I saw this guy. He was one of Ringo Starr’s All Stars. He’s not why I went to the show, but he was the highlight.

Am I the only person who didn’t love “A Whiter Shade of Pale”?

And Procol Harum was a strange band, the lyricist, Keith Reid, wasn’t even a performer. And why is it everybody always spelled it “Procul” instead of “Procol”? I always saw this as a sign of disrespect.

But I did love the title track of “Shine on Brightly.” I recorded it on the same kind of portable Norelco cassette deck that Keith Richards sang the riff of “Satisfaction” into in the middle of the night. It was a slim box. Cassettes were seen as lo-fi, but you could record on them. And I did, via a series of cables I purchased at Radio Shack. Not that I believed in that outlet, especially after it turned into the Sprint Store, but you could always find the cables and connectors you needed. Like a twenty five foot extension cord for your headphones.

And I’d be listening to WDRC FM in Hartford. Which I could get on my new Columbia all-in-one stereo (well, you could detach the speakers), and if I heard something I liked, I hit record. And always missed the very beginning of the track and got the deejay talking over the end, but I’d have it, and I’d listen to it, and one of those songs, as I said above, was “Shine on Brightly.”

Why did I like it?

Well, what can anybody say about  music? It hit me a certain way. It was Matthew Fisher’s majestic keyboard (I bought his initial solo LP, were there more?) and the catchy chorus and Gary Brooker’s vocal on top of the entire concoction, his voice had character, without sacrificing any power.

And then came “A Salty Dog.” Which got great reviews. And I would have purchased it if I had had more money, or had heard it at a friend’s house, but at the time it was just too much of a risk.

And then came “Home.” The reviews said it was a different sound, harder rock, that Matthew Fisher had left and this allowed the guitarist Robin Trower to shine. Robin Trower? I hadn’t even known his name prior to this, and once members start leaving the band it’s a bad sign.

And it’s not like “Home” got any radio play, at least not on New York City radio. You didn’t even hear “A Salty Dog.” All those bands bitching they can’t get exposure today. Yesterday you didn’t even need a hit single, your fans could carry you, word was spread person to person, via mouth. And believe me, most of the fans of the initial hit, “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” were not keeping the band alive, but others, who saw something in the act, and needed to own the albums.

So in July 1970, I sat stoned in the fraternity house bedroom of a Cornell student whose father ran the summer camp I was working at. This guy had more albums than anybody I knew. To the point where he bought them wholesale from Sam Goody, he even gave me the connection. But most of the albums were at camp, I remember he had “Cucumber Castle,” I didn’t know anybody who had that Bee Gees album, and he also had “Moondance,” that’s how I got into Van Morrison, it was the opening track, “And It Stoned Me.”

But in this bedroom, the only two albums that appealed to me were “McCartney” and “Home.” And at this point, I didn’t own “McCartney,” of course I knew “Maybe I’m Amazed,” but at the time, reviews were kind of middling, and like I said, I only had so much money, and to listen to that album stoned… “Teddy Boy” and “Every Night” revealed themselves to me.

As did “Whisky Train” from “Home.” You only had to hear it once, you were woken up immediately, the riff became emblazoned in your brain, hear it once and you never forgot it. (But for some reason, “Shine on Brightly” and “Home” are not on streaming services.)

But even better was the opening cut on the follow-up, “Simple Sister.” (“Broken Barricades” is also absent from streaming services, which is a crime, because if youngsters today could just hear “Simple Sister.”) And the opening track on the second side, “Power Failure.” The two were magic. I remember buying that album used, along with “John Wesley Harding,” from an upperclassman at college, those were the last two used albums I ever purchased, no one treated, nor respected, their vinyl like me.

And then the band split apart. Robin Trower had his own crew. I immediately had to buy “Twice Removed From Yesterday.” He didn’t really break through until his second LP, “Bridge of Sighs,” but I purchased them all, and I know it’s strange, but the one I played most, was the one that moved in a disco direction, “In City Dreams.” Listen to the opening cut, “Somebody Calling,” infectious. And while I’m on the Trower tip, I also want to recommend 1990’s “In the Line of Fire,” with Davey Pattison instead of James Dewar on vocals. It’s an Eddie Kramer production, and sounds like it, hits you right in the gut with power, but music was changing and it got little traction.

Meanwhile, Procol Harum soldiered on, did an album with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and had a hit! “Conquistador” was everywhere, in an age where everybody did not have an FM radio in the car, I certainly didn’t in my ’63 Chevy. But the intelligentsia always wondered, why did Brooker sing the word as “quiz” as opposed to “keys”?

Although primed for further success, now with the best company extant, Warner Brothers, Procol Harum could not deliver. I purchased 1973’s “Grand Hotel” and 1974’s “Exotic Birds and Fruit,” and I preferred the latter over the former, but neither got any traction in the marketplace.

And then after the band faded away, they reformed in the nineties, and made an album for Lou Maglia’s Zoo, back when startup labels was a thing, and many people considered “The  Prodigal Stranger” one of their best ever, but seemingly only fans ever heard it.

And then I heard Gary Brooker at the Universal Amphitheatre, which itself no longer exists. Believe me, he wasn’t the guy I wanted to see, I was not eager to hear “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” and speaking of white, that was the color of his hair, long before Peter Frampton went bald and the rest of the classic acts’ hair either fell out or turned gray.

But the power of his voice! Man, he looked old, but when Gary Brooker sang he was the youngest star on stage, and certainly stole the show. And ever since, whenever his or his band’s name has come up I’ve testified about this appearance.

And now Gary Brooker’s dead. 76. Cancer.

