"THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS"
Toto's 25th anniversary called for a special record. The band decided to pay tribute to the artists which influenced their music over the years, so they recorded covers, all with a special Toto flavour. This also meant the recording process went faster, so the could get on the road for the 25th anniversary tour:
"if we did an original album, it would take a year and a half in the process. Time to write the tunes, to pick the tunes, to do this, to do that. This was the quickest way for us to get a product to the promoters for promotion and to get ourselves in front of the people. ""
"And also we had no record label to fond it. So we funded this ourselves and made a licensing deal with EMI / CMC. We did it at Simon's house. He was the engineer." (Mike Porcaro / Steve Lukather, Toto99.com, 2002)
The band all brought cd's with suggestions for the songs:
There was a huge list of songs before we actually started doing it. Everybody came here with a stack of CDs, and over the weekend we went home to hang with our family and friends and said to everyone "Hey, bring us some CDs over". We were looking for some stuff off the beaten path, that hasn't been cut a million times. "" (Steve Lukather, Toto99.com, 2002)
"...we wanted an album to mark our 25 years and so Paich came up with the tribute idea. He said, Why don't we do a bunch of songs from our childhood, or by people we've worked with and who are our friends. So we did it in Simon's front room, no technicians or roadies, just five guys in a room. Simon was the engineer and the tea boy! We'd work from 12 till six every day, jam stuff and come up with different arrangements. We just had a blast and shoved it out there to see what would happen." (Steve Lukather, Guitarist - March 2003)
The tracklist, with notes from the band:
1. COULD YOU BE LOVED (Bob Marley)
Classic Marley (who doesn't love Bob). We cut the track live and did it in one take. Decided to spice it up with Master J. Ingram and some nice DJ toastin with Tippa Irie. Luke Found That One.
(Toto99.com, 2002)
"Actually, this song was in my wife's record collection. She's got a really eclectic collection and I said to her that I'd love to do a Bob Marley track and she said, What about Could you be loved? So we went in and did it and then Paich said he'd like to stick a rap section in there. Now, I just can't relate to rap music. Okay, it's a great groove and all that, but I can't get into it. Anyway, he got this Jamaican guy, Tippa Irie, to come in and do this rap while I was away with Simon in our Mahavishnu band. It's kinda stepping over the edge for us but, who knows, we might even get a couple of plays on the radio because of it. In fact, if this song didn't have our name on it, it would probably already be a hit!" (Steve Lukather, Guitarist - March 2003)
2. BODHISATTVA (Steely Dan)
Jeff was in Steeley and I played on two of their albums. I saw Luke play it in high school with Landau and Steve P. They nailed it just like Denny and Skunk.
We used a few subsitutions on the ending chords. Donald and Walter will probably give it a 6. (Toto99.com, 2002)
"When we were in high school, we were basically a Steely Dan tribute band. It was me and Landau on guitar, Carlos Vega on drums, Steve Porcaro on keyboards. Jeff Porcaro was the drummer in Steely Dan at the time and so we were obsessed With learning the whole of the Katy lied album before it came out, and Bodhisattva ended up opening our set. It's also a bit of a tribute to Jeff as well - it's 10 years since he died. Steely were really important to us as kids. They were what we wanted to be like. They were very melodic and they had some great guitar solos. We reharmonised some of the chords so it's not an exact copy, but it's enough of a nod to Jeff Baxter and Denny Dias... those guys are my friends." (Steve Lukather, Guitarist - March 2003)
3. WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS (The Beatles)
Dave met George in a hallway at A&M Records with Phil Spector. George also played at Jeff's benefit. Luke was invited to his house to jam. With Dylan,
Jeff Lynne, and Keltner (I'm so jealous). This is dedicated to him. (Toto99.com, 2002)
