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Toto – Toto IV (1982) [Reissue 2002]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 42:15 minutes | Scans included | 3,26 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | 41:57 mins | Scans included | 863 MB
Features 2.0 Stereo and 5.1 multichannel surround sound

It was do or die for Toto on the group’s fourth album, and they rose to the challenge. Largely dispensing with the anonymous studio rock that had characterized their first three releases, the band worked harder on its melodies, made sure its simple lyrics treated romantic subjects, augmented Bobby Kimball’s vocals by having other group members sing, brought in ringers like Timothy B. Schmit, and slowed down the tempo to what came to be known as “power ballad” pace. Most of all, they wrote some hit songs: “Rosanna,” the old story of a lovelorn lyric matched to a bouncy beat, was the gold, Top Ten comeback single accompanying the album release; “Make Believe” made the Top 30; and then, surprisingly, “Africa” hit number one ten months after the album’s release. The members of Toto may have more relatives who are NARAS voters than any other group, but that still doesn’t explain the sweep they achieved at the Grammys, winning six, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year (for “Rosanna”). Predictably, rock critics howled, but the Grammys helped set up the fourth single, “I Won’t Hold You Back,” another soft rock smash and Top Ten hit. As a result, Toto IV was both the group’s comeback and its peak; it remains a definitive album of slick L.A. pop for the early ’80s and Toto’s best and most consistent record. Having made it, the members happily went back to sessions, where they helped write and record Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

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Toto – Hydra (1979) [Reissue 2000]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 41:10 minutes | Scans included | 1,66 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 0,98 GB

If Toto’s musical advantage was that, since its members continued to play on many of the successful records made in L.A., its own music was popular almost by definition, its disadvantage was that it made little attempt to seek an individual musical signature — a particular style, say, or a distinctive singer (Bobby Kimball was not it) who could make its records immediately identifiable. “Hold the Line” had been a big hit, but who did it? Boston? Foreigner? As a result, Toto was less well positioned than most to come off a big debut album with the follow-up, and Hydra was unusually dependent on its leadoff single, “99.” Maybe it was a tribute to the female lead on the old Get Smart TV show, but many listeners didn’t get a song with a chorus that went, “Oh, 99, I love you,” and the single stalled in the bottom half of the Top 40. The album went gold on momentum, but the songs, however well-played, simply were not distinctive enough to consolidate the success Toto had achieved with its debut album.

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