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Falling in Between

Toto - Falling in Between Audio CD

A fair review of the Toto "Falling in Between" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Toto reviews here, or go back to the Toto tabs.

Band: Toto
Title: Falling in Between
Rating:

Release Date: 2006-04-18
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Falling In Between 2: Dying On My Feet 3: Bottom Of Your Soul 4: King Of the World 5: Hooked 6: Simple Life 7: Taint Your World 8: Let It Go 9: Spiritual Man 10: No End In Sight 11: Reeferman

A Return To Form Of Sorts
(Minus deceseased Jeff Porcaro RIP and David Hungate) We don't get their classic sound, but instead a revamped classic rock/progrssive rock sound that they started to turn in on their previous studio effort Mindfields. On this album we get most of Toto's classic line-up. It's almost like listening to a different band but it works. They rock hard on this one and they bring in their classic R&B sound in with subtlety. This change in direction is familiar yet new and works well. Mature themes are explored in the lyrics. At times they sound like they're trying too hard to sound artsy, as in Dying On My Feet, which features the horn section from Chicago but the album as a whole is good. Many good songs and rewarded multiple spins. Recommended even for fans not familiar with their material. .

Studio Swan Song - Going Out On Top
Still a greater shame belongs to the American rock music listeners that never "got" Toto. What a shame that after 31 years Toto is no more. Toto was a massive success in every country, selling out huge arenas, except here in their native America. No matter - they got the kudos they deserved from loving crowds all over the world, and many fans here.

It's so difficult for great bands like Ambrosia and Toto, who early-on strike pop hit gold and are forever labeled so (I once had to write a letter to a chain music seller to tell them to take Toto out of the Easy Listening section!) But this is, in fact, a wonderfully produced, performed, and written album that shows the incredible talent and hard rocking ingenuity and creativity of this band, sounding fresher and more professional than ever. Indeed, in many ways, they saved the best for last. This CD, Falling In Between, has a title that is synonymous with their popularity in the U. S. - falling between the cracks.
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Pure Toto Classic...
I love all their albuns and stuff they played in. To me this album is one of Toto's best since Toto IV and Fahrenheit. Anyway, the album is awesome from top to bottom. I highly recommend this album.

Still Going Strong
I had the CD on heavy rotation on my car CD player for over a month. Falling In Between is an excellent collection of songs that had me hooked for weeks when I bought it.

The reason: amazing songs, great musicianship and a nice balance of vocals.

Although I can hear FIB complete from start to finish, Bottom of your Soul, King Of the World, Spiritual Man and No End In Sight are my favorites and I consider them TOTO classics (IMHO).

One of the strongest points of FIB is the perfect blend of the vocals in several songs. Kimball, Paich, Lukather, Phillinganes and even Joseph Williams blend/overlap their voices to great effect.

There's also a greater emphasis on production, and you can tell from the arrangements that, great passion, musicianship and inspiration are undeniably uncredited members of TOTO this time around.

I have been a fan of TOTO since their first album and have seen them live both times they have come to Panama, and thanks to FIB I plan to be a fan until the day they decide to quit, which I hope will not happen anytime soon.

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Still very vital !
Toto is a band that I return to from time to time since the eighties in between a lot of Jazz =)). Toto is still a very vital band and this is a great news for old fans of the band like myself. "The Seventh One" has been one of the albums I listened the most when I was a kid. Still I consider that album a masterpiece in the arena rock, adult rock genre if you want. But frankly after "Kingdom of desire" (that I still considered a fantastic album) I couldn't find in the band the same sparkle of genial creativity they had in the past. They still mantained an incredible level of musicianship of course, but the albums that came later (from Tambu on) didn't impress me that much. It seemed to me as the ideas, the strongest melodical ideas were in the past of the band. So I was a little perplexed when a friend of mine gave me this last effort from the band that, to add something more dangerous, came out on a small italian label (my compliments to this label which is giving to a lot of bands from the eighties freedom, support and new opportunities to record albums as the bands, and we listeners, want to). I thought "ok, for this band the decline is begun, now they are old stars that have to prey for a contract by a small "local" label" . . . How was I wrong guys! This album is a kick in the face! A fantastic album with no weak points! The band is very vital, the compositions fantastic under any point of view. The songs are exceptional really, they are technical and flamboyant at times, but the band still managed to put in there the melodic hooks (very beautiful this time!) we want from them. Among the ten tunes there are no boring moments for me, every one has its strong personality and the interest is mantained always very high throughout the album. As a matter of personal taste I'd say that the only tune I could work a little bit more on could be "Spiritual man" which in my ears sounds a little predictable, but again it's only my taste. Among the tunes I love the most I can name "Hooked" an exceptional funky dirty groove that grows every minute to become an incredible anthem, and surely the opener "Falling in Between" which is a fantastic statement of the health of the band and of its composers. I absolutly loooooove the r'n'r rollercoaster ride of "Taint your World" too! The album is very consistent from the beginning to the end, really. There are some melodic ideas in this album that are trademarks of the band such as the chorus for "The bottom of your soul" and even for "King of the world" . . . even "Let it go" maybe. Those ideas have been with band ever since, but it's not a complaint, just an obvious consideration. They are part of the personality of this band, and if you love the band, you'll recognize them for sure (and you'll love them!). Luke guitar sounds hungrier than ever, and it's another good news, . . . his lead sound is more similar to the killer one he had in the eighties (the Soldano era . . . or, fellow guitarists, the one he had in the instructional video, just a little less wet maybe) that I still absolutly love. It's not that half dirty sound (more crunch than lead) he chose in later effort (the Rivera period) that was not so distinctive to me. I love Luke's pure eighties "take no prisoners" solos! Here he makes me happy! The band sounds to me tighter than ever. It's wonderful the fact that every singer of the band finds his place, Luke, David, Bobby. It adds more variety to the album and it's a sort of recap of their history. So in the end I'd say its great to have Toto in perfect shape after all these years. Because they are unbelievable musicians, music writers, . . . in the end they're musical icons! I REALLY hope they'll continue to release albums as strong as this one! Long live Toto! .

You can see a complete list of all Toto discography, or go back to the Toto tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.