Toto IV is the fourth studio album by American rock music band Toto, released on April 8, 1982, by Columbia Records. The album's lead single, "Rosanna", peaked at number 2 for five weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, while the album's third single, "Africa", topping the Hot 100 chart, became the group's first and only number 1 hit., Billboard.com. Retrieved September 10, 2011. Both songs were hits in the UK as well, reaching number 12 and 3, respectively. Toto UK chart history , The Official Charts. Retrieved September 10, 2011. The fourth single, "I Won't Hold You Back", also peaked within the top ten on the Hot 100, at number 10 and atop the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts for three weeks. It also went into the top 40 in the UK. With the success of "Africa", the album climbed back into the top 10 in early 1983 on both sides of the Atlantic.
Toto IV received six in 1983 including Album of the Year, Producer of the Year for the band, and Record of the Year for "Rosanna". It reached number four on the Billboard 200 album charts in the United States, shortly after its release. It also reached the top ten in other countries, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, and Japan. It was also the last Toto album to feature their original bassist David Hungate until his return in 2014 (with the release of their 2015 album Toto XIV) when he was replaced by Mike Porcaro after the band's recording of the album, and also the final album to feature original lead vocalist Bobby Kimball until his comeback in 1998 (with the release of the 1999 album Mindfields).
The band went back to the formula that helped them succeed on their first album, having an album that touched on many different genres of music. They also utilized many outside musicians to help give the sound a more polished, fuller feel than they had on past albums.
This was the final album with the original Toto lineup. David Hungate, who moved to Nashville during the recording of the album, left the band to spend more time with his family. Two years later, shortly after beginning recording of their follow-up album, Bobby Kimball was fired by the band due to drug issues that were damaging his voice.
The band delayed touring after the release of the album to instead help in the production of Michael Jackson's Thriller album, as well as collaborating on Chicago's comeback album Chicago 16 that same year.
The multiple 24-track recorders were linked via a computerized SMPTE timecode system. One track of each machine contained the timecode synchronization signal, while 22 of the remaining 23 tracks of each reel were available for audio track recordings. (Typically, on analog 24-track recorders SMPTE was recorded on track 24, and the track next to it left blank to avoid any cross-talk or bleed over from the time code.) A significant number of tracks were copied and mixed down from those already recorded on another synchronized tape reel. This process lowered the amount of wear on the first generation tapes and helped maintain high quality sound during the extensive overdubbing and mixing process.
Toto
Additional musicians
Production
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