Toto had been promising their fans a rarities record for years, and they finally delivered with the release of "Toto XX.”


David Paich:

Well, our manager [at the time] Mark Hartley thought it would be great to put out some of the old stuff, cuts that were left off records, 'cause in the old days there was only so many cuts that could be on a vinyl record, so we always had like 10, 11 to 12 cuts that never got on there, so we started going through the old tapes and we started digging up things and digging up things, and finally we started finding a whole album full of that stuff instead of just like putting one or two or a few cuts on. And some of them had Bobby on them and they weren't too bad, you know. So to promote it we went to Europe and just put together - just as a promotional thing - for the one album. And all of a sudden this chemistry clicked and we just looked at each other and said: "Geez, we're stupid not to continue on with this. (Interview with Frank Achman, 1999)

Toto went through twenty years of demo's and live performances and selected 13 tracks for "Toto XX". They didn't have to alter much to the demo's, as most of them were completed. Bobby's vocals on "Tale of a Man" were slightyly modified, new background vocals for =>"Last Night" were added, and Steve Lukather recorded a new (guitar) solo.


The artwork for Toto XX was designed by Brian Peterson, who also designed the => Mindfields Artwork:

This is a CD of collected tracks from over the years. I thought it would be good to collect images from the past 20 years and lay them out in a loose timeline.


The base of the illustration is a multicolored and weathered (read - passing of time} wooden wall. Most of the items shown are fictitious. I created the 8-track, the IV tour pass, the matchbook, the paperback, the yellow 45, the toy bus, the Whiskey-a-go-go flier, the Polaroid, The Seventh One pin etc., all in Photoshop.


The collage is completely digital. The band sent me a box of tour books and other odds and ends as a starting point, but with Photoshop I can create a sort of hyper-reality where everything is in sharp focus. As for the cover, the normal process of designing an album package starts with just the covers. We showed them many different designs and the drum texture was one of them. We actually balanced a bongo drum on my flatbed scanner! It came out good.


Illustrator Magdy Rizk created the cover logo. I came up with the timeline idea after that. Obviously, the group shot is made up of several different pictures. It's the only element I'm not happy with, too many different light sources and perspectives."

Related Pages
David Paich
Toto XX