Now our rock stars, we expect them to die young from misadventure, bad behavior. But when they don’t, we think they’ll be here forever, but this has turned out not to be true. They’re now dropping like flies. David Bowie and Glenn Frey were shockers, now when a star of the sixties and seventies goes…we realize they made it to their seventies, shorter than what we’d like, but they led a full life. But now they’re gone, and you know what that means, we’re next. Even worse, their music will probably die with us. It meant so much to us, it was not background, but foreground, the essence. We knew who the stars were, them, not us. We waited with bated breath for their new albums. Which we played over and over, trying to get deeper, to excavate all the meaning. And sure, we wanted to hear the greatest hits, but we loved that they played the new material in concert, that’s why we went to the show, we were diehards, not casual fans.

But now it seems only we know. Oh, Gary Brooker’s death is all over the news today, but it’ll be gone by next week, if not tomorrow. There won’t be follow-up stories, like there were with P.J. O’Rourke. And no disrespect to Mr. O’Rourke, but I’m sure if he were still here even he would testify that the written word paled in comparison to the music of the rock stars. Hell, rock music killed the Great American Novel. No, after “Sgt. Pepper” you wanted to make the Great American Album”!

That’s a passé concept today. Oh, people still make albums, but not only is physical a drop in the bucket, there aren’t two sides, with opening and closing tracks. And the albums of yore were long if they were forty minutes, now they’re an hour, or longer. And with money and distribution precious, you did your best to lay it all on the line, because you might not get another chance to record for a year, if ever!

So if you pull the lens back, Gary Brooker is the vocalist of one stone cold classic, that continues to live, a la the Moody Blues’s “Nights in White Satin,” but is “A Whiter Shade of Pale” forever? Well, it certainly doesn’t fit anywhere in today’s hit parade, but maybe synchs will keep it alive, a la “Don’t Stop Believin'” in “The Sopranos.”

And yes, all boomers know “Conquistador.” But youngsters do not.

And Procol Harum is not the Doors, with a cult of dark personality sustaining the act through the generations.

In truth, Procol Harum is just another rock band from when rock ruled the world. When your music spoke for you. We really have no idea who Gary Brooker was, he didn’t even write the lyrics, but that powerful voice, we thought we knew him. Did we? Lord only knows. But right there is the mystery and magic of classic rock.

I know who Gary Brooker was. I will continue to think about and play his music. But I am one of only a few who were shocked by his death. Well, not exactly shocked…I winced, another one is gone? I will remember. Because with one tune you can embed yourself in another person’s life, and Gary Brooker did this, more than once. Shine on brightly, you made us quite insane, AND WE LOVED IT!

“Downfall: The Case Against Boeing”: https://bit.ly/3gZx6hC

You want to watch this. On Netflix.

I’ve had a fascination with aircraft ever since my first jet flight on a Boeing 720B. We all knew the 707, it substituted for “jet” the same way “Kleenex” substitutes for “tissue.” Hell, ultimately Steve Miller sang a song about it. So what was a 720B?

I started to pay attention to the jets at the airport. The 727 was the one with the three engines at the back, with the high tailfeather. The DC-9 was similar, but smaller, with only two engines. The DC-10 was like a giant 727, and it had a spotty safety record. You started to worry about flying on a DC-10 towards the end of its service.

And then came Airbus. AirBUS? It’s not a bus, but a plane! And there’s no way the Europeans could compete with Boeing, NO WAY!

Only that proved to be untrue. Just like our ability to win in Vietnam. Boomers were brought up in an age where the United States was the undisputed king, we thought there was nothing our country couldn’t achieve, in truth all the boomers were active patriots, waving the flag, until the mid-sixties and Vietnam, when they might be sent to Southeast Asia and get their ass shot off in an unwinnable war.

That was the human element.

And that’s what “Downfall” adds to the picture. I knew almost everything in the flick, having followed the story closely, but to see the relatives of the dead? You never recover from that. And I can’t think of a worse way to die than in an airplane. Come on, to this day when something odd happens on the jet you start to contemplate it, especially when the captain comes on and says there’s a problem. I’ve been there, I don’t think my anxiety has ever been higher than the return flight to the airport we’d taken off from.

But in truth, your odds of dying in the crash of a major airline jet are infinitesimal, your odds of dying in a car are higher. But when it happens, essentially no one survives. I mean dying in an avalanche is bad, but in a matter of minutes you pass out. The plane heading straight down to the land or sea…I don’t even want to contemplate it.

So there are two stories involved here. The one of the two crashes, the Lion and Ethiopian 737 Maxes, and the corporate greed that ultimately caused the problem.

You see Boeing was beaten to the punch by Airbus. Boeing was disrupted. By technology. Airbus provided a much more fuel efficient airplane and Boeing had nothing to compete with it, to create a brand new competitor would take nearly a decade. So Boeing gussied up the decades old 737 and sold it as a solution.

But you can’t continually fix the past, oftentimes you have to start with a blank sheet of paper. Techies are normally good with this. Write off the past for a better future. Which is why I’m against the EU standardizing USB-C as the world’s connector. You want to impede technological innovation? Hell, the Lightning connector in today’s iPhones is far superior to the 30 pin one offered on the original devices, and smaller too.

But it’s the emphasis on corporate greed that ultimately resonates here.

Boeing moved its headquarters to Chicago. That would be like Universal Music doing the same, it made no sense, the planes were built in Seattle and the South Carolina.

But what this documentary does so well is delineate the schism that ultimately led to the crashes. Boeing merged with the fading McDonnell Douglas, which itself was the result of a merger, and ultimately the McDonnell Douglas brass ended up in control. And they had no understanding of the Boeing corporate culture, and only cared about profits. They wanted to make their bonuses!

