3. Toto IV by Toto

 3. Toto IV by Toto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGtVZgCYVgk&list=OLAK5uy_m2QlEWxtNVMr_UTLBZVvlg1JpHue3wyx8

In April of 1982, the first hit from Toto IV began to get airplay on the southeast Idaho radio stations, and as soon as I heard the opening lines of "Roseanna," I fell in love with the sound of Toto. There wasn't anything about that song that I didn't absolutely love. And that's why one of my favorite junior year memories is of me walking down the high school hallway around the end of the day and singing at the top of my lungs, "All I wanna do in the middle of the evening is hold you tight! Roseanna! Roseanna!" And at that point, my old nemesis--the English teacher that I loved to hate--stepped out into the hallway, tried to shoot me with some eye daggers, and then closed his classroom door behind him. To know that I had truly annoyed him brought me great pleasure, almost as much pleasure as the sound of girls in other open-doored classrooms laughing out loud at my high falsetto voice. 

And if the monster hit "Africa" doesn't take you back in time to the summer 1982, then you obviously didn't have a radio on your tractor.

This album is like the musical equivalent of Mary Poppins--practically perfect in every way. There's really only one bad thing that I will readily admit is associated with Toto IV--the music videos. Yikes! I mean, you'd have to have one damn good record to overcome the ridiculousness of those videos. Fortunately, Toto IV was one damn good record!

One of the reasons that I think Toto IV sounds so good to my ears is that it not only helped sustain me through The Great Depression, it actually helped me get out of The Great Depression. This was one of the albums that Julie liked to play while we were on dates in that black step-side Chevy pickup. I loved the album before I loved her, but I somehow loved the album even more after I fell in love with her. In fact, "Afraid of Love" is one of my Julie-songs--a song that perfectly fits my feelings for her during those weeks right before I decided I wanted to marry her. She really did take me by surprise on our first date, and after our second date I thought if I don't get away from her immediately, I was going to fall in love with her. And I guess I'm not revealing any spoilers here, but the other Julie-song from the album is "Waiting for Your Love," because that's what I was doing all those Great Depression years--waiting for her love. So even though it took 6 years from the time Toto IV was originally released for it to turn into one of those albums I got to associate with falling head over heals in love, it was totally worth the wait. 

Nardo