Turn Back: A Great ‘Lost’ Toto Album You Should Hear
Right before “Roseanna” and “Africa,” there was ‘Turn Back’
I don’t think I’d be too out of line here to suggest that the band Toto’s three most popular songs are probably “Hold The Line,” “Roseanna,” and “Africa.” Not only were each of them very popular when they were released, but they each still today get a lot of play on ‘oldies’ radio stations and satellite stations.
Also, they’re each incredibly popular on streaming platforms. For example, a search on Spotify just now showed me that “Africa” has had over 1.6 billion plays on the platform. “Hold The Line” has had over 700 million and “Roseanna” has had over 300 million.
“Hold The Line” came from Toto’s eponymously titled 1978 debut album and the other two songs were from their 1982 multi-Grammy award-winning album Toto IV. In between those albums, the band also scored a hit single with the song “99” from their second album, Hydra from 1979.
Unfortunately, though, the band didn’t have as much luck with their third album, Turn Back, which came out in 1981 — just a mere 13 months before Toto IV was released. While the album eventually sold enough copies over the years to get certified Gold, Turn Back was considered to be a commercial failure when it was released. It was the first of the…