And that’s America in a nutshell. Why is it that a corporation’s only duty is to deliver shareholder wealth? I don’t see that in the Bible.

And forget the 737 Max, if you follow the sphere, you know there are problems with the 787 Dreamliner. I’ll make it simple, they’re built shoddily, and therefore they keep on getting recalled and grounded. Build it once, right, the foundation is key. But the foundation went out the window when CEOs could suddenly end up billionaires solely from their compensation at the company.

I mean how do you remove metal filings from the wiring?

In truth all new planes need modifications. Which is why savvy customers never bought a car in the year of its introduction, nor a new tech product. But then Toyota always got it right and so did the tech companies, the products worked, right out of the box, and you expected that. So you expected the 737 Max to not be rotten at its core. But it was.

And it all came down to efficiency. If they told the airlines and the FAA the plane was significantly different from the original 737, pilots would need simulator training, and that’s very costly.

But it turned out the pilots ended up needing to be trained anyway. Never mind the planes sitting on the tarmac for all those months, waiting for a software update.

Yes, welcome to the modern world, where software is king. For those of us conscious before the twenty first century this is hard to fathom. The hardware was king. And if you were savvy, you might be able to fix it yourself. Now you can’t fix your own car. Then again, they break down a lot less. And when there’s a problem, Tesla just sends an update over the air, via the internet, and it’s solved. Meanwhile, Detroit is trying to meld the old with the new and so far it hasn’t worked well. It’s kind of like Apple, building the computer is the easiest part, it can be done in factories by low-paid employees in China. But there’s no way in hell those workers can write the software that makes them work.

So this story is continuing, not only at Boeing, but Airbus too, Qatar Airways is complaining that its A350s are defective, with the paint peeling. Then again, Airbus admits the flaws, no one other than the Qatar government believes there’s a safety problem, and in truth it’s just about money.

So, you see the thousands of people building Boeing planes. And you can’t help but see the discrepancy in pay between them and those in the C-Suite. Now we see income inequality everywhere we go. And like in the Amazon warehouses, Boeing workers had goals they had to hit no matter what, and what was sacrificed was safety.

But you’ll learn all that in “Downfall.” Which is not a big commitment, only an hour and a half. And it holds your interest throughout.

And in truth the buzz is building, this one film is going to dent Boeing in a way years of news stories has not. But the reason I watched the film was the personal recommendations from my readers. The rest of the hype just flew right by me.

It shouldn’t fly right by you.

Watch this.

You give the audience what it wants. You don’t put the shareholders first, you don’t create your business plan in a vacuum, winners take direction from what is in the heads of consumers, and if they’re really savvy, they get ahead of the public and give them what they don’t even know they want, i.e. Spotify.

That’s right, the record business was the canary in the coal mine for digital disruption, yet every business believes the rules established in the twenty year transition don’t apply to them. Then again, the movie business always thought it was superior to the music business, even though it was Warner Brothers’ record companies that threw off all the cash that built the company’s cable system.

So the record business was flying high. It figured out how to charge double, even more, for the same music, getting customers to buy it all over again. People were told the CD was superior, and then companies stopped manufacturing vinyl and cassettes, forcing you to buy the CD. If a single was a hit, they cut it out, i.e. stopped selling it, and made consumers buy the album.

And then came Napster, the poster child for digital disruption.

The record business was making so much money in the nineties it was insane. The executives became household names, whereas prior to the end of the twentieth century the hoi polloi had no idea who ran record companies, after all, weren’t the stars the acts? No! And even to this day, the acts are fungible, the companies remain, that’s the perspective of the major labels. Furthermore, they’ve got insurance, i.e. their catalogs, so they’ll be sitting at the table until copyrights run out, which they never seem to do, the corporations using their political muscle to extend them. And these same people were pissed when the public appropriated their content to make new works on YouTube, and then TikTok, now they’re begging for their content to be used. But you follow, you don’t restrict. You don’t institute a RootKit scheme. If you customers are not perceived as friends, you’re screwed. Unless you’re the only game in town, and therefore the two most hated enterprises extant survive, i.e. Ticketmaster and cable companies. Forget that Ticketmaster is just a front for the acts, and the fees don’t go straight to the company’s bottom line, people hate Ticketmaster.

The same way artists hate Spotify.

Ticketmaster will talk about the advantages it provides, the ability to buy a ticket 24/7 from anywhere on your handheld device. But people forget the past. Artists bitch that they’re not making the bucks of the pre-internet era, not knowing that without the technical advantages they wouldn’t even be able to participate, forget the remuneration.

And then you hear the refrain that music’s value has been reduced. Well, I’ve got to ask you, what’s the value of the device you’re reading this on, all the technology, your smartphone and computer are bargains. And in truth, the value of a product is what people will pay for it, not how much money or blood, sweat and tears you invested in creating/manufacturing it.

So it took Spotify with its free tier to kill piracy. And the truth is the free tier is monetized with ads and statistics tell us it’s the main driver of subscriptions. That people who listen for free want unfettered access, the ability to listen to exactly what they want when they want, sans commercials. Just like someone PAYING a TV streaming service wants content on their terms.

And it wasn’t that way for a very long time.

But then came on demand, and then came streaming, and then came “House of Cards,” where Netflix released the entire season at once. And that was the paradigm until…

Streaming became the norm.

HBO refuses to change its game. Which is why I no longer watch their product. I can’t wait week to week. I forget too much, I can’t be as emotionally involved, it’s a story, back in the days of Dickens they serialized books, but no longer, imagine having to wait a week for the next chapter, the book business would be eviscerated.

