BLU-RAY REVIEWS – Reconstituted Toto
102 Australian avhub.com.au
Toto
Falling In Between Live
2009Starring: Steve Lukather, Simon Philips,
Bobby Kimball, Greg Phillinganes,
Leland Sklar, Tony SpinnerToto
35th Anniversary Tour
Live in Poland
2013Starring: Steve Lukather, David Paich,
Steve Porcaro, Joseph Williams,
Simon Phillips, Nathan East,
Amy Keys, Mabvuto CarpenterFEATURES
Running time: 131 minutes
Picture: 1.78:1, 1080i60, MPEG4 AVC @ 30.00Mbps
Sound: English: LPCM 24/48 2/0.0 @ 2304kbps; English: DTS-HD Master
Audio 24/48 3/2.1 @ 5530kbps (core: DTS 24/48 3/2.1 @ 1509kbps)
Subtitles: (Featurette only) English, German, Spanish, French, Polish
Features: Featurette (1080i60 - 20 mins); 12 page booklet
Restrictions: PG, Region FreeMovie: B | Picture: C | Sound: B | Extras: AFEATURES
Running time: 113 minutes
Picture: 1.78:1, 1080i60, MPEG4 AVC @ 28.30Mbps
Sound: English: LPCM 24/48 2/0.0 @ 2304kbps; English: DTS-HD Master
Audio 24/48 3/2.1 @ 5213kbps (core: DTS 24/48 3/2.1 @ 1509kbps);
English: Dolby Digital 3/2.0 @ 448kbps
Subtitles: (Interviews only) English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch,
Portuguese
Extras: Interviews (1080i60 - 28 mins); 12 page booklet
Restrictions: Rating exempt, Region FreeMovie: B– | Picture: C | Sound: B | Extras: AI
n the late 1970s the music media went berserk for the rough and
the raw. The very musicianship and virtuosity of many of the 1970s
greats became some kind of ill-defined sin. Critics labelled the likes of
Emerson Lake and Palmer as pretentious, preferring instead the hap-
hazard musicianship of The Sex Pistols and the repetitive song struc-
tures of The Ramones.
Yet there was still a market for tight, competent music. So even while
punk and new wave were at their peak, groups such as Dire Straits and
Toto were operating at the highest levels.
Toto is typically termed ‘soft rock’. But I’ve wondered about that in
my heart. Toto of the ‘Toto’ to ‘Toto IV’ period sort of seemed like that, at
least as typically heard. The Grammy award-winning production of ‘IV’
was so super-smooth that it almost disguised the quality of the songs.
The CD is typical for an early 80s production: detailed, but a touch
bright and a tad light-on in the bass.
Jump forward to 2009, with a tour principally intended to celebrate
and promote the 2006 album ‘Falling in Between’, but which of course
carries a healthy dose of early hits, and you heard Toto as it ought
to sound. The live performance is delivered with very close to studio
precision, while the production values reveal the strong bass riffs and
sizzling solos and progressive rhythmic forays.
The surround mix isn’t very naturalistic, with the keyboards, which
are to the left on the stage, presented high and even wider to the left,
and Lukather’s acoustic bass on some tracks is presented high and to
the right. Not naturalistic, but the wider sound stage provides greater
instrumental separation, which in turn allows for improved clarity. Don’t
like it? That’s why there’s also a stereo mix, where the instruments
are in the correct positions. In any case, there’s no wacky mixing of
instruments to the rear.
Also included is the audio in Dolby Digital 5.1, presumably for those
who want the surround experience but are limited to Dolby Digital
5.1 decoding. Normally I’d be critical of its provision at 448kbps (the
maximum formally allowed on DVD) rather than 640kbps (permissible
on Blu-ray) but it’s probably wise. If the equipment in use doesn’t even
support the DTS core of the DTS-HD MA surround track, then there’s a
chance it might not support the higher bitrate Dolby Digital.
Only two of the ‘classic’ Toto line-up are on stage in this concert:
Steve Lukather (guitar and vocals) and Bobby Kimball (vocals), but the
other positions are occupied by first-rank session musicians, which is of
course what the members of Toto were originally.O
r were they? I’d always understood Toto to be a bunch of quality
session musicians who’d played on dozens of top-notch albums
for others, then decided to do their own stuff. Which turns out to be
wrong, according to the twenty-minute featurette on this disc.
Most of the original Toto line-up had played together while some
were still in high school. To the extent that ‘own stuff’ means writing,
David Paich had co-written much of Boz Scagg’s insanely successful ‘Silk
Degrees’, released in 1976.
This tour was in celebration of the band’s 35th anniversary and this
particular concert was in Poland. I suspect it may have been poignant
for many of the older people in the audience since western music was
a surprisingly strong cultural influence at the tail end of the Cold War.
The line-up on this concert includes three of the classic band
members: Steve Lukather (vocals and lead guitar), Steve Porcaro
(keyboards) and the aforementioned David Paich (keyboards and
vocals). The drummer is Simon Phillips, who took over after the death of
founder Jeff Porcaro in 1992. The lead singer is Joseph Williams, who had
performed the same duties for the group for some years in the 1980s.
The other musicians—including a couple of backing vocalists—meld in
seamlessly.
Musically, it is as tightly and brilliantly performed as the other Blu-
ray, and as ever. Williams (as does Kimball on the other and Lukather on
both) sings with vocal cords that sound decades younger than his actual
calendar age.
This concert doesn’t come with the Dolby Digital version. Instead
you get LPCM stereo and DTS-HD Master Audio in 5.1 channels, both
at 24-bit, 48kHz resolution. The surround mix is more tightly tied to the
front sound stage than the other disc, although with a greater sense of
slapback from the percussion—especially cymbals—and greater intensity
from the crowd... and with the exception, perhaps, of the drum kit, the
mixing of this disc is excellent. The occasional solos are given their due,
allowed to lift above the rest of the instruments.
As with the other concert, it is presented in 1080i60 video. Real
HD, too, not merely upscaled. Aside from the usual mobile and fixed
cameras, a mighty boom was employed to allow a camera to zoom
around over the heads of the crowd. There’s even a GoPro mounted on
the edge of Paich’s piano. Some of the shots were almost cinematic, not
least the section in black and white.
Thing to watch out for: Steve Porcaro’s moves at the keyboard
show that he still lives in the 1980s.
Stephen Dawson [www.hifi-writer.com]