Track listing
Show track credits
- A1 Rosanna 5:32
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lead vocals, background vocals
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lead vocals, background vocals
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background vocals, horn arrangements, lyrics, music
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congas, percussion
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saxophone
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saxophone
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trumpet, horn arrangements
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trumpet
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trombone
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background vocals
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recording engineer
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- A2 Make Believe 3:43
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lead vocals, background vocals
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background vocals
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background vocals, lyrics, music
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background vocals
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saxophone
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recording engineer
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- A3 I Won't Hold You Back 4:56
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lead vocals, background vocals, lyrics, music
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background vocals
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orchestral arrangements, conductor
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strings
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recording engineer
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recording engineer
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- A4 Good for You 3:18
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lead vocals, background vocals
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piano, writer
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congas, percussion
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background vocals
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cello
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synthesizer, programming
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recording engineer
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- A5 It's a Feeling 3:06
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background vocals, orchestral arrangements
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lead vocals, lyrics, music
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orchestral arrangements, conductor
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strings
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percussion
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recording engineer
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recording engineer
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- B1 Afraid of Love 3:52
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background vocals
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lead vocals, background vocals, writer
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background vocals, orchestral arrangements, writer
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writer
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congas, percussion
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orchestral arrangements, conductor
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strings
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xylophone
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recording engineer
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recording engineer
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- B2 Lovers in the Night 4:27
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background vocals
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background vocals
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background vocals, orchestral arrangements, lead vocals, lyrics, music
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congas, percussion
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saxophone
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saxophone
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orchestral arrangements, conductor
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strings
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timpani
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synthesizer
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recording engineer
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recording engineer
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- B3 We Made It 3:56
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lead vocals, background vocals
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background vocals
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background vocals, writer
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writer
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recording engineer
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- B4 Waiting for Your Love 4:13
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lead vocals, background vocals, writer
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background vocals
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background vocals, writer
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recording engineer
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- B5 Africa 4:55
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background vocals
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background vocals
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background vocals, lead vocals, writer
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writer
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congas, percussion
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recorder
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background vocals
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percussion, marimba
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recording engineer
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- Total length: 41:58
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38 Issues
- Release view [combined information for all issues]
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IV [p] 33 rpm
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IV 33 rpm
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IV 33 rpm
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IV 33 rpm, Exclusive
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IV 33 rpm
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IV 33 rpm
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IV 33 rpm
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IV 33 rpm, Remastered
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IV 33 rpm
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IV 33 rpm
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IV Gold Disc, Limited Edition, Remastered
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IV Collector's Edition, Limited Edition, Remastered, Slipcase / O-Card
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Toto IV 200 gram, 33 rpm, Gatefold, Numbered Edition, Remastered
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IV CD Sized Album Replica, Numbered Edition
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IV Gold Disc, Limited Edition, Remastered
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IV CD Sized Album Replica, Limited Edition, Remastered
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IV CD Sized Album Replica, Remastered
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IV 180 gram, 33 rpm, Gatefold, Remastered
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IV Remastered
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IV 33 rpm, Colored Vinyl, Exclusive, Limited Edition, Remastered
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IV [bloodshot vinyl] 33 rpm, Colored Vinyl, Exclusive, Limited Edition
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69 Reviews
Many people call Toto IV their masterpiece. And actually I'd agree, it is. It's one of the greatest albums of 1982 withe ease. If the Guitar solo to Rosanna doesn't prove Steve Lukather is a God amongst mere mortals I don't know what does. It's one of the 10 greatest Guitar solos in history, ever, period. And I guess the fact that for three decades I've have a flaming crush on Rosanna Arquette doesn't hurt my enjoyment of the songs one bit. Toto as a band is chock full of great musicians, in addition to Lukather's genius, Jeff Porcaro is one of the better Drummers you'll ever hear. What really puts Toto IV over the mark of genius level though is the songwriting, which is phenomenal. I highly recommend this album.
