Toto to release new album: Toto XIV

You do see everyone analyzing the album and talking about the mastering and what not, right? Mike wasn't on the album anyway, obviously. And no, Kimball is not involved.

 

I love Chinatown! My favourite tune so far.

 

One of my favourite tunes, but it was Lukather singing the verse on that one. Paich sang on Lorraine though (Hydra).

 

Well, sounds like the mastering will keep me away. If true, this is a big disappointment; the loudness war had subsided a bit, at least from my vantage point ...

 

I found this on another forum . Wave for "Burn".

 

Paich sings the very nice bonus track "Spanish Steps of Rome" from Mindfields.

 

I have not listened to Falling in Between in a couple months, but I played it heavily when it came out, and yes, in my opinion the new album sounds worse. Maybe I will do a comparison soon.

 

I was hoping and expecting this album to have a nice mastering, perhaps similar to the new Yes album. Not even close. I would like to hear what Lukather has to say about this awful sound quality, as he seems to be honest and outspoken. I hope he becomes aware of the displeasure towards this album of people like us on this forum. I found his last couple of solo albums to be too loud, but again I find Toto XIV to be even worse.

 

I don't think the album sounds that bad. I enjoyed Falling in Between much more. I enjoy Chinatown off the new album and I'm a big Toto fan.

 

Huh? Really? I'll have to go back and listen. Coulda swore it was Paich but maybe I'm just thinking of the writing credit.

Mark

 

Yes, that was one of David's on that record.

 

Ouch, brickwalled...

 

I understand your hesitation, but you would be missing out on an excellent Toto album (music-wise).

 

Whenever I read that another artist from rock is going to come out of the cobwebs and do another album, I have mixed emotions because the first thing that goes through my mind is "I wonder how digital it is going to sound and how bad post production is going to ruin it".
It would be nice if they could do like them and Steely Dan did in the 70s and use state of the art recording so that they sound like Toto and not the computer they recorded on.

 

Are you able to "listen past" the mastering issues?

 

I am enough to enjoy the music. It just means it will get fewer plays than it probably would have otherwise, considering how much I've listened to all the other Toto/Lukather records.

 

I bought the Blu-spec 2 release (for the Japan only bonus track 'Bend' - the mastering seems to be the same), and as long as I don't crank it too much I find the CD listenable, in particular the softer songs.

 

Brickwalled ... at 100kph ... no seatbelt .... blood everywhere

--
Rob

 

I was just looking at Twitter and Luke was commenting about the people who were complaining about the mastering, he claimed that they were all listening to badly ripped, pirated, MP3s. I didn't have the heart to post.

--
Rob

 

So either he hasn't heard the album as it was actually released or his hearing is gone...

 

Someone posted DR-ratings on the Dynamic Range Database that suggest that the vinyl-release is a lot less compressed: http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/view/85937

Album DR: 11
Min DR: 10
Max DR: 12

 

Well, maybe you should. Maybe refer him to this thread. I don't twitter.

 

I have a hard time getting into this one. The sound quality is awful, the production sounds like an attempt to turn the band into a thrash metal act and the songwriting is significantly worse than on Falling In Between. It's good to have Joseph Williams and Steve Porcaro back full time, but I was expecting something a lot better than this. Hopefully they'll sound better live in Amsterdam next May.

 

You should say something. I have not gotten the album yet or I would say something to him too.

Pat

 

The problem is, after being burned by too many bad sounding albums, I don't buy them until I know if they sound good or not. So I haven't bought this. Maybe the flacs I've heard were doctored (my "Burn" looks exactly like the picture a few posts up and the whole album has a DR of 6). So I'm unable to take the high ground on this.

--
Rob