"I ran into George Harrison one night and, because I'd worked with Paul McCartney on Give my regards to Broadstreet, I figured it would be a good excuse for me to introduce myself. I mean, the solo in I saw her standing there is the reason I took up the guitar in the first place at seven years old! Anyway, we got on, he liked my sense of humour and I didn't lick his ass too hard - and he actually knew who I was. "Then I said, Look, we're gonna do a show for our bro Jeff Porcaro who'd just passed away, there's all kinds of people playing and all the money's going to charity. Would you like to come down? And you know what? He showed up and said he would play! So not only do we have a fantastic evening, with all these great guys getting up and playing for Jeff, but I get to go up to the microphone and say, Hey... I met this guy the other night; he's the reason we all play. Thanks very much, George Harrison! He comes out and the place is just weeping. And we became friends. He invited me out for dinner once and there was Bob Dylan, Jim Keltner, Jeff Lynne and we all ended up jamming Beatles tunes at Jeff's place. Dylan was on bass, Jim Keltner on drums, me and George on guitars and Jeff on keyboards." "We stayed in touch, but after he got stabbed we lost touch, because he changed all his numbers and stuff. I knew he was ill but I didn't know how ill and the sad thing was I never got the chance to say goodbye." (Steve Lukather, Guitarist - March 2003)
4. I CAN'T GET NEXT TO YOU
When Al Green's Greatest Hits came out, his version of the old Temp's record killed us. Luke beefed it up with guitars and we got James Ingram to come
help us out.(We must be dreaming!) (Toto99.com, 2002)
"This was actually the first track that we cut for this record. We used to do a lot of Al Green stuff back in the old days and, if you listen to that song, you can hear where the germ of Hold the line came from. It was a cross between that and Hot fun in the summertime by Sly and the Family Stone. This was us going back to that original groove." (Steve Lukather, Guitarist - March 2003)
5. LIVING FOR THE CITY (Stevie Wonder)
Of course what would the TOTO Looking Glass reflect? Stevie Wonder (very large!) It was a sizeable challenge to attempt but we cut it early in the game. Luke's
nin-like intro gave it the urgency it deserved. We recruited Ellis Hall for some step outs. This is dedicated to the FDNY and all New York." (Toto99.com, 2002)
"I used to live, eat and sleep Stevie Wonder. He's played live with us too! We were playing at the Budokan in Japan and I was playing this solo and all of a sudden the crowd goes apeshit and I'm thinking, Wow man, I'm tearing this place up! Then I look behind me and there's Stevie, who's just walked on. He was amazing. I listen to all his stuff, but especially Innervisions and Talking book. For our tribute to Stevie we decided to do it a bit differently, by featuring the guitar instead of the Fender Rhodes. We actually called him and asked if he'd like to play on it, but unfortunately he was out of town." (Steve Lukather, Guitarist - March 2003)
6. MAIDEN VOYAGE/BUTTERFLY (Herbie Hancock)
Luke came up with this classic for us to interpret on this Herbie Hancock pearl. (Si made most of the record) then we added Luke's continually ebbing guitar,
Mike's bass, and David actually got a chance to play a solo on acoustic piano. Lenny Castro added that world flavor to it. (How dare we put this on the same CD!)
(Toto99.com, 2002)
"That was an idea that Simon and I had because we're the jazz guys in the band. I wanted to do something more musical and Herbie is a buddy of mine - he's jammed with us too. And we decided to put Maiden voyage together with Butterfly. Simon came up with about 75 per cent of the arrangement and I came up with the rest. We overdubbed the other guys and I'm really pleased with the way it came out." (Steve Lukather, Guitarist - March 2003)
7. BURN DOWN THE MISSION (Elton John)
Being a true Elton disciple David first performed this at his highschool graduation (all boys Catholic prep). His mates loved it but he got suspended for 3
days for the subversive lyrics. What a treat it was to have Davey Johnstone and Nigel Olsson sing with Luke on the b.gs. Bobby
chose this song and really does justice to it (boy it'shard to improve on any of these damn tunes!)