Published
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Toto IV, the band's final album with their classic lineup, finds the collective flexing their studio-toned muscles across a set of tracks that return to the panoramic pop of their debut, hatching one of 1982's commercial monsters. While Toto IV (like Toto) blurs the band's identity, particularly on the #1 slice of white boy world-pop "Africa," a wide scope mastery of all disciplines was the Toto mission all along, and everything on Toto IV sounds like a genetically engineered potential hit. From the brassy, tour de force "Rosanna" through Lukather's slick soul ballad "I Won't Hold You Back," crunchy cruiser "Afraid of Love," and the bouncy "Make Believe," to golden throated AOR like "Good for You," Steve Porcaro's slick jazz softie "It's a Feeling" and the smooth midnite R&B of "Waiting for Your Love," Toto IV is a laser-guided cruise missile of blockbuster, unit moving mass-appeal music. The end of an era for these gods of the mixing console.
Published
One great song (you know the one I mean), one pretty OK song (Rosanna), and pretty much an album's worth of filler. It's a cliché to say it now, but this beat Thriller to a Grammy? No wonder the Grammys lost their credibility with key clock-wearing sources in the 80s. That song is pretty great, though... nearly as amazing as 'The Final Countdown'. But Europe had a pretty killer album to back their ridiculously over-the-top 'rock' song; Toto assuredly do not.
Plus, now every time I hear that song, I see my ancestors cackling and twirling their mustachios as they load innocent natives onto slave ships... Thanks a lot, Alex Haley...
Plus, now every time I hear that song, I see my ancestors cackling and twirling their mustachios as they load innocent natives onto slave ships... Thanks a lot, Alex Haley...
Published
Africa lyrics: "Sure as kilimanjaro rises like olympus above the serengeti"
Similes don't work that way.
Similes don't work that way.
Published
When I was but a lad, my favourite song was Toto's "Africa", a slice of eighties pop-rock perfection with obtuse lyrics about love ('I know that I must do what's right sure as Kilimanjaro rises above the Serengeti'?). Toto were a perfect band for the late seventies and early eighties, an assemblage of studio musicians led by Steve Lukather, journeyman extraordinaire. They were bland but catchy, with songs that could have been written by pretty much anyone (these were people who had careers in facelessness). They performed these songs with precision and skill, and any one of their songs would fit in on an eighties hit radio playlist. Their stock-in-trade is uncomplicated soft rock, produced to a sparkling sheen. Toto IV is an anomaly in my collection, there is really no way of academically justifying my love for it. It is wholly unremarkable, at times absurd cheese ("Waiting for Your Love" springs to mind). This, however, was one of the very first albums I owned, a cassette that I played bare. I knew every note, I can still remember every silly word of these songs. After I switched to CDs, I didn't hear this album for years, until one shitty January in university when I found an ancient used CD copy of it in the student union building bookstore. I was depressed, the weather was awful, and my school work was making me insane. I bought this and wandered around campus all day with it on my headphones and a big silly grin on my face. It was like a hit of pure sunshine and I'll always love it for that. Nostalgia makes such fools of us all.
Published
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Two classics sandwiching a bulk of your typical, not-so-interesting AOR/Yatch Rock, and that's about it. Good For You really stood out by being some of the most idiotic loud pop I have ever heard.
Highlights: Rosanna, Make Believe, Africa.
Published
After both Hydra and Turn Back failed to sell as hugely as the debut, Toto received the ultimatum: either they make an album of hits or they're dropped. It's no surprise then that Toto IV features some of Toto's most hit-hunting music, and I'll be honest: for the longest time I considered it to be basically the bottom of the Toto barrel and hated how famous it was. So let's see what to write today as I finally confront my self.
First of all, I must apologize to the big singles. Honestly? "Rosanna" has great composition full of life, instrumental layers playing off each other (featuring Chicago's horns!), Jeff Porcaro's iconic shuffle that just refuses to tire me, and a killer jazzy coda with the usual impeccable Lukather guitar solo. "I Won't Hold You Back" is a song that grew on me a lot, with its melancholic piano and especially with the solo section sustained by symphonic swelling that sounds nicely huge. "Africa" is "Africa", the golden chorus, a song that was made to be literal filler but exploded instead.
