Search - Various Artists :: Symphonic Rock - Music of Toto

Excellent sound.

Mark Lahren | Bismarck, North Dakota USA | 12/13/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you're a Toto fan and don't already have this, it's a must! Their songs were made for orchestral arrangements, and that's what you get here. I've been unable to find out much about the making of this CD other than the sparse info on the paper sleeve. It simply states that the entire CD is by The Franfurt Rock Orchestra with Bobby Kimball on vocals, it's copyright 1994, and it was manufactured under license from MMS GROUP, Germany. On the back cover it says: "This album is a co-production between MMS - Media and Musik Service GmbH and Hessische Rundfunk, Frankfurt/M. Recorded at HR Studio II with the HR Rundfunk-Orchestra conducted by Freddy Schladt. Engineered by Ranier Schulz. Mixed at Far-Recording-Studios-CAS-Schuren by Wolfgang Schmitt-Zijnen. Arranged by Freddy Schladt. Produced by Freddy Schladt and Tommy Schmitt-Zijnen."I wish I could tell you more, but that's all there is, other than track listings, which are already listed at the top of this page. So the documentation that comes with it is very poor.The music however, more than makes up for it. Every song sounds stunning, and the orchestral arrangements, while faithful to the original recordings, are superior simply because an orchestra was used. Standouts are "Child's Anthem" of course, along with "Rosanna", "Africa", "Holyanna", and "Isolation". The other songs are excellent too, but those were particularly well-suited for this treatment. If you like orchestral rock, you simply can't go wrong."