CD Review: Toto – Toto XIV

CD Review: Toto – Toto XIV
Frontiers Music srl
All Access Rating: B+

Toto - Toto XIV 2015

Emblazoned on the cover of Toto XIV is a neon cross, its brightness washing in white light what appears to be a darkened and foreboding, but quiet, alleyway in a crowded Japanese city.

A symbol of hope and optimism, despite all the terrible things done in the name of Christianity down through the years, that sign has taken on special significance with the recent death of former bassist Mike Porcaro, whose struggles with ALS provided the impetus for a 2010 Toto reunion.

Their first record since 2006's Falling In Between for the innovative pop-rock progressives, Toto XIV is typically lush and complex, inspiring and melodic – the rich, dramatic keyboard interplay of David Paich and Steve Porcaro building grand sonic architecture around the always fluid and artful guitar magic of Steve Lukather.

Though bereft of a signature and utterly memorable track, Toto XIV rarely fails to deliver the goods, the noisy, proggy eruptions, rushing piano and unexpected detours down different passageways making a piece like "Holy War" worth exploring again and again. So is the slightly skewed "Chinatown." Brimming with positivity and life-affirming energy, the upbeat opener "Running Out of Time" exhorts listeners to make the most of whatever time they have left on earth and the equally uplifting "Orphan" gives comfort to the lonely, while the more serious and theatrical "Unknown Soldier" argues for peace while grudgingly acknowledging humanity's propensity for war.

Another exercise in wondrous musical diversity and lyrics walking a fine line between banal sentimentality and deep meaning, Toto XIV swims in comforting pools of pop, blues, jazz and rock, getting lost in the smoky atmosphere of "21st Century Blues," letting the bittersweet "Burn" stew in smoldering regret and growing wistful in the charming "The Little Things." The sound and production of Toto XIV, out via Frontiers Music srl, are familiar, and the material is as accessible as ever, Joseph Williams' passionate singing adding conviction to Toto's lyrics. Maybe their ready to write a new chapter, but Toto seems averse to changing the formula that got them this far.
– Peter Lindblad

CD/DVD Review: Toto – 35th Anniversary Tour: Live in Poland

CD/DVD Review: Toto – 35th Anniversary Tour: Live in Poland

Eagle Rock Entertainment

All Access Rating: B+

Toto - 35th Anniversary Tour:
Live in Poland

Europe got its fill of Toto in 2013, as the neo-progressive soft-rock idealists celebrated their 35th anniversary with a glorious 29-city tour of the continent that included a stop in Lodz, Poland, where a packed house greeted them with unabashed joy and exuberance.

Toto returned the favor, putting on a spectacular two-hour performance that was joyous, poignant and entirely free of soul-sucking cynicism, traipsing through a life-affirming set list of expected hits and a few forgotten treasures that prove deserving of reassessment. 

Vividly filmed for a DVD release that comes with a nicely edited, engaging, career-spanning set of interviews, "35th Anniversary Tour: Live in Poland" is also available on Blu-ray, as a two-CD set and a deluxe edition from Eagle Rock Entertainment, and it is a vivid spectacle of sound and vision. With superb camera work that alights on Steve Lukather's breathtaking, uniquely engrossing guitar solos, focuses the spotlight on Joseph Williams' commanding vocals and dynamic stage presence, and glows with warmth, "35th Anniversary Tour: Live in Poland" is a dazzling, intoxicating showcase of Toto's ability to connect with its fans on a level that's not exactly intimate, but it is powerful.

Superb camera work captures the sterling interplay of Toto's core members, these veteran session musicians, whose contributions are found on an astonishing 5,000 albums, ably balancing progressive-rock ambition with jazz fusion and R&B influences, and transitioning to lush pop soundscapes without missing a beat. Theatrical at times, as they revel in the keyboard bombast of the Yes-like "St. George and the Dragon," where keyboardists David Paich and Steve Pocaro set off a glorious aural display, Toto also eases comfortably into the tropical pop longing of "Africa" with grace, injects energy and passion into "Rosanna" and builds dramatic tension in another crowd favorite, "Hold the Line."

