Toto to release new album: Toto XIV

Actually comparing the CD to vinyl... the vinyl sounds more anemic! The CD is loud but I now think it sounds better than the vinyl... saying that its a bit of a mess :-(

In spite of this I think Toto XIV is an excellent set of songs!

 

I agree wholeheartedly! The Seventh One is my favorite Toto album...however, strangely, what you call "Toto V" (Isolation) is actually the album that got me into Toto......As for the albums getting less commercial over the years, I completely understand why they did things that way....I assume it's the music they actually like and feel fulfilled to play. They likely figure that no matter what they do it won't sell because they're too associated with Toto IV and over the years their name was less hip.

But, anyway, haven't they been saying each successive album is either 'the best thing since Toto IV" or "what the follow-up to Toto IV should've been"?
It's a sales thing, I think. Just accept the album for what it is. Personally, "Toto IV" is the album I enjoy the least so, in my case, I don't have high hopes for this latest album if it's supposed to be 'the true follow-up to Toto IV"..........But, on the other hand, if that means it's "Isolation Pt. 2" I'M GAME!!!!!!!!

 

Me too!! Carmen, Angel dont cry, Endless etc etc brilliant stuff!!

 

Speaking of the "Isolation" album, have either of you ever noticed in the "Stranger In Town" video, that it stars the guy who played "Billy", from "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"?

 

I've been sick with the flu over the past week now, and have been listening to the new album pretty frequently. I have to admit that it's growing on me quite a bit (sound quality issues aside). While I still feel the best songs are those toward either end of the album, I've been enjoying those strong tracks more and more as they become familiar, and even the weaker (IMHO) tracks in the middle all have at least some charm. Is it their best since Toto IV? I wouldn't go that far, but to me, it is easily their best since The Seventh One.

 

Toto XIV debuts at #98 on the Billboard 200, making it the first Toto album to chart since "Past To Present" in 1990, and the highest chart position since "The Seventh One" in 1988.

 

Now remaster it and release it on SACD.

 

I've listened to the album a number of times now but only via mp3. A shame it's mastered woefully but I still enjoy the album for what it is. Keith Carlock has proven to be a solid replacement. Seems to be channneling Jeff Porcaro in places too with that groove. Hopefully the physical copy (Japanese CD) will be at my door by the time I get back home in a few days.

 

That's crazy !!! I wonder if he was passed off a different copy & not what ended up being pressed ?
I also wonder if the Label themselves would screw with it after mastering ? a lot of stuff that comes out of Frontiers sounds pretty close in mastering .... maybe they run it through a general program ...

 

Anyone have a linked in account ? Pete is on that site
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/pete/doell

Or he was on Facebook 2 days ago

https://www.facebook.com/laphd?fref=ts

 

Am not on Facebook or on LinkedIn. Anyone out there happy to make contact with the evasive Mr Doell and ask him straight up about the sound quality issues?

 

I'm amused that his cover photo on FB shows him ostensibly sitting in his mastering suite with an angry looking Steve Lukather behind him

--
Rob

 

Seems they may be all in this together!!! I'm sure they were under time pressure to get the album out and didn't have time to think about Audio Fidelity. When artists are not happy with an album or parts of an album they have recorded, they normally re-record. Dave Matthews did this with the Lillywhite Sessions that never saw the light of day, although most of the tracks turned up on Busted. Neil Young did this countless times - this is why he can do Archives 1, 2, 3......and can include several lost albums. I think there comes a time when all good groups should hang up their instruments and enjoy a life of leisure. Surely they've made enough money by now? On Toto XIV they tried too hard to recapture the old Toto sound and failed dismally. The only track that sounds like Toto is Chinatown and that started life in another era! Case made.

 

Hardly and I don't agree with your statement.

 

Probably Luke going, "MORE! LOUDER! Why can't you make it ANY LOUDER?!"

 

I did not even see him ........................too classic !!!

 

I'm with you as far as great tunes , great playing , i really enjoy all of that , the mastering is what's killing it for me , cranked it up in the car the other night & i could barely pick out the different instruments .

 

guess they're "gonna take some time to do the things they never had....."

 

I think you have hit the nail on the head. The mix is completely lost and muddled. You can hardly pick out the instruments on the first 3 or 4 tracks. The album is ok on the quieter less complex tracks. I have even tried playing around with equalizer on my kids set up and it makes it worse! At least on 'flat' it is just listenable. Most audiophile set ups like mine, have no tone controls so you cant dial in less bass, more presence etc. This is why the fidelity of the master is so crucial for anyone listening on good equipment. I have PMC MB1 speakers - they are recording studio monitors - Brian May of Queen uses them as does Robbie Williams, along with many record companies. Check out their website for both professional and consumer products. https://pmc-speakers.com/
This is what the MB1 look like. They have now been replaced with the MB2. Mine are 16 years old and have had a recent makeover by PMC themselves.
http://audio-database.com/PMC/speaker/mb1-e.html They are incredibly revealing and have enough headroom to shake the rafters!! Playing music on them a 'revealing' pleasure until you get a poor recording like XIV.
This is where we started?!

 

Wow ! those speakers are sweet looking ...very nice , I played them through my home system which just has some polk audio tower speakers & it sounded terrible .
Same in my car which has an alpine factory system that Dodge uses , sounded like hell .
I even played it in my home studio which has some late 70's Auratone monitors , same results , this album is a total mess

 

Yes, but you forgot to add ...

"but don't let Luke approve it first!"

 

Just arrived....moment of truth.

 

Uh oh .....................good luck !

 

Steve Lukather on Toto’s overlooked Yes connections: ‘Shameless nods to our heroes? Sure’ - April 6, 2015 by Nick DeRiso
http://somethingelsereviews.com/2015/04/06/toto-yes-2015-tour-steve-lukather/
“‘Great Expectations’ is a huge nod to 1970s prog rock like Genesis, Yes, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd. It’s all in there. Shameless nods to our heroes? Sure. Why not? I’m not ashamed of that. Our favorite music shaped us into who we are.”

 

I tried ripping Apple Lossless onto an old hi spec 'black cd' (they look like mini vinyl) The sound quality is 'strangely' a bit livelier with more detail. I then played it though my 160gb ipod through my Wadia dock, going into my Audio Synthesis DAX decade - again it didn't sound worse than the cd! I could pick out the drums a bit better, however the bass and synth bass pedal sound was abysmal!! This is why it sounds so heavy and lifeless. Luke's guitar on the first track is quite good if you could isolate it. I think with Mike Pocaro and Jeff on drums it would have sounded better. I think Steve and David's touch is far too heavy handed.

I am awaiting the Japanese Version cd to arrive!!!