The Concert
I'd be lying if I said I didn't pretty much have this review written in my head before I ever popped in the disc. I mean, come on -- it's Toto, for goodness sake. The formula for writing a Toto concert review is time-honored and simple:
Step 1: Make fun of "Rosanna"
Step 2: ?
Step 3: Profit
But a funny thing happened on the way to "Africa." I found myself really liking the band. Like, really a lot.
Granted, like any wannabe guitar player, I've always respected Steve Lukather. For that matter, I've always found the rest of tje band to be amazingly technically proficient in all its various forms. But with a few exceptions here and there, Toto's catalog has always struck me as heartless and detached.
For whatever reason, I find myself connecting with the music in Falling In Between Live in a way that I'm almost embarrassed to admit. Whereas so many bands of this vintage seem content with noodling through cover-band-sounding versions of old hits and shuffling through "one off the new album" right around about the time their aging fans need to take a leak or grab another Bud Light, Toto plays with a passion here that, quite frankly, I've never heard on their studio records. Despite liberal (and oft-distracting) use of auto-tune on Bobby Kimball's vocals, there's a visceral quality to the music, even the ones off the new album, that I think would surprise most people who (like me) wrote Toto off as beautifully played but soulless pop a long time ago.
The Picture
Not that you'll want to spend a lot of time visually scrutinizing the band -- at this point they rather look like a mash-up of a Vegas lounge-singer act, Monty Python, and the Oak Ridge Boys on lithium -- but if you're nonetheless so inclined, Eagle Rock's AVC 1080i video transfer is plenty detailed and revealing. It's a bold, colorful video presentation that wears its occasional posterization and blown-out contrasts like a badge, and rightly so. For the most part, though, black levels are great, saturation is rich, and video noise is minimal. There are a few weird goings on, like the presence of a grain filter that shows up for one song, out of nowhere, really. But again, this is an artistic decision and hardly indicative of a bad transfer.
The Sound
Fortunately, the audio is quite a step up from many of Eagle Rock's recent concert releases. DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, 448 Kbps Dolby Digital 5.1, and PCM Stereo tracks are included.
I find myself waffling back and forth between preferring the DTS and the PCM. The latter fills out beautifully with Pro Logic II processing, and is a bit richer, tonally speaking. The former is a bit poppier, with tighter, more precise mixing. Both work really well for the music, though, with strong, room-filling bass and a sweet high-end that slices through though the air without piercing the eardrums. The 5.1 mix could have benefited from a bit more surround channel engagement (they're mostly there for the crowd noise and ambient reflections), but that's more of a personal preference.
The Extras
The disc includes 28 minutes' worth of interviews with band members Tony Spinner, Leland Sklar, Greg Phillinganes, Simon Phillips, Steve Lukather, and Bobby Kimball. Honestly, half of these are forgettable, but Phillinganes, Phillips, and Lukather make their bits worthwhile by offering some insight into the music and the instruments they use to make it. Kimball's clips, on the other hand, are rambling and incoherent (not in a good way, either), and a transcript of his babbling should immediately be substituted for the current definition of "non sequitur" in Merriam-Webster's Dictionary.
Final Thoughts
Toto: Falling In Between Live is a bit of a bittersweet discovery for me. Here I've discovered that I really like Toto as a live band -- at least in its present incarnation -- after they've already disbanded forever. Story of my life.
It's a solid presentation of a great concert, though, and fans should lap it up without hesitation.
Product Details
Where to Buy:
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