iTunes Essentials – Toto

September 4, 2009 | Posted by Randydeluxe

Have you ever noticed this in iTunes?

It’s a link to an entire area feature of iTunes that helps you discover an artist or sound or style of music.  It’s also a unique free service that has caused many to practically depend on it.  Simply put, if there is an artist that you think you like, but you don’t really know which of their songs to buy, iTunes Essentials gives you an introduction to that artist that goes right to the best songs by that artist.  The iTunes Essentials editor divides up that artist’s most endearing songs into layers, with the first being called “The Basics”, the second is labeled “Next Steps” and then a third level of songs, “Deep Cuts”.  Each layer contains 12-15 songs, which is perfect for burning to a CD if you still use such things.

For artists that have fewer than, say, 25 songs that the iTunes Essentials editor is willing to recommend strongly, she drops one of the levels.  For example, 3 Doors Down in iTunes Essentials only has “The Basics” and “Next Steps”.

What occurred to me about iTunes Essentials, as I fell in love with it over the past few months, is that it can’t just be an automatic thing.  iTunes can’t just rank an artist’s songs based on their popularity in iTunes and then divvy them up like this.  Rather, an actual person who knows the catalog has to devote time to determining which songs to present.  There are just too many factors to consider.  You’ve got people from all over the world who come along and think to themselves:

I have an idea that I might really like this artist, but I don’t know his catalog, and I don’t know which of his songs to collect first.

If iTunes just left that up to everyone else, they would not get the best results.But here’s the problem – a world of people are accessing iTunes right now, looking for Essentials lists for artists that have a lot of really good music in iTunes, and finding nothing.  I’ve decided to help out.  Perhaps you came to this blog post looking specifically for this.  If so, I hope you like my suggestions.  Perhaps iTunes will make an Essentials list of their own for this artist in the future.  If so, it will be fun to compare my list to theirs.

Toto had a 31 year run, during which they released 17 albums, and sold more than 30 million records.  They ostensibly broke up in 2008, but leave behind a legacy of worldwide success that few artists can claim.  It is inexplicable that iTunes does not yet have a Toto Essentials page.

The Basics

1. Africa – If you only know one Toto song, it’s this one.  So over-played as to be considered trite.
2. Rosanna – Along with Africa, made the album Toto IV a six-Grammy winner.
3. Hold The Line – Toto’s first big single from their first, eponymous album.
4. I’ll Be Over You – From Toto’s sixth album, Fahrenheit. Reached #11 in the US.
5. I Won’t Hold You Back – The third top-ten single from Toto IV.
6. 99 – The main single from Hydra, Toto’s second album.  Inspired by Get Smart.
7. Pamela – From The Seventh One, one of the best of Toto’s many songs about girl names.  Features vocal by Joseph Williams, son of legendary composer John.
8. Girl Goodbye – From their first album, a rocking track that should have been released as a single.
9. Without Your Love – The other single from Fahrenheit, with a funky bass-line that just don’t stop.
10. I Will Remember You – The first single from Toto’s 1995 return to glory, Tambu.
11. (I Can’t) Stop Loving You – From The Seventh One.  Joseph Williams had some impressive chops.
12. Waiting For Your Love – This list is destined to contain most of Toto IV.
13. The Other End Of Time – One of the saddest songs ever written, with blistering lyrics on a David Paich piano from Tambu.
14. Stranger In Town – The only single from Isolation, their fifth album, which otherwise was a flop compared with its predecessor.

Next Steps

1. Til The End - The first track on Fahrenheit, clocking in at a respectable 5:28.
2. Afraid Of Love – Hard rocker from Toto IV.
3. Lovers In The Night – The next cut from Toto IV.  Trust me, this song has to follow Afraid Of Love.
4. Anna – Every other good Toto song was a girl’s name.  This girl was on The Seventh One.
5. Child’s Anthem – The very first song on Toto’s first album.  A short but sweet instrumental.
6. I’ll Supply The Love - Goes together with Child’s Anthem like a one-two punch.
7. If You Belong To Me – From Tambu, a love song about loss and guilt.
8. St. George And The Dragon – From Hydra, a part of the fantasy story that made this album near-prog.
9. Straight For The Heart – Boy meets girl, sparks fly. From The Seventh One.
10. Make Believe – Piano rock from Toto IV.
11. Could This Be Love – Question answered, on Fahrenheit.
12. Just Can’t Get To You – Frustration and longing, from Tambu.
13. Out Of Love – A waltz love song that was included as a new release on Toto’s first major hits compilation, Past To Present.
14. A Secret Love – A love song that almost whispers its question in your ear, from Hydra.

Deep Cuts

1. Rockmaker – From Toto, with hopes for a big single that didn’t quite pan out.
2. Goin’ Home – Recorded in 1989, but didn’t see the light of day until Toto XX in 1997.
3. Mushanga – Difficult, challenging track from The Seventh One about seeing a starving girl in Cape Town.
4. Dave’s Gone Skiing – Instant live hit, and memorable instrumental from Tambu.
5. While My Guitar Gently Weeps - The only cover here, from Through The Looking Glass.
6. Georgy Porgy – A finger-snapping little bass-line ditty from Toto’s first album.
7. Kingdom Of Desire – Specifically from Absolutely Live, far superior to the studio version.
8. English Eyes – The only song to highlight from Turn Back.
9. We Made It – From Toto IV, we made it before, I know that we can make it again.
10. The Road Goes On – A sign-off classic, from Tambu.
11. A Thousand Years – From The Seventh One, about how some things last.
12. Don’t Stop Me Now – Yes, that’s Miles Davis, and pretty much only Miles Davis.  Yes, that Miles Davis.  From Fahrenheit.
13. Bottom Of Your Soul - Toto’s last single, from Falling In Between.  Deserves the last deep cut spot.

Questions?  Comments?  Suggestions?  Complaints?  Feel free to leave them here!

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