It’s the summer of 1981. Toto have been hastened into Sunset Sound, their recording studio of choice in their native Hollywood, to make their fourth album. Their third, Turn Back, had come out just six months earlier and wasn’t a great success – No.41 in the US at its best, and without a hit single. After striking gold with their self-titled, two million-selling debut album of 1978, the band were under mounting pressure from their record label Columbia, to deliver another multi-platinum smash, or else.
“Columbia had let our managers know they thought we were a one-hit wonder,” says David Paich, Toto’s principal songwriter and keyboard player. “Their thinking was: ‘We’ll see how this next one performs and decide if we pick up their option for more records.’”
