The Essential Toto
Toto
(Columbia, 2003)
This is the Essential Toto. You can interpret that two ways. (A) In order for you to continue existing, and for your heightened awareness of aesthetics to dependably meet or even surpass its potential, you must own the music that is on this CD. Or, (B) These are the 14 parts of Toto's canon it is essential for you to have as the discriminating Toto fan; the rest of their output is therefore inessential, though that is not to say it's harmful.
So, is it meaning (A) or (B)? The answer, my friends, differs from listener to listener. Meaning there is no answer. Such is the cunning of Toto: the bewitching chess game they are playing with you and your psyche, the dauting tête-à-tête they engage in for the thrill of gamesmanship. It is only one of several examples of how Toto contorts what meaning is, and what it is not. Another example is how their song "Africa" appears to be about absolutely nothing at all.
Either meaning, however, supports the theorem that there is an essence of Toto, and this compilation of their recordings contains it. The objective is to therefore discover that essence. What evidence do you present, you rascally band named after a fictional dog?
First, there is Toto's background: They were comprised of what is known in the business as "studio musicians." Studio musicians are contracted instrumentalists hired by "rock stars" for, among other things, their virtuosity, steadfastness and reluctance to consume drugs reserved for the rock star.
Although many studio musicians are content to spend their careers away from the limelight, occasionally they develop a yen to prove their viability as rock stars, or at the very least consistent sellers. Having developed as technicians and not as artists, however, quite frequently these rapscallions substitute dexterity, discipline and ownership of top-of-the-line sound processors for the often fractured, rambling visions of career rock stars, who are often confused for poets.
Freed of the burden of poetics, Toto instead displayed their marvelous proficiency at playing notes through excellent microphones and recording equipment. They mastered starting and stopping certain notes. They engaged in slap-bass playing, a wholly obnoxious but sonically effective reminder that the bassist has heard a Parliament record.
Had all this workflow sufficed to establish Toto's greatness, they would not have had to sing. However, popular records of the time often depended upon a singer, which implies that lyrics needed to be composed to complement Toto's staggering athleticism, since singing "scat" style was anachronistic and therefore not an option. The pop music listener needed to be assured that there was some reachable narrative or signification in the lyrics. Toto had the graciousness to construct lyrics that, at absolute minimum, did not sound as if they were only about dancing or, worse, tapping one's foot.
For example, consider this quartet of lyrics from "I'll Be Over You," which, if you need be assured, is one of the 14 essential tracks on this compilation:
Some people live their dreams
Some people close their eyes
Some people's destiny
Passes by
There are no guarantees
There are no alibis
That's how our love must be
Don't ask why
Here we see a restatement of facts, or at least accepted impressions, about the very existence of human beings. This is summarized with a plea to not ask why, because if Toto were asked to elaborate on this statement, they would have to construct another verse, possibly consulting reference works to fully explain themselves. Toto is doing the listener a favor, by giving him or her the base information, which will hopefully encourage them to investigate the situation on their own, perhaps with reference books.
A popular subject with studio musicians, indeed many rock musicians, is the romantic relationship. Toto is no exception. Their plundering into the consciousness of eros penetrates the deepest pits of one's skin, unless that skin were covered in hair, in which case it would reach the deepest pits of one of the follicles of hair upon that skin. Should their reflections inexplicably fall short, that is when Toto offers their cross-cut of spectacular musicianship.
Consider "Rosanna," a paean one of Toto's departed girlfriends, an American film actress. The singer has been without Rosanna for nearly an entire year. He is still encumbered by her absence. He cannot, as he says, "hold (her) tight." The song is ostensibly a request for Rosanna, she-devil, to return; but if the entreaty rested solely on Toto's lyrics, the American film actress might be somewhat underwhelmed by their repetitive, most basic thought.
But Toto has a weapon: strong guitar breaks, rapidly arranged horns which bleat at the commencement of the chorus (which sings "Need you all the way/Need you all the way/Rosanna, yeah/Need you all the way/Need you all the way/Rosanna, yeah"). In the instrumental bridge of this song, Toto displays their heaviest, almost unfairly effective weapons: a synthesizer and perfectly nuanced guitar solo.
There is no subtlety to be had here, because the singer is attemping what could only be called a hostile takeover. A clash of instruments consume the final chorus, as organ, horns, muted funk guitar and backing vocals demand submission and promises of love from the subject, who is hopefully filming on location in Europe.
Ah, the swerving needle of the measures of our love!
Toto have other love songs; they even have another love song (the ornately titled "99") about an American actress who performed in the situation comedy Get Smart. When it comes to lust for actresses, Toto has the terrain comprehensively covered, from actresses they actually have met to those they have seen on television.
Should your dutiful ears wish for Toto to veer from their most reliable subject matter, why not hop on their DX7's kalimba patch and take a jaunt to "Africa"? "Africa" is Toto's crowning achievement: a pre-Graceland acknowledgement of the musics of other ethnicities, combined with lyrics which, relieved of having to be too obviously about love, are about...
Damn it! I just went over to Wikipedia to see if they could tell me what "Africa" is about, and I feel terrible. See, I've always written Toto as "Toto," but according to the Wikipedia entry on Toto, it appears I should have been writing Toto as "TOTO," in all-caps like they do with ABBA, and KISS, and AC/DC, and M.
TOTO, I have once again done a disservice to your ambitions. I do not deserve you. Oh no, no, it is I who does not deserve you. I should have realized the magnitude of this task. I should have understood, the same way I understood when you put giant, threatening swords on your album covers, a piercing soft-rock THROWDOWN whose connotations are inescapable.
It's like you sing in "Africa," TOTO, that singular line that means so much to me:
The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless longing for some solitary company
I know that I must do what's right
Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
Yes! I am a wild dog, TOTO, just like your wild (albeit annoyingly domesticated) namesake, seeking the truth you have found! My truth is devoid, bankrupt -- but TOTO's truth has given them the power to put the words "Kilimanjaro," "Olympus," and "Serengeti" in the same line. Not just the same verse -- the same line. All right, which one-a you bastards blew the advance on the atlas??
Let me tell you, you get your money's worth with these studio cats, in terms of both arpeggios and floral-print shirts.
"Essential" TOTO? Is "essential" strong enough? This music just may save your life!
Hold the goddamn line, sweetheart. Africa's callin' me. Tell Australia they're just gonna hafta take a damn number.
