The Album
Anteater: So ladies and gents, XIV is the final Toto album in a long and turbulent career. According to Lukather and Paich, its going to be the swansong too....but they said the same thing about Falling In Between too, so who knows?
Unknown Soldier: Well there did seem a lot of publicity surrounding the album, in how they were going to recreate something along the lines of Toto IV and pull out all the stops.
Anteater: At first they were simply fullfilling a last-bit obligation to Frontiers, but I think at some point they decided to get real serious with it and just make something they wanted to.
Anteater: Mike Porcaro's ALS being a major reason why XIV was almost never made at all...
Unknown Soldier: well Steve Porcaro is back and gets a vocal as well and David Hungate back as an extra, with Keith Carlock on drums.
Unknown Soldier: Yes the situation with Mike was pretty bad
Anteater: That being said, the guys pulled together pretty well
Anteater: New line-up as you mentioned
Anteater: But the result is definitely not a return to IV
Anteater: It’s a heavy, textured record with a lot of different ideas
Unknown Soldier: That's true, I think that was just a publicity stunt, as it's their most famous album.
Anteater: Yeah, it’s the only album the general public "kinda" remembers by them
Anteater: so the marketing makes sense
Anteater: In any case, as we are 'Running Out Of Time', I'll jump in and say it’s an auspicious beginning.
Unknown Soldier: Well it sounds like an updated version of the Miami Vice theme at the beginning.
Anteater: Yeah, it’s a bit disarming. The groove is kinda staggered and irregular, but Joseph Williams return to the microphone sounds like he never left.
Unknown Soldier: sounds gruffer which comes with age but yer fits right back in
Unknown Soldier: Now "Burn" I really love, a powerful and epic song. Lovely piano intro and its quiet and loud sections kind of remind me of "Angela" one of my all-time fav songs from the band.
Anteater: It also reminds me of some of the stuff from Tambu
Anteater: The production on XIV sounds very different from the last couple of albums we've reviewed, but you can hear all kinds of echoes back to past material
Unknown Soldier: Well I think that's a lot to do with then exploring some of their past.
Unknown Soldier: Now "Holy War" the next song is pretty average I think.
Anteater: I like 'Holy War' a bit, but I think its average at times
Unknown Soldier: well we agree on that
Anteater: It sounds like they were trying to do a modern pop/rock song, but its growing on me
Anteater: It’s got a nice melody and lyrical "message"
Unknown Soldier: and what do you think of "21 st Century Blues"?
Anteater: I like it, but I wouldn't doubt it if someone told me it was something that had been left behind from the Falling In Between sessions
Anteater: The vaguely jazzy blues-shuffle is something Toto have gotten pretty good at since the early 90's lol
Unknown Soldier: Yes it does sound like a leftover from a previous album.
Unknown Soldier: Now "Orphan" is one of my favs because it harks back to the sound they really had with Joseph Williams when he was previously with the band.
Anteater: Yeah, it sounds like a modern upgrade of the sound they had back in '88
Anteater: it’s not really an AOR song though: it’s more of a feel-good 90's pop song with a fresh coat of paint.
Unknown Soldier: Well said but it's the kind of song that can lift an album and perfectly suited to JW.
Anteater: It was the lead single too, for whatever that's worth these days
Anteater: Next up though should be your favorite song on the album
Anteater: though it’s not about youuu……
Unknown Soldier: Hahaha and agree as it kind of returns to the epic feel of a song like "Burn" and is also a reference I guess to Jeff Porcaro as well.
Anteater: This is a song that could have been on 'Hydra'
Anteater: it’s kind of mysterious and, as you said, fairly epic
Unknown Soldier: In fact it's the only other album that it could've been on really.
Unknown Soldier: If the truth be told, this is only the third time that I've heard the album and I like it more and more with each listen.
Anteater: Yeah, it does grow on you. The variety is refreshing from song to song here.
Anteater: Steve Porcaro's up next on 'The Little Things', and we are back in feel-good pop territory
Unknown Soldier: Saying this though "The Little Things" is the kind of soppy song that I really don't like that much but because it's Steve Porcaro I don't kind of mind it.