(Toto99.com, 2002)
"This wasn 't on our list, but Kimball sat down at the piano one day and started doing it. And it was amazing. We all went, We've gotta cut that now! And we did and it was a blast. That one pays more of a nod to the original than a lot of the other songs. But we've all worked with Elton - I've done four or five albums with him - and we had Davey Johnstone and Nigel Ollson on backing vocals." (Steve Lukather, Guitarist - March 2003)
8. SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE (Cream)
Si hit us again with that one. He played with Jack Bruce and Luke has played with Eric. The phrase got shortened a beat so don't try to dance to it
(unless you're from the 60's). Listen close and you might hear us hinting at White Room. (Toto99.com, 2002)
"I was really against doing this song because it's a perfect record, much like While my guitar gently weeps. But Simon used to play with Jack Btuce and he was set on doing it so we said, Why don't we do itin 7/4 time? And then what about the middle? Well, why don't we rewrite it? So we started fucking around with it and it started to come together and now I really like it. But you can't mess with the original version of a song like that. Jack Bruce heard our version and he realIy liked it. The first thing he said was, Do I get paid twice because you put White room in there too?" (Steve Lukather, Guitarist - March 2003)
9. WATCHING THE DETECTIVES (Elvis Costello)
Boy that Luke sure has a dry sense of humour. In this Elvis'n Costello version, Luke is true to the original vocal style. (What can I say ? It made the final
cut. Great song!) (Toto99.com, 2002)
"Elvis has always been really mean about Toto. We started at the same time on the same label and, whereas he was the critics' darling, we were the whipping boys. And whereas he always said shitty things about us, we never said anything. This was another CD from my wife's collection. I played it to the guys and they were like, Dare we do this? So I said, Come on, I'll do the full Elvis! So we cut the track and we did a sort of hi-fi version, because his is really loose and 'garagey' and we're not exactly known for our garage sound. Anyway, when it came to putting down the vocals and I started singing like Elvis, the guys were cracking up. I started getting into it and said, I want to be him; get the lisp happening and everything. I was in hysterics and we had to record it line by line. But it came out great. I doubt he's heard it - I don't see him buying our records - but we did it with respect because I like Elvis and I don't mind if he doesn't like me." (Steve Lukather, Guitarist - March 2003)
10. HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN (traditional)
This traditional classic has been played by each of us since we were (oh well!) We jammed on it at sound check last time we played in Puerto Rico. We decided to keep the melody and came up with an original arrangement. Bobby and Luke sure shine on this baby. (Toto99.com, 2002)
"This was one of the very first songs I ever played when I was in a band at nine years old, talk about returning to the beginning. Bobby Kimball is from New Orleans and the first time we jammed it was when we were doing a show down there. Paich, just for a joke really, started playing it in the soundcheck and Kimball started singing. Now that wasn't the arrangement that ended up on the record, but it gave us the idea to do the song. I said, Why don't we take the Dave Gilmour approach to it? So then we changed the chords around and our version came out sounding a little bit psychedelic. Dave Gilmour is one of those few guitarists whose name typifies an actual style of playing. I've copped a lot of stuff off Dave and he's a friend." (Steve Lukather, Guitarist - March 2003)
11. TAKES A TRAIN TO CRY (Bob Dylan)
We can't float down TOTO's memory lane without a dylan classic. This is us doing pure, unadulterated Leon Russle, on this beale street rendition. Monet's
on backing vocal and Luke's on dobro and electric. You can tell by the applause there must've been a lot'a people in Simon's house that day.
(Toto99.com, 2002)
"This was a throwaway blues track to try to get Paich singing, because he doesn 't like singing on the records. So we said, Dave, pick a song and sing it. And he chose this. We don't usually do blues tunes on our albums, but Dave put on this big top hat and just sat there and sang it. It allowed me to get the Dobro out and do stuff I don't normally do. We did it more or less live and it's a kind of bonus track." (Steve Lukather, Guitarist - March 2003)