Hold the Line: Toto’s “40 Trips” Collection Premieres Three Songs, Due in February
Toto is taking 40 Trips Around the Sun on a new greatest-hits album coming from Legacy Recordings on February 9, 2018. Celebrating the Los Angeles band’s 40th anniversary, 40 Trips consists of seventeen recordings, including three previously unreleased tracks: “Spanish Sea,” “Alone,” and “Struck by Lightning.” This trio is joined by fourteen classic songs including “Rosanna,” “Africa,” and “Hold the Line,” all newly remastered for this package by Elliot Scheiner and Gavin Lurssen and his team.
Steve Lukather, David Paich, Steve Porcaro, and Joseph Williams all were in the studio this year for the new recordings featured on this release. “Spanish Sea” features both the late Jeff and Mike Porcaro. “This track is originally from the Isolation sessions,” Steve Lukather has confirmed in the press release. “It’s one that didn’t make it and we had to re-write it including creating a new chorus. Thanks to modern tech we were able to play once again with not only our 20-something selves but with our dear brothers Jeff and Mike Porcaro reminding us just how deep their groove was. Bittersweet…Many stories, laughs and a few tears on this one. It’s classic Toto with an excellent solo and I kept my old 1985 melody solo Dave wanted me to do… Old meets new but since legendary pal Al Schmitt cut the tracks and Bob Clearmountain mixed…it sounds like it was done 2 weeks ago, not 30 + years ago!”
Another new song, “Alone,” is available today on download services as an instant gratification track for those who pre-order. “‘Alone’ is a brand-new song,” Lukather revealed. “This one was written with just the four of us really writing together and no one else in the room with us. We wanted to start with an ‘up’ song in terms of groove for the album. The lyric is darker but we are older guys now and have lived life. The good, bad and ugly… we have lived it all and in the end, we are all alone anyway. Proud of this piece and it just sort of organically happened.” David Paich introduced “Struck by Lightning,” the third track premiering on 40 Trips. Paich remarked, “I had the opening riff in my head for months. Joe and the guys helped flesh this one out. I love the heavy arrangement, and Luke’s solo on it is an all-time great!”
The release of 40 Trips Around the Sun will coincide with the launch of Toto’s worldwide tour of the same name. It kicks off on February 11 in Helsinki, and the 36 European dates currently scheduled are expected to be followed by a string of U.S. gigs. Look for Legacy’s release of 40 Trips Around the Sun on February 9 on CD, vinyl, and digital formats. Pre-order links are available below!
Toto, 40 Trips Around The Sun (Columbia/Legacy, 2018) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
* denotes newly-recorded track
- Alone *
- Spanish Sea *
- I’ll Supply The Love
- I’ll Be Over You
- Stranger In Town
- 99
- Struck By Lightning *
- Pamela
- Afraid Of Love
- I Won’t Hold You Back
- Jake To The Bone
- Stop Loving You
- Lea
- Hold The Line
- Georgy Porgy
- Rosanna
- Africa
Tracks 3 and 14-15 from Toto (Columbia, 1978)
Tracks 4 and 13 from Fahrenheit (Columbia, 1986)
Track 5 from Isolation (Columbia, 1984)
Track 6 from Hydra (Columbia, 1979)
Tracks 8 and 12 from The Seventh One (Columbia, 1988)
Tracks 9-10 and 16-17 from Toto IV (Columbia, 1982)
Track 11 from Kingdom Of Desire (Relativity, 1992)
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