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TOTO VibeZ

Six tracks from a band of Los Angeles session musicians who decided to become a band and accidentally made one of the most-streamed songs of all time.

The best players in the room

Toto formed in 1976 out of the Los Angeles session scene — Jeff Porcaro and his brothers, Steve Lukather, David Paich, Steve Porcaro, David Hungate and singer Bobby Kimball. These were the musicians other artists hired: between them they played on Steely Dan records, Boz Scaggs' Silk Degrees, and, most famously, most of Michael Jackson's Thriller.

That pedigree is the reason critics disliked them. A band of professionals with no scene, no scruffiness and no ideology looked like the opposite of rock authenticity, and they were treated accordingly despite selling enormously and winning six Grammys in one night for Toto IV.

The reassessment has been complete and slightly absurd — "Africa" became an internet phenomenon in the 2010s and is now among the most-streamed catalogue songs in existence.

What to listen for

"Africa" deserves to be heard as a piece of construction rather than a meme. That opening keyboard figure is a marimba patch on a Yamaha GS-1, the drum part is a loop Jeff Porcaro assembled from several passes, and the lyric — written by David Paich about a continent he had never visited — is a genuinely odd piece of romantic imagination that has attracted fair criticism.

"Rosanna" is the musicians' choice. Porcaro's drum part — the "half-time shuffle," combining ideas from Bernard Purdie and John Bonham with a ghost-note pattern of his own — is one of the most studied grooves in popular music.

"Hold the Line" is the debut single and the hardest-rocking thing here.

"Georgy Porgy" is the one soul listeners already know — it features Cheryl Lynn on vocals and has been sampled and covered extensively, including by Eric Benet and De La Soul.

"99" and "I'll Be Over You" are the ballads.

Go deeper

Toto IV (1982) is the album, and it is superbly made.

Then go and listen to Thriller knowing that Steve Lukather plays guitar on "Beat It," Jeff Porcaro drums on "Beat It," and Steve Porcaro co-wrote "Human Nature." The overlap between Toto and the biggest album ever made is nearly total.

For the session-musician world generally: The Wrecking Crew in the 1960s and The Funk Brothers at Motown are the essential predecessors, and both have documentaries worth watching.

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