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The Players Club/Mascot [Release date 19.08.22]
The first thing to say about this, the first solo “album” from the long-serving Toto keyboard player, it’s very short and it’s very Toto. By using band-mates Joseph Williams (vocals, co-producer/writer) and Steve Lukather the latter is perhaps inevitable but the former is frustrating.
I know I grew up with vinyl and 15 minutes a side (and then witnessed the current revival) but since the mid-eighties we’ve come to expect at least 50 minutes!
The first single ‘Spirit Of The Moonrise’ is one of the best tracks of 2022 with the stellar vocals of Michael McDonald adding a certain out of this world quality and Luke playing some of his very best guitar which perfectly suits the tune.
‘willibelongtoyou’ (yes, all lowercase) is also cast in that same stellar mode but the rest is sadly a little perfunctory. ’First Time’ reminds of Police and ‘Every Breath You Take’ and is a bit dirgey to be honest whilst ‘Queen Charade’ is standard rock n’ roll fare. ‘All The Tears That Shine’ is attractive but nothing more than that.
Solo albums offer an artist the ability to stretch out and explore influences and passions that they maybe couldn’t in the context of their regular band. But ‘Forgotten Toys’ isn’t long enough to achieve this and therefore needs to be more consistent.
There is a saying “all killer, no filler’. If you make an album barely touching 30 minutes this aphorism has to apply.
I understand that given Paich’s commitments as an ace sessionist and not least with Toto some of these tunes may have been whirling around for some time (hence the album title).
Two instrumentals book-end the album, the short opener ‘Forward’ whilst ‘Lucy’ displays Paich’s jazz muso credentials, reflecting his work with Miles Davis and Ray Charles amongst many others.
The promise of that early single sadly remains unfulfilled. ***1/2
Review by David Randall
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