Toto - Isolation (1984)

Following the mega-success of the album Toto IV, containing the worldwide hits Rosanna and Africa, the band parted company with long-standing vocalist Bobby Kimball and in came Fergie Frederiksen for this, the band’s fifth studio album. The album, whilst achieving Gold status in Toto’s native US, is something of a forgotten record with it’s songs rarely featuring in the band’s live set following the Isolation tour and with Frederiksen departing, at the insistence of the band, before their next studio release Fahrenheit.

The album marks a zenith in the pursuit of radio-friendly AOR for the band which is evidenced by the opening track Carmen (and possibly why the album itself is not widely regarded by Toto and their fans) which isn’t a bad track and features some high range vocals from Frederiksen, a rapid pace and some nice guitar flourishes by Steve Lukather but the void left by Kimball’s departure is evidenced with Frederiksen offering a more poppy, lightweight approach . . . and the band apparently being led by it!

Lion is rather a poor track and Ferguson’s vocals are so squeaky and high-pitched that they almost take-on a comical nature – think Pinky and Perky – accompanied by cheesy lyrics and appalling 80’s Yamaha DX7-ish keyboards with Lukather, usually good for bit of bite, relegated very much to the background. Even Jeff Porcaro – a quality groove drummer if ever there was one – sounds totally uninspired here.

Stranger In Town continues in a same theme and then Angel Don’t Cry kicks-in, and at least is guitar-driven, but is really a formulaic US-radio rock number with the band seemingly going through the motions whilst Frederiksen warbles a load of ‘love rock anthem’ cliches. How Does It Feel is poor ballad fayre and was made for the ’skip’ button on CD players veering dangerously between Mr Mister and Boyzone . . . yes, it is that bad! Even a Lukather solo can’t save matters here.

Endless just about sums up the sentiments for the listener and opens with a keyboard intro and again slipping into gross non-entity territory with Frederiksen’s vocals once more reaching brothers’ Gibb proportions.

Then, out of nowhere, comes the title track which is literally ‘music to the ears’, and presumably a hangover from an earlier writing session as it really doesn’t sit well on this album with the band more back to what they do best. There are good guitar moments and Jeff Porcaro seems to have also woken up – even Frederiksen sounds reasonable here and the hook is good and relatively powerful. Watch the clip below with Kimball on vocals, and Simon Phillips on drums, to hear it with a bit more gusto.

Unfortunately, one track does not an album make and things are soon drifting again with Mr Friendly which is a rockier number but Frederiksen’s vocals really grate on the ears. I would posit that if it were sung by Bobby Kimball with a little more emphasis on the guitar it would not be too much of a poor track.

What’s this: a guitar riff? Change Of Heart’s early promise unfortunately flatters to deceive as the rest of the track is more ‘going through the motions’ fodder as is the closing track Holyanna.

Whilst this is a poor album for a myriad of reasons – bad song writing, poor choice of vocalist, disinterested playing etc – it also suffers from production short-comings. Whilst crystal clear, the production relegates the usually high calibre playing of Steve Lukather very much to the background, lifts a range of terribly dated 80s keyboard sounds and sequencing to the fore and gives Jeff Porcaro a relatively bad lightweight drum machine sound to his kit.

As a caveat to the above, I have to point out that Fergie Frederiksen isn’t a ‘bad’ vocalist per se, he just wasn’t right for Toto – a fact not lost on the band – and contributed to the unfortunate downward spiral of the bland leading the bland on Isolation.

If you like American power-AOR then Toto are definitely a band that should register on your radar but just don’t dive-in with this album – bar the title track – but instead seek out their 1978 debut album ‘Toto’ to hear them to greatest effect.

• Fergie Frederiksen – Vocals
• Steve Lukather – Guitar
• David Paich – Keyboards
• Steve Porcaro – Keyboards
• Mike Porcaro – Bass
• Jeff Porcaro – Drums