Same deal with Apple TV+. Their biggest success, “Ted Lasso”…I still haven’t watched the second season, but if they released it all at once I would have. But the buzz is already gone, there’s a tsunami of new stuff, if you can gain someone’s attention, keep it. Do you know how hard it is to have people come back week after week, especially if the series starts off crappy?

Like Apple’s “The Morning Show.” The first few episodes had horrible buzz, so almost everybody tuned out. But those who stuck with it said it got better, but it was too late.

As for “Mrs. Maisel’…

We just started a series on Netflix entitled “Unauthorized Living,” still haven’t figured out what’s going on, but I’m intrigued, yet then I remembered “Mrs. Maisel” was coming out on Friday, and I tuned in and there were only TWO EPISODES! On a holiday weekend! Furthermore, the first eighty percent of the first episode was nearly unwatchable, so cheesy, so two-dimensional with the actors chewing the scenery. I almost had to turn it off, and I’m a fan. But I stuck with it and watched the second episode and it was somewhat better and if the rest of the series had been available I would have continued. Now I’m not sure I’ll even go back. I mean you had me and you let me go? Doesn’t anybody at Amazon know about the attention economy?

And dripping out episodes makes no sense at Amazon, since all of its subscribers are locked in via Prime, they want the fast free shipping, the video is just a bonus. Apple is in a bind, it’s got very little product and everybody is on a free subscription but those are ending and the Cupertino company thinks week by week is the only way to keep people subscribing. But there was a new show reviewed in the papers today, starring Adam Scott, who I’m a fan of, but one paper said it sucked, that only one episode was necessary, not a complete series, and the other said it was better but was I really going to waste my time checking it out? I mean dribbling out episodes is akin to having intercourse for months without orgasm. Who wants that?

Nobody. And you listen to your customers, because they have options.

Yes, I watch Netflix because if I’m into something I can consume it straight, I can have a deep, intense experience.

That’s right, to me streaming television isn’t entertainment, it’s ART! Which is how you should treat it. I love being taken away, caught up in a story, returning to it night after night until it’s finished. I can’t have that experience if I have to wait week by week to see episodes.

And therefore I won’t write about it. And I don’t think I’ve got that much influence, but I’ve got some, and what these companies are looking for is buzz. And right now my buzz on the new season of “Mrs. Maisel” is it’s for diehards only, and really you don’t have to watch it. Wait until the series plays out, wait to hear what people have to say about it before you dive in, because our time is precious. That’s the number one crime in my book, WASTING MY TIME!

Which is one of the reasons I rarely talk on the telephone. You tell your story, you don’t want to hear mine. And I can’t jump in and stop you, it’s too impolite. Whereas in an e-mail or text I can get to the heart of the matter, and no one is interrupting me when I speak. And in truth, the younger generation rarely talks on the phone. Parents complain, voicemails go unanswered. Why won’t they pick up? Because they don’t want their time wasted. They want to answer messages on their own schedule, maybe instantly, maybe an hour or two later. Maybe they’re busy. There’s nothing worse than having the phone ring when you’re deep into something else. And if you don’t pick up they leave a message and if you don’t get back to them you’re an a-hole, and that’s quite a burden.

If I’m bothering to give you my attention, which is the absolute hardest thing for you to get from me, you’ve got to treat me right, you’ve got to make it easy, you’ve got to deliver on my terms, otherwise you’re out of step in the twenty first century. Spotify was started by a twentysomething. Amazon Prime Video and HBO Max are run by lifers who think they are doing god’s work, delivering the programming which too often sucks. These people don’t have their ear to the ground. It’s young people who made bingeing popular. Do you really think they’re going to wait week to week for episodes? Are you dreaming? They want all of it on demand, so they can consume it whenever they want. And if they like something, they tell everybody! As for building water cooler moments…there are no water coolers anymore. That’s one of the main criteria of young job seekers, the ability to work at home, and flexible hours. And every study says that those who work from home work harder and longer than those in the office! Yes, there are some enterprises that benefit from people being in the office, but many fewer than oldsters think.

And what do the oldsters do?

Crap all over Millennials and Gen-Z’ers. Saying they’re entitled babies. No, they have a sense of self-worth. And enough with the b.s. about their short attention spans, if you can binge a TV show for ten or twelve hours straight, which they do, you do not have an attention span issue. But they only do this when the product is superior and it’s made available in a palatable way. What blew up TV was the quality. The shows of yore wouldn’t be able to compete today. That’s one of the reasons the networks keep losing market share. Turns out if there’s an abundance of choice, everybody doesn’t want to watch the same thing, and certainly don’t want to watch something bland made to appeal to everybody, it’s the edges that got people hooked on the new TV series.

Not that I think anything I say above will have any effect. Because these people know better. Just like the Democrats, saying they’ve got to put the progressives in their place. Don’t they get it? Just like streaming TV, it’s the edges that motivate people, the same old bland b.s. of the past is how Trump got elected to begin with. And speaking of Trump, the Democrats fight him and the Republicans by adhering to processes from the past, whereas the Republicans are not constrained. One thing you’ve got to say about the right, it thinks outside the box, the Texas abortion law, the new voting laws. What do the Democrats do? Sit back and cry and then are surprised when they lose, kind of like the record companies and Napster. The record companies tried suing their customers…that didn’t work out. But do you know what did? Daniel Ek and streaming, he brought the revenues back. But if you listen to the scuttlebutt, you’d believe Spotify and Ek are the devil. It’s really no different from consuming anti-vax information. You go with what feels right, you align with the gang, the truth is lost in the shuffle. All truth seems to be lost in the shuffle.