Whether its the languid Spanish guitar Lukather expertly negotiates on "The Muse" or the proggy time changes so deftly navigated throughout a stirring version of "Better World," Toto can still gently break hearts with aching, affecting renditions of "I'll Be Over You" and "99" while managing to maintain a seriousness about their craft. And the watery "Hydra," with its light funk grooves, prove that prog and R&B can coexist.

Both respected for their musicianship and derided for their overly sentimental pop excesses, Toto has always left itself open to criticism that's both fair and just, and yet, they continue down the road as they always have, taking the paths they want to take and not giving one jot for those who find them cloying or insincere. Though completely over the top and so slickly produced that it comes off as glitzy as Vegas, this cinematic extravaganza could win over new converts.
– Peter Lindblad

CD Review: Paul Rodgers & Friends - Live at Montreux 1994

CD Review: Paul Rodgers & Friends - Live at Montreux 1994
Eagle Records
All Access Review:  A-

In 1993, Paul Rodgers was a free man. The Firm had dissolved, the legendary front man was above and beyond The Law, Bad Company had become a distant, but still treasured, memory and the revered Free was long gone. Left with nothing to do, the singer with the brawny, torn-and-frayed pipes and expressive, denim-clad delivery looked again to the blues, his one true love, for inspiration. He found it in the music of Muddy Waters.

Keen to pay homage to the great man, Rodgers didn’t break character. Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters may have contained the spark of the Chicago-style electric blues that Waters once perfected, but it was powered by the blues-rock combustion of Rodgers’ work with Bad Company and Free. Not all of the tracks on Muddy Water Blues, the second of Rodgers’ solo albums, were Waters covers, but his spirit haunts the record, inhabiting its grooves and inspiring Rodgers and his collaborators. In 1994, a year after Muddy Water Blues’ arrival, Rodgers brought much of that record to life in a blustery, sweaty concert at Montreux, where he was joined onstage by the likes of Journey guitarist Neal Schon, drummer Jason Bonham, guitarist Ian Hatton and bassist John Smithson, as well as several guests, including Queen’s Brian May, Toto’s Steve Lukather and blues veterans Luther Allison, Eddie Kirkland, Sherman Robertson, Robert Lucas and Kenny Neal.

Though a star-studded affair, Live at Montreux 1994 has more of a blue-collar feel. This is a workingman’s record, with dirt under its fingernails and calluses on its hands. Sprinkled with plenty of songs that Rodgers made famous with Free and Bad Company, Live at Montreux 1994 also finds Rodgers digging his hands into the earthy soil of blues classics like Waters’ “Louisiana Blues,” which simmers with menace and pure nastiness on the stove here, letting all the rich flavors – including a particularly tasty guitar solo – sink into its meaty textures. In a surprising turn, May gets down and dirty on the Sonny Boy Williamson number “Good Morning Little School Girl,” his distorted guitar becoming a careening crop duster that dives and climbs with all the daring of pilot with a death wish. The highlight of a sensational set, “Good Morning Little School Girl” is simply mean, burning with intensity and passionate playing. To finish off the night, Rodger and crew slam into Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads” and the closer, “Hoochie Coochie Man” by Willie Dixon, with all the force of a hurricane. The guitars sound like switchblades on and cut deeply with every note on “Crossroads,” as the rhythm section works up a mean, mean thirst crawling through the gutter on “Hoochie Coochie Man.”

Three of the songs Dixon wrote for Waters, including 1954’s “Hoochie Coochie Man” and “I’m Ready” and 1961’s “Let Me Love You Baby,” are included here and performed with all the righteous fervor of a tent revival ministry, as is Booker T. & the MGs’ “The Hunter.” Just as propulsive and muscular are the Rodgers’ classics “All Right Now,” the old Free hit, and rust-covered Bad Company diamonds “Can’t Get Enough (of Your Love)” and “Feel Like Making Love.” Ever the professional, Rodgers’ nuanced vocals add richness and depth to each track, while his handpicked group of hired guns plays the daylights out of this material almost all the way through, with the exception of the rare uninspired moment. The recording quality is pretty sound and world-class music writer Malcolm Dome does the show justice with well-written, informative liner notes. All of this makes you wonder if, or when, Rodgers will delve even deeper into the blues down the road.

- Peter Lindblad

Purchase CD: Artist Link 

Collectible Vintage Posters:

Bad Company
Queen