Anteater: Steve Porcaro has a very light touch, but everything he's lead on from a compositional POV is pretty listenable.
Anteater: 'Chinatown' on the other hand is the real star of the show on this album
Unknown Soldier: Oh yer he's very hand's on vocally and it's a surprise he never sang more often.
Unknown Soldier: This is the multi-vocal track on the album.
Anteater: 'Georgy Porgy's proggy, weird long lost cousin
Unknown Soldier: I was about to say that it wouldn't have been out of place on the debut
Anteater: It has a shuffle Jeff Porcaro would have been proud of, and it’s definitely my favorite song on the record.
Anteater: The different members playing off each other vocally, not just instrumentally, is something that was lost after IV.
Unknown Soldier: A song like this I would never pick as being the best, but I appreciate its quality a lot.
Unknown Soldier: Well the whole dynamics changed after IV and they never really got back to that style and really said goodbye when Steve L took over the vocals completely.
Anteater: Very true. Its only when he lessened the reins a bit on Mindfields onwards that the dynamics really returned.
Anteater: Speaking of which, Paich gets his turn at lead on 'All The Tears That Shine'
Anteater: This song is the closest to IV compositionally, but his voice has aged so much that it seems almost strange to hear him on something low key and poppy like this.
Unknown Soldier: It's a pity he sings now though!
Anteater: Joseph Williams backing vocals on it are very nice
Unknown Soldier: They probably save the song in some ways.
Anteater: It grows on you, like a lot of other songs on XIV
Unknown Soldier: But I'm not that mad on the song, but as you say it might grow on me.
Anteater: 'Fortune' and the epic 'Great Expectations' close out the experience, and I like both for different reasons
Unknown Soldier: The first completely written by JW
Unknown Soldier: and the second sounds like a 'the very final song' by the band
Anteater: 'Fortune' is pretty laidback, harkening back to his past as a smooth yacht-rocker before joining the band.
Unknown Soldier: I think you know more of his past than I do.
Anteater: And agreed about 'Great Expectations', it feels like a big farewell.
Anteater: The chorus is magnificent
Unknown Soldier: It's the third epic on the album
Unknown Soldier: and done in segments, I think in the old days they called this multi-suite
Anteater: It’s a great song, maybe in their top ten of all time
Anteater: It rivals 'Hydra' and 'Girl Goodbye' in sheer tenacity
Unknown Soldier: each time I listen to it, it makes me realize that they should've done more prog style epics like this and your mention of "Hydra" and "Girl Goodbye" are perfect reference points here.
Anteater: "I've got great expectations for now and forever...." Great final words, assuming they're the last we'll hear from 'em.
Unknown Soldier: These days you can never tell, but I kind of hope it's the last, as I'm not a fan of my favourite bands going on and on anyway.
Unknown Soldier: My final wish though, would be a re-recording of the "Turn Back" album as the songs on that album are great.
Anteater: I have the Rock Candy remaster of that one and it sounds fantastic
Anteater: Anyway, considering we've reached the end of the road after many weeks with Toto
Anteater: any final thoughts on the band and the music we reviewed?
Anteater: Only a small stringent of people have followed them through all their ups and downs
Anteater: But when you look at the "big picture" of it all, it’s pretty impressive how hard they worked to keep the name alive.
Unknown Soldier: They've always been in my favourite top three bands and even after so many dubious musical decisions, sackings and other mishaps they've remained here. This though is largely down to their first five albums for me and the memories that go with them, I'll never hear an album for example like Isolation again and I've fully accepted that.
Anteater: The sound of those first seven albums is hard to recreate
Anteater: Only a few, like Work Of Art and Time Gallery from Sweden, have managed to pull it off.
Unknown Soldier: Six I don't dig that much but seven yes.
Unknown Soldier: I need to listen to those albums btw.
Unknown Soldier: Anyway our Toto project has come to an end and it's been a pleasure chatting about them.