CoronaVinyl Day 276 (T): Toto IV by Toto

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "T," and we're going with Toto's biggest album, their fourth studio album, 1982's appropriately title Toto IV.

Toto formed in the late '70s, and other than main lead singer Bobby Kimball, the members of the band were pretty much all veteran session musicians, and from my vinyl journey over the last nearly 15 months, I can tell you that these guys seemed to be involved in just about every album that was made from the mid '70s to the mid '90s, either as backing musicians, arrangers, or songwriters.  Here are some highlights:

• Bassist and multi-instrumentalist David Hungate:  has been a session musician for Alice Cooper, Joe Cocker, Diana Ross, Neil Diamond, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Sonny & Cher, Cher, Shania Twain, Barbra Streisand, The Pointer Sisters, Olivia Newton-John, Amy Grant, Boz Scaggs, Glen Campbell, Vince Gill, Crystal Gayle, Tanya Tucker, Eddie Rabbit, Juice Newton, and Toby Keith, among others.
• Guitarist Steve Lukather:  has recorded on over 1,500 albums, including for the likes of Michael Jackson (on Thriller), Earth Wind & Fire, Alice Cooper, Aretha Franklin, Neil Diamond, Cher, Elton John, Lionel Richie, Chicago, Donna Summer, Barbra Streisand, Olivia Newton-John, Kenny Rogers, Warren Zevon, Boz Scaggs, Richard Marx, The Tubes, and many others.
• Keyboardist David Paich: co-wrote songs for Boz Scaggs, Chicago, George Benson, Cher, and The Jacksons, among others; arranged music for Michael Jackson, Rod Stewart, The Doobie Brothers, Donna Summers, and others; was a session musician for Michael Jackson, USA For Africa's "We Are The World," Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Pink, Rod Stewart, The Doobie Brothers, Diana Ross, Neil Diamond, Cher, Joe Cocker, and others.
• Drummer Jeff Porcaro:  arguably one of the best session drummers ever, having worked with Michael Jackson (including four tracks on Thriller), Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand, Miles Davis, Elton John, Pink Floyd, Diana Ross, The Bee Gees, Joe Cocker, Christopher Cross, Dire Straits, Boz Scaggs, Michael McDonald, Richard Marx, Don Henley, Joe Walsh, and Donna Summer, among many others.
• Keyboardist Steve Porcaro:  wrote songs, arranged or composed music, or was a backing musician for Michael Jackson (including on Thriller), Boz Scaggs, Yes, and Gary Wright, among others.  He has also composed music for film and TV, including for the TV show Justified.

Their first since, 1978's "Hold The Line," was a Top 5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and they had another Top 30 hit in 1979 with "99," but their third album, 1981's Turn Back didn't produce any charting singles.

Under pressure from the record company to deliver a hit record, the band came through big time with Toto IV.  It went to #4 on the Billboard album chart and went triple platinum in the U.S., making it their highest-charting and best-selling album ever in the U.S.  It also did well internationally, topping the album charts in Australia, Canada, The Netherlands, and Switzerland and landing in the top ten on the album charts in another five countries.  It has sold over 12 million copies worldwide.

All five singles released from the album charted on the Billboard Hot 100, with four in the Top 30, three in the Top 10, and one #1 -- "Africa" (#1), "Rosanna" (#2), "I Won't Hold You Back" (#10), "Make Believe" (#30), and "Waiting For Your Love" (#73).  Toto IV was nominated for six Grammy Awards and won five, including Album of the Year, as well as Record of the Year and Song of the Year for "Rosanna" 

On a personal level, my parents had this album, and I remember listening to it a lot as a young kid.  "Africa" is one of those songs that's so ingrained in my musical psyche that I can't remember a time when I didn't know it.

It would be the last album with the band's original lineup, as Hungate left the band to spend more time with his family and Kimball was fired a couple years later before the band's next album.  While the band had another four Top 40 hits over the next several years, they never matched the magic of Toto IV, though they have been releasing albums on a relatively consistent basis over the past four decades.

Favorite song on Side 1:  "Rosanna"
I wanted to pick something else from this side, so that I'm not going with the band's two biggest songs, but I'd be lying if I said I liked any of the songs on Side 1 better than "Rosanna" -- which is incorrectly assumed to be about Rosanna Arquette, who was dating Steve Porcaro at the time.

Favorite song on Side 2:  "Africa"
This is an all-time classic that apparently barely made the cut for the album.  Jeff Porcaro's drums are awesome.  Brother Steve's synthesizers sound like all sorts of non-keyboarded instruments.  Paich and Kimball's vocals play off of each other swimmingly.  Never mind that Paich (who wrote the song) had never been to Africa and that Mount Kilimanjaro does not rise above the Serengeti.