Luke is determined not to go gentle into that good night. His ninth solo album is a metaphorical bridge between his work with Toto and his previous solo work, but it’s also tinged with the realities of getting older. He deals with facing his twilight years but does it with typical good grace, defiance, and tenderness in equal measure.
At 65 he’s still very much a baby in terms of the music industry, when you consider Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart et al are still rocking and rolling. On the opening track, ‘Far From Over,’ he states “don’t count me out till I’m six feet underground”, he’s clearly setting out his intentions to keep on playing and making music with his friends. It’s this statement of intent that gives him the no BS drive for the album. There are further musings on death that pop up here ('All Forevers Must End') alongside more jazz-funk tracks towards the album's closing tracks.
‘Not my kind of People' is a tale of avoiding those toxic folk out there, and the kind of advice you heed as you advance in years. There are the customary Toto style ballads and even some early police vibes on 'Someone'. 'When Will I See You Again' follows the pure Toto sound.
Joseph Williams, David Paich helped co-write most of the album, and Luke also brought along some old pals on the record too. Luke says of the album "I wanted to do a record ‘in the style of,' as ToTo will never record another studio album. This is as close as we will get.”
Even if it were a Toto album it lacks the epic full band, improvisational, lengthy behemoth that Toto fans have come to know and love. But without the band formally returning to the studio, if this is as close as it gets, we'll take it.
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