And the great thing about streaming TV is when done right it is truth, a truth you cannot find in Hollywood tentpole movies, nor in most of the hit records. The public knows, which is why they’re addicted to the plethora of shows produced under the new model. And if you don’t like something, you don’t have to sit through it. Which is exactly why MTV stopped airing videos. When they became an on demand item online, why did people need videos on MTV? But everybody had nostalgia for the old way and complained. Okay, all these years later, do you really miss MTV? Waiting to watch one of the handful of videos they actually unspooled?

Being married to the past is a death trap, especially in a technology driven world. I don’t have to watch your TV show at all, I can be entertained on TikTok, which is more authentic than many of the shows offered. The public has options and you want to reduce them? You want the public to comport with your desires? This old game has lost again and again and again in the internet era, and you’re employing it? And the same customers who say they like episodes dropped week by week, and there are some, are the aged nostalgic for the old days, like those out of touch at the VMAs at the beginning of this century chiding MTV to air more videos. MTV didn’t listen, because these vocal complainers were out of touch! As a matter of fact, if MTV had listened it would have had a very short run. It canned the original veejays, knowing that aging with the audience is death, you’ve got to appeal to young people. “Rolling Stone” failed this mission and therefore became marginalized. Quick, have you ever heard a Millennial or Gen-Z’er talk about “Rolling Stone,” ever?

Don’t satisfy those at the end of the tail, but those at the head.

As for all those people bitching about smartphone use… Do you ever hear a young person complaining? They’re in touch with everybody 24/7, they have the world at their fingertips, do you really think they want to log off to listen to your boring conversation? We’ve established they have all the time in the world if it’s interesting, but the old model delivers boredom, I remember the old days, no one need be bored today.

Because there are so many options.

So if you hook someone, don’t let them go! Which is what social media is about for musicians. You’re satiating your core customers, feeding them so they’ll continue to be fans, so they’ll bring new fans aboard. it’s not advertising and it’s got to be honest and genuine, otherwise it’s worthless. In the past it didn’t work this way. But in the past there were so many years between albums that by time your next one came out the teenager was married with children and was no longer a rabid fan, so you had to try and convince them over and over again, via an endless stream of hit singles, imploring them to buy the album. Whereas for years you had them in the palm of your hand, you just let them go, it’s you who broke off the relationship, the same way Amazon Prime is breaking the relationship with me re “Mrs. Maisel.” AND THIS IS A TECH COMPANY?

Everything you say about this is spot on, Bob. Can’t add anything to it. Luke’s the best!

Eric Pedersen

Topeka, KS

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So crazy you wrote this because I was just listening to this song today and thinking how brilliant every bit of it is – from the beautiful piano intro (written by Luke, played by Paich), Luke’s deeply heartfelt vocal performance, the brilliant vocal harmony arrangements featuring Timothy B. Schmit’s lovely tenor, to the lush-but-never-over-wrought orchestration, and Lukather’s soaring and perfectly-dramatic guitar solo. (Not to mention the exactly-as-it-should-be-done performances of David Hungate and Jeff Porcaro on bass and drums.) It’s a great song, performed and produced perfectly by Toto and recorded by Al Schmitt. Timeless.

It should be a legendary track – up there with so many classics – but like most of Toto’s genius, it’s kind of ignored and set aside because it’s Toto. I guess in the end it doesn’t matter, because we know it’s awesome.

In this world of instant access, perhaps it will get a second life when some influencer uses it on TikTok when he or she goes through a breakup, and then everyone will realize how great it is.

You Know I Won’t Hold My Breath Now…

Great one, Bob. Thanks!

Brian Vitellaro

Austin, TX

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My favorite songs by Toto were sang by Lukather. I don’t know if I’d call them yacht rock necessarily but they’re definitely soft rock gold.

Gary Shindler

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Toto were the FIRST punk rockers!
To heck with Patti myth!

Kenn Kweder

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You nailed it. I’ve always loved that song. And I’ve always respected that band. They were never cool… they just made really great records that still sound great four decades later.

Dave Hoeffel

SiriusXM 60s Gold

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Also Timothy B Schmit on backing vocals! Arguably Luke’s greatest guitar solo. His feel when he follows the melody is unparalleled. He repeats this with the ballad Anna off the Seventh One. His memoir goes into great detail on the production of this song (and album) and is definitely worth a read.

Greg Simon

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And while you’re throwing out kudos to “I Won’t Hold You Back”…

Allow me to add that it is my guilty pleasure as well as my choice for best power ballad ever.

All ultimately tied together with the background vocals of Timothy B Schmit.

And speaking of Poco—

If you’re looking for another similar song that is both soft and soaring…

Give “The Last Goodbye” from Legend a listen.

Marty Bender

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Great piece on the magic of TOTO’s music. My favorite Fahrenheit track is the same as yours, the first side closer “I’ll Be Over You.”

What makes it even more special is the vocal depth and goosebump moments delivered by Michael McDonald backing up Lukather – check the video and their ”beatlesesque” rooftop moment: https://youtu.be/r7XhWUDj-Ts (which also ’screens’ the Fahrenheit album cover 1.07 into the video;)).

Cheers,

Morten Dahlgren

Malmo, Sweden

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Thank you for giving props to Steve Lukather and Toto! As a touring and session guitarist out of California and Nashville, he will always occupy a place in my guitar pantheon.

Michael Gregory

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Hey Bob,

People either get Toto, or they don’t.

Glad to see you get it.

