watch the video this week, the person who first got me into Toto (and much more amazing music) died unexpectedly this week, and I don't think I can cope with listening about Toto at the moment! That said here's my list...
Favourites-
Toto IV. My uncle taped me this in the 80s, and listened to it loads! My friends thought I was a dickhead, but I didn't care!
Tambu. It's just an absolute cracker.
Least favourites-
Through the looking glass. It's OK but it's a covers album so, you know!!
Old is new. When other legacy bands are releasing some of their best stuff they just didn't!!
Wildcard is a bit of a cheat it's Steve Lukather's Candyman album, not actually a Toto album but it ace!!
What do you mean that doesn't count!!! Ok then I've got a proper soft spot for the Dune soundtrack, sounds nothing like their other stuff but I think it's great!!
All the best!!!
I guess Isolation is my favorite Toto album as well. I really liked the slickness of Fahrenheit and The Seventh One as well though. Quite a hattrick if you ask me...
so um
like you said, even if you don't like it much, you can still rank it!
but in the case of toto I sadly haven't heard all the albums, so I'll restrict myself to one pick per category, I hope that's ok
fav:
toto
least:
toto
wildcard:
toto
I hope you guys do an Asia least and favorite albums in the near future
Erm...that would be a bit of a problem for me...
First 3 are great, before the cocktail metal that followed
Yep, "Kingdom of Desire" and "Isolation" 👌👌
The guitar tone on 'Hold The Line' single in 1978 was smoking as it got on FM radio that year, it was like Foreigner's 'Hot Blooded' (both Lukather and Mick Jones play Gibson Les Pauls, right?) a nasty and aggressive guitar sound, and their debut is my choice. Cheers.
There IS a covers album by John Mellencamp that is quite good ! It is called Trouble No More and it has covers of very old folksongs. Go check this alum out ! Nothing to do with hardrock or prog, but really good music in of itself.
Great points about Isolation, it does rock hard and that guitar tone is never heard again on any other album. Great wildcard pick from Steven... Dune is a great soundtrack. Tough one, hmmmm(I'm gonna cheat on this one)
Favorites:
1. Hydra - so many killer songs on this one
2. Isolation - the only songs that I don't like are the songs that end side 1 and 2. If you take How Does It Feel and Holyanna off, it's a perfect album imo. The album should have ended with Change of Heart(my version does).
3. Toto - classic Great tunes in multiple genres.
Least Favorite:
1. Past to Present 1977-1990 - The new songs on this compilation are dreadful... If this would have been released as an Ep of new songs with Jean-Michel Byron, it would suck.
2. Fahrenheit/The Seventh One - These two are super slick, but I still like a couple of tunes on each one.
Wildcard:
Turn Back - I dig the songs and proggy vibe. Goodbye Elenore just smokes!
I need that Oor Wullie t-shirt !!!!
Man,…if pressed:
1.) IV
2.) XIV
3.) Fahrenheit
4.) Toto
5.) Hydra
6.) The Seventh One
7.) Isolation
8.) Kingdom Of Desire
9.) Mindfields
10.) Turn Back
11.) Tambu
12.) Falling In Between
13.) XX
14.) Old Is New
I don’t own Through The Looking Glass or Dune
What about "ENDLESS" (from the Isolation album ? ) It's a pity that this GREAT track is never mentioned ! The perfect song to me !
Favourite albums : IV and ISOLATION.
Only know the 3 most popular songs, so gave Isolation a spin and it's pretty darn good - although I does sound a little dated!
Actually, the text at the back of Mindfields is not in Japanese but in English! It took me 10 years to realise that!
My favorite is Toto-Turn Back My favorite song on this album is If it’s the Last Night!Steve Lukather amazing guitarist Actually all of them incredible musicians. RIP to Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro this band over there career together sold over 40 million records why they are not in the hall of fame?
Falling In Between and Toto XIV are my number one and two
Nice show...😃👍
Toto, along with Westlife and Robbie Williams are the Kings of the Fifty Pence Charity Shop CD.
