My Dad was a huge Toto fan. Growing up, I remember listening to the debut, IV, and The Seventh One A LOT. After he passed away in December, I got his vinyl and cd collections, and for some reason, I decided to put Farenheit and The Seventh One on, and I went specifically to the Farenheit title track and Stop Loving You, and I couldn't get them out of my head. Farenheit, the song, is like the quintessential 80's track, and Stop Loving You is such an overall great song. Anyway, I ended up really digging into their catalog, and bought up the few things my Dad didn't have. Needless to say, they've been in pretty regular rotation since June. I've mostly been drawn to the Simon Phillips years, because the 80's stuff is so ingrained in me. And man, Tambu, Mindfields, and especially Falling In Between are some great records. In fact, I would dare say that Falling In Between is their most complete album experience. Hot take, I know, but for me, it's the most consistent album in their catalog. Also, I discovered my dad had Simon Phillips' Protocol records (II-IV) and those are phenomenal records as well. I then went and got the Hiromi Trio Project albums and the new Derek Sherinian solo album to boot, simply because Simon played on them. Such a great drummer. And, it helps me stay connected to my Dad, because he was a huge fan of both Jeff Porcaro and Simon Phillips.
As for the announcement, I'm very interested to see what this new lineup is capable of. Spud Searight on drums is a beast. Has the groove of Porcaro and the chops of Phillips, so it will be interesting to see what music they decide to play.
Finally, I think I would rank the Toto albums as follows for me:
1. Falling In Between
2. The Seventh One
3. Toto IV
4. Mindfields
5. Kingdom of Desire
6. Toto
7. Tambu
8. Farenheit
9. Toto XIV
10. Hydra
11. Isolation
12. Turn Back
13. Toto XX: 1977-1997
14. Old is New