I do not own any of these, if they are of recent remastering I'm in.

Rick A.

They are not remastered.

If you don't own cds of these titles then just buy! I do have the mastersounds edition of IV although they're some that like the dead old Japanese cd made for America.

I was lucky enough to find a MFSL gold CD of IV as a cutout ten years ago at Borders. I think it was $15 or thereabouts.

Time marches on: There are no more CD cutouts and soon, no more Borders.

I miss the record store!
Seeing I lack four titles contained here on cd I just bought a copy!

The MFSL version of IV is nothing to write home about. The CBS Gold Mastersound version is outstanding. The 2005 Japanese DSD remastered mini-lp version is outstanding. The tough one to find is the blu-spec version.

I have the Japanese DSD mini lp version and I agree....... it is outstanding.

For those who thought the current Beach Boys "Smile" thread grew contentious at times, let us travel back in time to 2008, when the IMWAN community rose as one to condemn some misguided individual who claimed that the music of Toto, in his view, did not rock:

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=30505&hilit=toto+africa

Just re-read that thread and it was awesome. IP and I agree on next to nothing but the post where he defended Toto was classic, maybe his best one ever. Then Linda dropped the hammer on that Toto-hatin punk. As for which Toto albums rock more, I would rank Kingdom Of Desire first and then Turn Back. Kingdom was basically a Steve Lukather solo album. Turn Back was an excellent album that preceded IV. I have a ton of Toto and I like all of their output, although Through The Looking Glass was pretty weak and Live in Amsterdam was very tame. Just got an *import* of their reunion with Bobby Kimball AND Joseph Williams sharing vocals during a June 2011 concert and they were excellent.

I thought Mindfields and Falling Inbetween were pretty hard rockin' Toto albums as well, and let's not forget Steve Lukather's solo albums (especially Luke and Ever Changing Times). I hate that this band always gets lumped in with "soft rock" just because some of the music they did was, in fact, soft rock. Same complaint applies to Ambrosia, who were one of the best American prog-rock bands, but you wouldn't know it from their three hits. [Note: I happen to love soft rock as much as hard rock, but it's a shame so many people choose one or the other]

I basically know Africa, Rosanna, Hold the line and I'll be over you. Nothing else.

Question: are the above representative of Toto?

Cheers!

Those songs definitely give you an idea of a few sides to the band, especially their early years, but there's more to them. They've shown a heavier side on albums like Kingdom Of Desire and Mindfields, and some proggy elements on their most recent album, Falling In Between. Even if all the songs aren't winners, the musicianship is always incredible. As a drummer, it's hard not to love a band that had Jeff Porcaro (until he died) followed by Simon Phillips. And Steve Lukather always amazes.

Toto are studio musicians that have played with everybody, so there isn't one type of music that defines them. It's interesting that you mention "Rosanna", because the radio version always omits Steve Lukather's solo that fades the song out. Toto is a band that will not allow you to pigeon-hole them. Their 3rd album "Turn Back" is a heavier album that received no airplay, but Toto IV was all over the radio and the album that most non-serious Toto fans associate them with. I like any of their first three albums better than IV, as well as Kingdom Of Desire, which is my favorite.

One of my favorite Toto songs is "99".

Thanks for the feedback guys. Sounds like a "Best" comp might be place to start.

Maybe but the box is cheap!
Rather like with Billy Joel a whole load of people fail to understand the range of their music and certainly Toto rock at least to Survivor like levels.
Mastering is generally good on the set with only self titled perhaps being the strongest candidate for a good remaster by someone like Bob Irwin to bring out the richness of the analog original.

Comparing Toto to Survivor is an insult to Toto, IMO. Survivor doesn't even come close to the musicianship of Toto. Nothing against Survivor, but they aren't on the same level as Toto to me.

I'm not nearly as much of a Survivor fan as I am a Toto fan (I only have a Survivor comp on CD and a couple of albums on vinyl, as opposed to the entire Toto catalog), but I will say that Survivor wrote some killer songs. "High On You" has as many pop hooks in one song as most artists put on a whole album.

JD, I know you weren't bashing Survivor, but I just wanted to post something positive about them here anyway. I agree that, musicianship-wise, they're not on the same level as Toto.

I'm not nearly as much of a Survivor fan as I am a Toto fan (I only have a Survivor comp on CD and a couple of albums on vinyl, as opposed to the entire Toto catalog), but I will say that Survivor wrote some killer songs. "High On You" has as many pop hooks in one song as most artists put on a whole album.

JD, I know you weren't bashing Survivor, but I just wanted to post something positive about them here anyway. I agree that, musicianship-wise, they're not on the same level as Toto.[/quot



I like Survivor, especially when they were in their heyday, but they are nothing like Toto, two totally different-type groups. Toto were studio musicians who also grew up together, can't think of another band like them. Only thing they had in common with Survivor is that they both had hits at around the same period.

Are they artistically representative of Toto? Obviously open to debate, but they are certainly commercially representative of Toto, which is why they often get placed in a "soft rock" context.