Never thought pete would like this band
I'm actually really happy Steven brought up Toto XIV as a "best" album. I was very suspicious of this prior to its release. First, it was coming through Frontiers, and something frequently happens to legacy bands that end up on Frontiers. (Hint: it's not good.) Second, Toto is notoriously dysfunctional. How cohesive was this going to sound? Third, it seemed even then that nobody cared much about the band beyond "Africa," so were they actually going to put any effort into this thing?
Well...yes. Yes, they did. Joseph Williams sounds terrific, Lukather does that Lukather thing, Paich does the Paich thing, and it all just works. "Fortune" is one of those classic-sounding Toto songs that nearly dip into jazz-rock (it's probably the Michael McDonaldness of it all). "Orphan" was the right choice for a single, as was "Burn." Given that I don't consider Old Is New as a proper last album, and thinking this is the last Toto album in name, this is a pretty accomplished way to close that door.
Is it just me or is 360p the only picture quality available for this video?
I’m watching in HD now.
@@seaoftranquilityprog Okay. Must've been something on my end then.
My favourite Toto albums, Kingdom of desire - IV, my least faves are Isolation - Mindfields. The Wildcard would be Falling in between.
I think a "problem" with Toto never reaching the status they might want or deserve is that they are musicians musicans who tried to make music for the casual listener. They have a track with Miles Davis - Very cool. Does the common "Africa"-fan or AOR-guy know much about Miles Davis? They mix styles a lot.. Which I appreciate but I think they lean a bit much to the soft side. I like many of their softer tracks but I think in general people prefer an album with more uptempo. Hardrock, Pop/Rock or just Pop. When it is too many soft tracks I think many people lose interest. One or two soft tracks on an album is enough for most bands.
For favorites?
Toto (1978): Great introduction to the album and one where there is a bigger hit but I think all songs could have worked on the radio. Perhaps not huge hits all of them but catchy and unique enough.
Toto XIV (2015): Modern sound and very muscular... Even the slower songs have a bit more bite to them. It's quite heavy too. I thought about Toto IV or The Seventh One for this spot but song for song I prefer this a bit above the others.
I must admit that "Mindfields is the only album I never heard. I heard a few songs on the live-albums and others on UA-cam but I just never bothered much more about it. So I won't mention it here.
Least favorites:
Through the Looking Glass (2002): Musically good but just doll. It sounds more like an album they did for somebody else when they didn't want to be there. I don't dislike it as much as Pete, Steven and Simon but honestly? I never listen to it. Just like Pete said... I might have listened to it twice.
Falling in Between (2006): Quite heavy and progressive but I just never return to it. While interesting to hear Toto make such a heavy records I don't find much reason to return to it. I think Toto XIV makes a better job of being more modern but still sound like Toto.
Surprise pick:
Live in Amsterdam (2003): I like most of their live-albums. This came out in a time where I am not crazy about the studioalbums but this live-show might be my favorite. I really like the tracklist.
You need to listen to Mindfields. A powerful collection of songs, including the beautiful "Melanie". Toto are on fire with this album. Simon Phillips' drums are a powerhouse and Bobby Kimball has never sung better. This together with Tambu are my favourite Toto albums. In fact the more I listen to Tambu, the more I realise how many great songs it contain. Check out "Heart full of mirrors" or "I will remember". Both songs make "I'll be over you" sound ordinary. The first four albums are great in their own way, but don't match the intensity of Mindfields and Tambu. Isolation is their poorest offering in my opinion. The Seventh One has some good moments.
I take it we won’t be getting a ranking the albums of Mötley Crüe.
What about, Favourite/Least favourite album from a band that only made one album that may or may not have had a one hit wonder single?
I think it's important to split covers albums into two categories. The 'start of career' albums- see first few Stones albums, the Beatles, a fair few 60s/70s acts- these can be throwaway but are often a good representation of a young and hungry band's live set- great energy but maybe enough writing skills yet. The late period 'contractual obligation' albums deserve to be ignored- look at all those Status Quo releases (famous in the last century, anyone?). Has 'great albums which are 50%+ covers) ever been a SoT vid?