.....And I can always count on myself for digging up another one of my old albums from my collection once I start delving backwards into the past in my music journeys. Actually, I'd already performed the excavation on TOTO's self-titled debut last week; I was just saving it so I could include it for my current rock music series. If I was ever gonna do a feature presentation of one of my all-time favorite rock bands, 1978 would have to be the year where I started off from. That's the awesome year that they would release what has easily become their most memorable hit, "Hold The Line"; it's the very first song that always pops up when I think about them. And just like A-HA's "Take On Me", I could rave about that one song all day as well.....and listen to it just as long, too. But unlike "Take On Me", I had the lyrics to this one figured out the second or third time I heard it. 101 FM: The River—I believe that was the name of the rock station that was playing "Hold The Line" when I heard it the first time while I was in my bedroom so many years ago. I'll never forget how much I loved the opening piano sequence before the blaring sounds of the guitar and the deep grooves of the bass kicked in and how much I loved hearing a then-unknown-to-me Bobby Kimball going 'Oh oh oh' during the main chorus. In fact, Bobby Kimball and TOTO's other vocalist whom I often get confused with him—Steve Lukather—are both still a little unknown to me, though I seem to think one or the other has had a solo career at some point between album releases with the band. It's TOTO's overall eclectic sound, however, that's been the main reason for me embracing them forever since the very beginning. When you can take rock music and combine it with other elements, such as jazz, funk, disco and r&b, there's some real artistry at work. "Hold The Line", for instance, surely may get a lot of airtime on the hard rock stations, but you'd also find it on the soft rock channels, and maybe even possibly the jazz channels as well. Then "Georgy Porgy" which, if I remember correctly, features disco singer Cheryl Lynn (remember her breakout hit, "Got To Be Real"?), could end up on the classic r&b channels. Another thing I love about TOTO is that when these guys jam, they jam.....hard! The opening cut, "Child's Anthem", is just one of the awesome instrumental pieces they put together; other marvelous examples of their handiwork include the extended concluding piece to another one of my favorites, "Girl Goodbye" (absolutely fantastic vocal work on this one, too) and the interlude to "You Are The Flower". Just as I love the beat, piano accompaniment and the lyrics to "Hold The Line", I love the beat, the deep piano melody and the words to "Manuela Run", which is Favorite #3. Never made it a point to decipher the whole story from that song, but I'm sure it carries some special meaning. I always readily know by heart the part that goes 'They're gonna shoot you in your back if you don't run'. And Favorite #4 would be "Rockmaker", which has that great classic late-70's groove that you can dance to as much as you can rock to it. It's definitely not Kansas, and it's certainly not the "Wizard Of Oz" movie, but listening to this album always feels likes a memorable walk down the old yellow brick road:
1. Child's Anthem
2. I'll Supply The Love
3. Georgy Porgy
4. Manuela Run
5. You Are The Flower
6. Girl Goodbye
7. Takin' It Back
8. Rockmaker
9. Hold The Line
10. Angela
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