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Customer Reviews of Through the Looking Glass

Weakest TOTO effort. These guys are better than this.
I have been a TOTO fan since the beginning, and hold the band to a very high standard. While I certainly can't knock the talent and musicianship on the album, finding an album of cover songs was a big disappointment. Talk about setting yourself up for failure. With few exceptions, the originals far surpass TOTO's attempts at reinterpretation. These are some of the greatest songs in rock history! The renditions of Could You Be Loved, Living For The City and Sunshine Of Your Love are admirable, but the straight covers of Bodhisattva and Burn Down The Mission are best left to the original masters. And Luke, please, what were you thinking trying to do Elvis. Poor execution of what could have been a funny goof. Kingdom, Tambu, Mindfields were awesome - and now that Kimball is back, I want more original material. Not bad as a stand alone collection, but only worth two stars compared to the rest of their catalog.

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A Trip Down Memory Lane Toto-style.
"Through The Looking Glass" is the latest album from session pros Toto. Throughout their long spanning career, Toto has always focused on strong musicianship with a diverse range of styles. With this album, the band continues this tradtion with a slightly different twist. "Through The Looking Glass" is the very first Toto album not to feature any original material written by its band members. Instead, they perform outstanding arrangements of songs from their musicial heroes ranging from Bob Marley, Steely Dan, The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Cream, The Animals and Herbie Hancock.
All of the tracks are performed in such a way that they become Toto's very own. Steely Dan's "Bodhisattva" is almost duplicated phrase by phrase. Their take on The Beatles "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" serves as a heartfelt tribute to its composer, the late great George Harrison. Toto lead singer Bobby Kimball shines at his best vocally on Stevie Wonder's "Living For The City" and Elton John's "Burn Down The Mission". The latter track also features some of David Paich's finest keyboard and arrangement work. Steve Lukather's guitar work is in full swing on the band's rousing version of Cream's "Sunshine Of Your Love" which actually is an enhancement over the original version. With one beat being taken out of Cream's original 4/4 time signature, Toto's version alternates between 7/4 and 4/4 which makes it more musically challenging. The band's instrumental medley of Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage" and "Butterfly" shows off the full range of Toto's powerful musicianship and excellence.
These are just some of the highlights of this excellent CD. The rest of this album includes some of Toto's best work in years. The band is now more musically nurutred from their many years experience as a band and as session musicians. Also, the return of original lead singer Bobby Kimball in 1998 has given the band an extra shot in the arm. Toto is playing and sounding better than ever after more than 25 years together. "Through The Looking Glass" is a solid collection of classics performed by a band who has given these songs a new lease on life. Whether you're a Toto fan or a fan of the songs Toto does on this album, "Through The Looking Glass" is highly recommended.

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A hit and miss affair of covers
I was a bit disappointed when I heard that the album that Toto would be releasing at their 25-year anniversary was to be an album full of covers. After all, this band had put out three very-good-to-stellar albums past their popular prime in the 1990s. New material was much anticipated. That being said, I was more than willing to give it a listen--since Toto has long been one of my favorite bands. As the 13th album I have purchased by Toto, it is without a doubt their weakest. That being said, there are still some worthy tracks on here.

The album does not get off to a stellar start in my opinion with the Bob Marley cover "Could You Be Loved". The track is reasonably catchy but kind of grates on my nerves after a while. It is a bit of an annoying track for Toto to cover. Much better are the next two tracks. The Steely Dan cover "Bodhisattva" is catchy and rocking, and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is made into a classic-sounding Steve Lukather ballad. Next, however, come two tracks that I am annoyed that Toto would cover. While "I Can't Get Next To You" and "Living for the City" are both decent songs, they simply sound a bit silly covered by Toto. While Toto has had a wide variety of great styles over the years, these songs seem too far out in left field even for them.

At the midpoint of the album is another different style, but this one I like much better. The cover of the instrumental "Maiden Voyage/Butterfly" is a relaxing musical delight. For those who think Toto has never gone in this direction before, guess again: remember the closing instrumental jazz track "Don't Stop Me Now" on 1986's "Fahrenheit" album? As with that original song, this cover is done very well.

Even better is the next track, Elton John's "Burn Down the Mission". Now THIS is what Toto should be covering! Excellent track from beginning to end, totally keeping the spirit of the original track. This is probably my favorite track on the album. A pretty good rendition is also done of the next track, "Sunshine For Your Love", but I honestly am sick to death of that song and have no need to hear it ever again. "House of the Rising Sun" follows and is another decent, catchy track. But then comes the last two tracks that have me scratching my head again.

Elvis Costello publicly stated he hated Toto way back when, so Toto decides to tweak him here by covering his song "Watching The Detectives". I totally appreciate their sense of humor and could live with the track if the rest were all stellar, but quite frankly this track is weak. The cover of the Bob Dylan-penned "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" also is hardly a song that I want to hear Toto sing. The style simply doesn't suit them.

So there you have it. For sure, this album isn't horrible overall, but I truly only really like four of the 11 tracks--a far cry from any other Toto album. Toto completists like me should get this album, but I don't see it holding interest for too many others. For sure, this is the only Toto album that I would rate under 4 stars.