Toto XX

[Eilif]

OK, I know that it's been, what, 8 years since Toto XX was released, so this is not exactly current or news to anyone, but I know some of you are Toto fans, and I need to get this off my chest, and nobody I know around where I live will understand what I'm talking about.

It's a damned shame (I really want to use stronger language here) what Sony Music did. When I first heard "Going Home", that was what I'd been waiting to hear since 1984 when I first heard Fergie Frederiksen ("Hey! Where's Bobby?") on Isolation. I loved Joseph Williams on Fahrenheit and The Seventh One (it was great hearing him on "Bottom Of Your Soul"!), but Bobby's the man, you know? And I love Luke's singing, but after Kingdom Of Desire and Tambu, I was ready for Toto to hook up with someone who had Bobby's register, so when Toto XX came out and I put it in the CD player, listening to "Going Home" was pretty much like Coming Home to classic Toto. I could have done (and probably did) the Howard Dean primal scream. ("Yeeeaaaaaaaa!") But when I read the liner notes, I was pissed. You mean, we could have had Bobby back as early as 1990? But the band went with Byron because of the record company pukes?

By the way, that short version of "Out Of Love" from Livefields, with Luke singing, really whet my appetite for a full-length version without Byron singing. It's a Luke song, so he could do it, and he sounded great on Livefields. I can also imagine Bubba just nailing that tune. So that's on my wish list for future Toto recordings.

[DrKev]

But the band went with Byron because of the record company pukes?

Maybe Aunt Luke will chime in here but as far as I remember the record company guys may have introduced the band to Byron but the band still took the decision to take him on. (Actually, Jeff Porcaro was the dominant personality in that decision).

[Lucious]

Yo cats
Yeah, well i could go on and on about how Sony f****d us but its moot now. They destroyed out career in the USA as they didnt ever promote or even release our records here cause Donny Ienner didnt like us? 33 million records and the guys didnt like us. HE was the one who stopped us from using Goin home on the Past to Present record and that sold 1.5 in the USA alone without ANY promo. The Byron thing was a mistake. Bobby Columby brought that to us and said if we take the guy on we will get full priority and promised us the world.. he was full of **** too soo, I dont hate Byron he was just WRONG! That was almost 18 years ago and to be honest i dont remember it at all. I wish him well but.. hahahaha wrong.
Jeff thought it might be cool to go completely in a new direction and convinced us we should go with him. Aside from Bobby and Joe no one else really fit in. When we were looking for singers Paich and I wanted Eric Martin, not once but twice but I dont think he jelled with Jeff so that didnt happen. I could write a book, not that anyone would care but there is SO much BS about us and so much sh*t that happened behind he scenes and rumours etc..
What can I say? They sill pay me alot to play the guitar. A GREAT job if you can get it!
HAVE A GOOD ONE
LUKE

[bovinehost]

I'm not sure if I'm glad to hear you say that about Sony or not but it does sometimes seem to me that the entertainment division exists simply to annoy the living beejezus out of me personally.

I could write a book, not that anyone would care

You and Biff both need to think seriously about this sort of thing.

Jack

[koogie2k]

Yep...a book would be awesome.....could be titled.."How we stomped the critics and made them listen to!"....lol

[Phrat]

Just reading through some old posts and this reminded me of something.

My wife..who is massive TOTO fan...was talking with her South African friend and they were talking about music and Rachael (wife), who is only 26 , coyly mentioned that she was a TOTO fan. Her friend replied by telling her how Byron was a friend of her family and had visited her house in S.A. many times.

You can imagine the look on Rachael's face!

Small world.....big hair!

Phrat

[Ali]

I could write a book,

You REALLY should. I'd buy more than one copy...in hardback too

Eric would have been an interesting choice to hear, but I suspect you covered that era and range just as well, if not better, with Joe. There was also a rumour that Jon Anderson was considered, probably after the City Of Angels and Stop Loving You collaberations, but that he had committed to Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe. Is that at all true? Your guitar parts on Top Of The World (The Glass Bead Game) were simply awesome. That track's in my all time Luscious Moments Top 5.