Toto - Toto > Reviews > Beginnings of one of the most famous Rock bands

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Average
Value for Money	Satisfactory

Advantages:	The first TOTO classics are on this album  -  Some good songs
Disadvantages:	It's the beginning, and TOTO has gone better and better over the years

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I have been a strong fan of TOTO's for quite a few years now... I got introduced to them through their Legend album (not available in the UK) which is a compilation of their biggest hits, when I still lived in France. As I really liked the CD I then decided to buy their albums, and now I have got them all, and I really love them.
Unfortunately, and quite disappointingly, TOTO doesn't seem to be very popular in Britain, and I don't know the reason why. Is it the music genre that the British don't like, is it the lyrics?

As far as I am concerned, and it seems the rest of the world thinks the same, TOTO is definitely one of the best bands Earth has even seen. The band has matured and got better over the years. And they ve been playing for more than 25 years now, and are still working together... apparently a new CD is coming soon.... (wonder if any of today's bands will still make it to the charts in 2030).

This album is the first album TOTO ever released. It is from 1977, but it showed already what a talented band TOTO was, with their two first Hits, "Hold the Line" and "Georgy Porgy".

TOTO's composed of a main core in the persons of Steve Lukather (guitars, vocals), David Paich (keyboards, vocals), the Porcaro brothers (Jeff playing the drums, Mike the bass and Steve the keyboards), and Bobby Kimball, on and off, as one of the main singers... Other musicians and singers joined and left TOTO over the years, which brought new skills/ideas to the band and made TOTO more interesting.

This first album in itself is not my favourite, but some of their songs are worth listening. Here is what I think of each of them:

- Child's Anthem: The album starts with an instrumental. It is not really a classic, but comes out quite regularly when TOTO is in concert. Not their best instrumental, but a good one.
- I'll Supply the Love: I am not very keen on that song, I find it a bit simple and the lyrics are quite minimal.
- Georgy Porgy: A classic.
- Manuela Run: I don't really like this one either… It sounds to me like children's songs, but I like the music.
- You are the Flower: definitely my favourite song on this album, I find it so sensual, and Bobby has got the perfect voice for it.
- Girl Goodbye: The song is alright, Bobby's voice is cool, the music sounds good.
- Takin' It Back: I am not a great fan of Steve Porcaro being a singer, but the song is okay.
- Rockmaker: I don't like this song, probably due to the fact that I like their most sophisticated songs better, but I used to like it a lot at the beginning when I discovered TOTO.
- Hold the Line: A classic. Who hasn't heard this song? I do prefer it better live though.
- Angela: a mixture of slow and rock which I don't think goes well in all honesty.

All in all, it is a good album, but when you get to know the rest of the TOTO albums, you probably forget this one. Well I do. I will listen to it once in a while, but it will not be the album I will go for if I want to listen to this band. I will probably have a lot more to say about the other ones too… I find that over the years TOTO have improved and matured album after album. Also worth mentioning, they are incredible on stage, they add instrumental extras, make changes to their songs, and make their concerts so lively.

I would recommend this album, however, if you don't like it after listening to it once, don't give up on them, they have a lot of surprises in reserve.