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Toto |
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For many years now, Toto has been a shining example for every self-respecting top 100 band. All band members are virtuosos; they can weep, rock and groove; they can play solo like the best of them and have all the right breaks. And most of all, they remain transparent, even when the band is complete.
By Hans van den Heuvel
However, there is one big difference with all the bands that have been trying to follow in their footsteps: Toto write their own songs. And these songs rock! Rosanna, Africa, Hold the Line, Pamela and I Can’t Stop Loving You have become true classics, which instantly turn a Toto performances into an tremendous party. When they wrote these songs, the Toto top men had one great advantage: they could see and hear how number-one artists constructed their hit records. Because the musicians played on a lot these sessions as studio artists! From Steely Dan to Barbra Streisand, from Paul McCartney to Elton John, from Aretha Franklin to Michael Jackson. The solo on Beat It, from the latter’s album Thriller, may be unmistakeably Eddie van Halen, the rhythm guitar in the rest of the song was played by Steve Lukather! With Toto, ‘Luke’ has also proved to be a capable vocalist. Luckily, because their choice in lead singers hasn’t always turned out to be accurate. Bobby Kimball, who sang on the first four records with his characteristic high voice, returned behind the microphone in 1999. ‘With Toto IV we were nominated for nine GRAMMYs and won seven. But when we were recording the fifth LP, trouble started,’ reminisces Kimball. ‘There were too many chiefs and too little indians. That happens fast when you’ve had a successful tour. Drugs also played a major role. It can only be drug-induced when you decide to fire your lead singer, when you’ve just won seven GRAMMYs, right?! Toto has never been that successful again. Me neither. So it was a difficult divorce on both sides.’ Fortunately, it could be reversed. That was more difficult when they had to say goodbye to Jeff Porcaro, who died in 1992. From that moment on, Simon Phillips, Europe’s best session drummer joined Toto’s ranks. ‘We didn’t want a drummer from LA, with their finesse and studio experience,’ tells the last Porcaro in the band: base player Mike. ‘We wanted a rock & roll drummer. Someone who’d mastered the technique, but who could also play hard. Simon Phillips is the only one we called. Thank God, it clicked!’ You can say that again! Phillips kicks ass. Add to that the recent recruitment of keyboards player Greg Phillinganes (formerly Michael Jackson, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Wonder) and you know: with Toto in this form you simply can’t lose.
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