Still, I haven't changed my mind about this being pretty low in the Toto discography. The problem I see is that even upon re-evaluation most of Toto IV's songs are not on the same level of the previous albums because they simply can't be, because they're just not as dynamic. They're hellbent on keeping a solid beat to a fault. For instance, much as I consider the song to be a cool pop rock jam, "Afraid of Love" feels tamed, restrained even during the instrumental sections. Don't get me wrong, I wish I could keep a beat like Jeff Porcaro does from ~1:55 onward, but I can't shake the feeling that the song is imposing too much rigidity on itself. "Good for You" is the worst for this, with its empty verses and exhausted chorus (pleasant bridge though... care to expand?).
I don't mean to say that they were void of ideas, after all I give this 3.0 stars which for me is good and I mean it. Off the top of my head there's also "Lovers in the Night" which is an obvious highlight with its rollicking piano start and pompous keys/guitar marches that break the structure a couple of times. Oh and I have a video of a friend's cat eating while the keyboard solo of "Waiting for Your Love" plays in the background. It goes.
First of all, I must apologize to the big singles. Honestly? "Rosanna" has great composition full of life, instrumental layers playing off each other (featuring Chicago's horns!), Jeff Porcaro's iconic shuffle that just refuses to tire me, and a killer jazzy coda with the usual impeccable Lukather guitar solo. "I Won't Hold You Back" is a song that grew on me a lot, with its melancholic piano and especially with the solo section sustained by symphonic swelling that sounds nicely huge. "Africa" is "Africa", the golden chorus, a song that was made to be literal filler but exploded instead.
Still, I haven't changed my mind about this being pretty low in the Toto discography. The problem I see is that even upon re-evaluation most of Toto IV's songs are not on the same level of the previous albums because they simply can't be, because they're just not as dynamic. They're hellbent on keeping a solid beat to a fault. For instance, much as I consider the song to be a cool pop rock jam, "Afraid of Love" feels tamed, restrained even during the instrumental sections. Don't get me wrong, I wish I could keep a beat like Jeff Porcaro does from ~1:55 onward, but I can't shake the feeling that the song is imposing too much rigidity on itself. "Good for You" is the worst for this, with its empty verses and exhausted chorus (pleasant bridge though... care to expand?).
I don't mean to say that they were void of ideas, after all I give this 3.0 stars which for me is good and I mean it. Off the top of my head there's also "Lovers in the Night" which is an obvious highlight with its rollicking piano start and pompous keys/guitar marches that break the structure a couple of times. Oh and I have a video of a friend's cat eating while the keyboard solo of "Waiting for Your Love" plays in the background. It goes.
Published
The core sound of the 80s
A very solid record full of tracks that immediately make you think of the 80s.
I come back to this album to mainly hear Rosanna and Africa, however the first and last track aren't the only ones that are worth your time. This album offers a nice set of tracks, some better, some worse - but all are nice on the ears and offer you some good time with a softer rock sound.
The instrumental is very pleasant, it can give you a bit of energy, but it also gives you time to relax. I think that's a great way to describe soft rock in general. I really like how melodic this project is. It's not mind-blowing, but I still would recommend to give the whole record a listen or two.
The best way to listen to this album is to try to forget about Africa, because otherwise your mind will be focused on the last track through the whole thing. Yes, it is the best track on the album, that's why it has been played on the radio a million times throughout the years, but it strongly affects your listening experience. Forget about the song, listen through the nice album and you'll get an even more fantastic ending track. That way the track Africa really shows all of its colours.
Published
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Catalog
19 May 2024
18 May 2024
18 May 2024
18 May 2024
17 May 2024
15 May 2024
15 May 2024
15 May 2024
12 May 2024
11 May 2024
11 May 2024
6 May 2024
6 May 2024
1 May 2024
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A1 Rosanna
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A2 Make Believe
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A3 I Won't Hold You Back
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A4 Good for You
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A5 It's a Feeling
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B1 Afraid of Love
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B2 Lovers in the Night
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B3 We Made It
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B4 Waiting for Your Love
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B5
Africa
30 Apr 2024
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A1
Rosanna
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A2
Make Believe
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A3
I Won't Hold You Back
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A4
Good for You
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A5
It's a Feeling
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B1
Afraid of Love
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B2
Lovers in the Night
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B3
We Made It
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B4
Waiting for Your Love
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B5
Africa
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