Thursday, April 11, 2013

Steve Lukather "Transition"

 
Those of you "in the know" will recognize the name, the remainder would have an idea after playing this album.  I first heard of him from Boz Scaggs' "Down Two Then Left."  Almost a year later, Toto debuted and the next five years were spectacular.  Right out of the gate, I was all over that first album on the Mad Rocker Show ("Girl Goodbye" was a favorite and I had to be one of the first DJ's in the country to play "Hold The Line").  The second release, "Hydra," was even better and a staple of my senior year at JRC and WPRK.  But it was Toto IV that rang the Grammy bell, winning Album and Record of the Year.  Though the band began to wane, Lukather still had plenty of calls for his guitar work, playing on MJ's "Thriller," for example.  Allow me to offer a few other names who paid for his services; Don Henley, Stevie Nicks, Lionel Ritchie, Paul McCartney, Babs Streisand, Cher...need I go on?  And all these while Toto was still working!  Some of you may recall the cover version of "Stairway To Heaven" in the mid-80's by a band called Far Corporation.  Yep, he was in on that.  Once Toto called it quits, it didn't take long for SL to do a solo record.  Still much in-demand for sessions, not only did he answer the calls from the big stars, he lent his work to the little guys, too, like Caterwaul and Schascle (WHO?!).  He went on to release a couple more solo albums, but toward the end of last century started to show the effects of 20+ years of "party hearty."  His guitar work was off, he was admittedly "absent" while in a room, his personal life went to hell, etc., etc., etcetera.  He acknowledged in an interview that he lost about a decade of his life before sobering up and righting the ship just after his fiftieth birthday. 
 
"Transition" is his second abstemious solo and he's not shy about spilling his guts about things that piss him off.  There's no "Parental Advisory" sticker on the cover (as if teens would want this) but I'm giving you Rosanna/Africa devotees a heads-up if you are easily offended. 
 


Yes, I know it's a bit muffled, but I'll bet you can make out the "bullshit" anyway.  Allow me to base a few thoughts on this two-day-old video.  Poland.  SL could play solo gigs all over Europe and make a good living, he's that respected over there.  His singing voice is adequate, not great.  The song itself is about all the people who'll sit at their computer, bitching and moaning about things behind an anonymous screen name...social bullying, if you will.  "Reserve your place in Hell."  I love it. 

I'll admit that I was not thrilled with this album after an initial spin.  He had gone through a blues phase when his life was blowing up (well, no shit, Sherlock) and he was smokin' some blues licks all across YouTube for a while, so maybe that's what I was expecting.  What I got was eight four-to-seven minute Toto-styled songs whose hook-roots dug deeper with each play, plus a nifty little cover of Charlie Chaplin's "Smile" to close the proceedings.

I've got the Toto records and plenty of SL's credited work throughout my catalog but none of his solo releases...........................until now.

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