Gary Berlak
Fresno

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Agreed on Toto, great band, and many of us less-dogmatic prog rockers consider Toto prog.

American prog bands? Kansas, Starcastle, Spock’s Beard, Echolyn. There are more, and granted, the genre’s best are from
across the pond, but the above mentioned are not too shabby.

Best,
fritzdoddy

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When “I Won’t Hold You Back” was getting its initial airplay, I thought it sounded like a more grandly arranged sequel to the Eagles “I Can’t Tell You Why.”  When I discovered that the high vocal part on the record was Timothy B. Schmit, that revelation explained why.  I think Timmy’s vocal on it is as essential as Lukather’s to the recording’s success.

Scott Paton

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Their 35th Anniversary/Live from Poland is brilliant!!  That one and Hornsby Live from Town Hall got me through the past two years.

Long live real players playing great songs live!!!

Mitchell Fox

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Toto , bigger everywhere but here…opening for Journey next month. Hope Schon brings Luke out to play together.  That would be pretty  cool and definitely worth seeing.

Tom Hedtke

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You wrote a wonderful piece. Paich is my buddy…bestie at my recent wedding. His first solo record is coming…I heard it today….40 years on still writin’ an’ playin’ his ass off….and as you noted…still doin’ it for music not fame.

Keep your craftsmanship comin’…Best, Steve Trudell

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Great song. I love Toto and it’s interesting they sell out shows overseas but cant in the US.

Kyle J. Ferraro

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Ref: I won’t hold you back.

Kudos for recognizing the talents of Toto Bob, a much underrated band.

In England they were derided as being “corporate rock”, as if a bunch of suits in a smoke filled conference room had somehow drawn them up on a dry erase board.

What they were actually (shock, horror) were talented musicians who could play, sing AND write.

I saw them twice in London, the line up with Kimball, and then with Williams, and they were excellent both times.

I do take issue with your comment “there was never a credible American prog rock band” though.

Yes, my homeland certainly provided the template and the heavy hitters of the genre, but don’t discount Kansas, Spock’s Beard and Happy The Man, to name but three.

Keep on being an oasis of reason in this desert of craziness Bob.

Cheers, Mark Hudson. Schenectady NY.

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Thanks for the Toto review! I love these guys, and it’s rare to see a positive word for their multitude of accomplishments. Give the whole catalog a try. The later albums mostly led by Steve Lukather are also quite amazing. Crank up Tambu on your favorite speakers. That opening track will blow your mind. Falling in between, Mindfields, all excellent.

Sam Glaser

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Bob!!

Can’t believe you wrote about this and ever so happy you did.

That guitar solo, against the symphonic backdrop  – and all of the dynamics involved harmonically are exactly why the song elevates from the speakers.

Kudos to you on recognizing that ( I Won’t Hold You Back ) and also, the genius of the second album in its entirety.      White Sister is a rocker that misses nothing and hits between the eyes – along w/ St. George and the Dragon etc.

Both Hydra and IV were staples for me as a young guitarist/pianist and aspiring composer back in the day.

Toto were/are no joke.    The joke is on those who missed the genius.   Thanks so much for this reminder,  and you are spot on when saying its as good (or better) today, than when it was originally released.

Seriously great band.

Side note:  Jeff Porcaro might be the most underrated session/rock drummer of his time.   RIP.

Tom O’Keefe
Neurodisc Records, Inc

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Lukather is one amazingly incredible guitarist. Acknowledged as one of the best in the industry. One of those guys that is under the public’s radar, but anyone who knows music, knows Steve Lukather.

Toto will live forever in our musical conscience due to Africa and Rosanna, maybe 2 of the greatest songs AND performances ever recorded.

Leigh Goldstein

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JFC I forgot all about 99.  Thanks for the memory jog.  Haven’t heard that in probably 30 years.  Not that I particularly need or want to, but it’s funny how a song can bring you back to a certain time and place as though no time has elapsed and you’re still there.

catmonster

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Glad you flagged this song up. It really is a gem. I discovered Toto IV when I was about 25 in 2007, and I played it to death every day for the summer. It literally blew me away. In the UK – and across Europe, I’m guessing – Roger Sanchez had had a huge hit with ‘Another Chance’ – a house track which sampled ‘I Won’t Hold Back’ beautifully, so this song was already familiar to me. Check out the video which taps into the isolation within the song respectfully: https://youtu.be/rdlvPe959Ck

You mention the BVs – pretty sure it’s Timothy B Schmidt who’s bringing the honey. One of the greatest BV vocal performances in my opinion.

Despite some of the dated instrumentation on this album, it stands the rest of time. As close to perfection as a musician is likely to get in the studio. I might just put it on again now…

About 10 years ago, I finally got to see Toto at the Hammersmith Apollo in London with some close muso friends – I took my mum too. Joseph Williams killed it, and to see Nathan East on bass in addition to the regular Toto members was one of the greatest treats of our lifetimes.

Take care and keep them coming, Bob.

Dave Thorogood.

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Before I ever met him, I had always wanted to ask Steve Lukather, “Where have you been in life that your heart aches so?”  These songs rip your heart out.  “I Won’t Hold You Back” in particular.  For years, I heard he hung out at Hugo’s in LA, so I would always try to “be around” when I was in town….thing is, I never asked WHICH Hugo’s, so I was always at the one near Coldwater Canyon where a friend of mine lives.  Was that the right one?  Didn’t matter, started doing the “old school” (pre-paid meet & greet days) operative and staked out the stage door after shows.  He would usually be the last one out lol  To that end, that heartache, where he’s been in life that these words pour out of him, it’s in the book, The Gospel According to Luke.  A MUST read.

Roger Sanchez had an EDM oriented hit with this song in 2001….much to the surprise of the band.  Another friend of mine said he ran into Luke not long after & he said it was the biggest #1 hit they ever had that they didn’t get paid for.  Word on the street being, the artist found a copy of IV in a used record bin and thought the hook in “I Won’t Hold You Back” would work on his own recording.  I’m sure that credit/payment got worked out in the end….

Once in a while, this song shows up on Sirius 80’s On 8, usually in their hourly “Treasure Chest” selection or a repeat of an American Top 40 countdown.  While other songs get the airplay, this is the one where it all really came together.  They even had Timothy B. Schmit doing harmonies.  As to the Hydra album?  You really got my attention there.  Worn out CD copies of that….which is nearly impossible. Several tours back, they were performing both the title track and “St George & The Dragon” back to back.  Bliss.  Pure bliss.  The promotional videos they did for the two are interpretations of the album artwork, which features Steve Porcaro.  I have a friend who lives & breathes “99”, to this day his favorite Toto track.  HIS fave album happens to be Fahrenheit….so this world, crazy as it may be, is a small patch in the universe.

I love Toto and even more love to read your interpretations and observations about them.  Have been lucky to see them numerous times over the years, usually always a different incarnation.  One particular tour featured original bassist David Hungate.  At one time, I had always hoped to see Joseph Williams with them live and now I have seen him more than Bobby Kimball, who often plays his own live gigs now.  These guys are the real deal.  Completely accessible and down to Earth.  Was standing behind Joseph at the in-house merch stand of The Capitol in Port Chester (NY), he was buying just like the rest of us.  And Luke….once handed me his cell phone and wanted me to call his wife to come pick him up!!  Ha.  That was a while back.  Anxious to see the NEW Toto live next month.

Thank you for the memories.

Kevin Andrusia

Orlando, FL

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Great song but you buried the lead, the secret sauce

no mention of Timothy B Schmidt of Poco and Eagles fame singing basically the lead on the chorus.

It’s what drew me to the song almost 40 years ago.

Donald Furrer

Poco, Toto and Eagles fan

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Early on in college, I went with my best friend and a few other mixed mates to a house party that started small and intimate, but was quickly overrun with frat-adjacent hyperheterosexual dolts and teased-hair airheads, all intoxicated but not intoxicating, all friends of the host.

Boozing and barfing wasn’t our scene — my best friend and I were the only two sober people there, and we were getting sick of being asked what was wrong with us for not drinking — so we decided to get back at the host by each stealing a small something from the house that the other person wanted. After we finished spiking a few beers with as much pepper as we could find, we settled on our contraband: sunglasses for my friend, and a cassette of “Toto IV” for me.

At the time, I was listening to a lot of rap and R&B, but I always had a soft spot for Toto and their lower charting Top 40 hits, from “99” to “Make Believe” and “Stranger in Town.” And while I liked “I Won’t Hold You Back” well enough, I didn’t love it until I drove my gang back home, with “Toto IV” in the car cassette player, the soundtrack to a night drive full of laughter and camaraderie and Midwestern youthful dumbassery.

But “I Won’t Hold You Back” didn’t become my favorite Toto song ever until later in life, until I loved and lost, crushed down by failed liaisons that spoke languages for which I had no fluency, with only the right tune as a Rosetta Stone to decipher the true heart of the matter. Today, it’s a struggle to hold back tears when that call-and-response between orchestra and guitar sweeps in, tears as both a appreciation of musical beauty and as a resigned understanding of romantic realities, and to have that depth of feeling from a pop song is the rarest of gifts.

As the music of my youth is pervasively strip-mined and fracked for the last traces of Meaningful Content to better sell a product or track a trailer, I’m so happy that “I Won’t Hold You Back” is still mine, still connected to my thoughts and feelings and experiences, the only ownership that truly matters. I can never thank Luke and the gang enough.

Erick Haight

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Something often missed with “I Won’t Hold You Back” is how Lukather’s really strong guitar chords in the choruses essentially created the 80s power ballad, BEFORE Sister Christian or Home Sweet Home.  And then there’s a really hip arrangement trick starting at about 3:20 (I had to listen again to find the time) where they have a very nice guitar solo but descending orchestra parts with french horn featured way up in the mix.  When do you hear that in pop music?  And it actually works really well.

I was also a fan of Fahrenheit.  Didn’t always like Joseph Williams’ tone in those days, but sang and wrote great melodies.  Their songs got LESS slick and more “out” on that record.  The title track was really hip and maybe should have been a single.  Williams has really worked on this aspect of his voice, and on more recent Toto and solo records, he sounds better than ever.  Really remarkable how he’s been able to hold up.  Lukather, too, as his little run of solo albums in and around 2010 were really outstanding.  Less slick than Toto, they had a feel that you just rarely get in today’s music with so much of it gridded out.

I will say that some modern producers seem to be having success without “over-gridding” things.  Daniel Tashian in Nashville is doing fantastic work in the pop and pop-country crossover fields, having actual success but kind of doing it old school.  That’s been amazing to watch in the last few years.  As when Steven Wilson rose up in the 2000s and started having a nice kind of success, sometimes sheer quality and sticking to guns is enough to get over.

Best regards,

Ross Storey

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Wow, man.  I got chills reading this email.  Thank you for shining an incredible positive light on a band that meant and means the world to me.

Toto IV, and yes, Fahrenheit, were supremely influential on me as a young wide-eyed wanna be studio keyboard player (I was 10 when IV was released, and the piano outro to Rosanna was so much schooling for me!  Listened over and over on a cassette in our living room by our hideous Kimball piano trying to be David Paich), and I remember distinctly buying Fehrenheit, used, I confess, on vinyl when buying vinyl was “less hip” at the glorious Record Trader on Reseda Blvd.

I agree with you— Fahrenheit was a SLEEPER and a beast.  “Without Your Love”— what a laid back but perfect way, somehow having an L.A. funk at such a ballad tempo… and yes, that incredible Amin Bhatia synth intro to the title track- so futuristic (I met Bhatia at the NAMM show once and after spotting his name tag COMPLETELY fan boy-ed out)… and Luke’s guitar sound on the “Till the End” solo— what a record.

I had the incredible opportunity to see the Toto “Isolation” tour at the Universal Amphitheatre- we got tickets because somehow my mom worked for Bobby Kimball’s insurance (Bobby was out of the band by this point so I still don’t get how this worked.).

Anyway, “I Won’t Hold You Back.”  I mean— Luke, the guitar sensation, writes it on PIANO.  And those lyrics.  It was always, “wait, isn’t he the real ROCKER in the band?  He FEELS things too??”  That song is a pop masterpiece… dripping with sentiment and perfection.  And Marty Paich’s orchestration and the LSO?? PLEASE.

I was somehow miraculously the first guy Toto tapped to play keys when David Paich couldn’t make a couple legs of the “Mindfields” tour in 2000— he showed me all the keyboard parts firsthand (Yeah, Paich— I never did get your “Ramsey Lewis” piano break in White Sister 100% correct!!) and took me under his wing.  The slightly grown up kid who worshipped his Toto IV cassette couldn’t believe what was happening.  I still can’t believe it happened.  They’ve been heroes and friends ever since.

I just treasure the fact that you chose to do this deep and REAL dive reflecting a little love and light onto a band, Lukather, and some records that really talented guys took a lot of time, effort and passion to create.  They are really special musicians, humans, and deserve a place at music’s table of greatness. While so many critics and the press took the easy pot shots saying these “hired gun pros” didn’t deserve to be taken seriously— I’ve never heard recorded evidence that proves their incredible worth, and never come across people who worked harder to achieve musical excellence.  I cherish the time I’ve spent with these guys— both as a listener and in their presence as inspiring and supportive people.

Bob, I really appreciate your love letter to Toto, “I Won’t Hold You Back” and their music.  I’ll read it often.

With much respect,

Jeff Babko

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I was hired by the guys in Toto to write the album essays for their 40th Anniversary Box Set “All  In”. I’m a writer, but I’m a fan first and that’s the approach I use when talking about bands I’m passionate about.

I became a fan of Toto back in ’83 with so many others thanks to Africa, but quickly delved backwards into their completed catalogue and followed them with the release of every album since.

Not only are they the most gifted musicians I have ever had the honour to hear, watch, hang with and absorb into my listening life over the last 40 years, but they are also the most grounded, humble and self-depreciating people you will find.

They play their talent and accomplishments down, but it should be celebrated at the highest level.

And whilst they have had a few singers come and go and come back again, its always been Toto. Bobby, Fergie and Joseph have all brought their unique personalties to the band, but never have they changed the band.

I can’t name my favourite Toto album, because on any given day it changes depending on my mood. Seldom has any band been so diverse across their history, but you know what? It doesn’t matter what album or what singer or what song….it always sounds like Toto.

The names of Steve Lukather, David Paich, Jeff Porcaro, Mike Porcaro, David Hungate, Steve Porcaro and the unofficial member Lenny Castro, plus singers Bobby Kimball, Fergie Frederiksen (RIP), Joseph Williams and the cast of musicians that followed in their footsteps should all be celebrated by those appreciate truly great songwriting, precision arrangements and production and unbelievable musicianship.

After all, they were good enough for Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, George Benson, Art Garfunkel, Chicago, David Foster, Richard Marx, Leo Sayer, Kenny Rogers, Lionel Richie, Olivia Newton John, Randy Crawford, Neil Diamond etc etc…

Andrew McNeice
MelodicRock.com

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A shit day redeemed!

While I knew Lukather shared lead vox on “Rosanna,” I am embarrassed to say I thought that was a fluke, I didn’t know he sang lead on all those other amazing songs.

If I’m being honest, I’ve only ever really known IV, which was the last album I had to have my mom buy me at the Murphy Mart before I was old enough to make my own purchases. I never made it to any of the other Toto albums, Kiss and Mötley Crüe made sure of that.

And I only remember playing “Rosanna,” and then flipping the record over and getting really good at laying the needle down just perfectly so I could skip right to “Africa.” But you inspired me to go back and listen to “I Won’t Hold You Back,” and oh man, it might be the best song on that album!

Then I dialed up “I’ll Be Over You,” just out of curiosity, assuming it wouldn’t ring a bell—I mean, August 1986? It was all Look What the Cat Dragged In and Dancing Undercover for me at that point—but when that chorus kicked in? OF COURSE I know that song, hallelujah, its splendor had me giggling. (I think I was confusing it with “I Can’t Hold Back.”)

Am I a little wine-drunk here at 12:34am? Sure. But I’m almost positive these masterpieces would be making me just as giddy if I were sober. And screw it, after the day I’ve had, I deserve to be doing what I’m doing right now, listening to every Toto single ever in chronological order.

And I’m only through “Hold the Line” and “I’ll Supply the Love,” so I’ve got a whole lot of unbridled joy ahead of me tonight before I pass out.

Dean Moore

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They had me for life at Hold the Line.

Bill Nelson