Toto: 40 Tours Around the Sun Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

Toto: 40 Tours Around the Sun Blu-ray Movie Review

Some of you may have seen a YouTube video where a MIDI maven named John Keats fashioned a piano sequence from an outline of the continents (I've personally always kind of loved how "old school" sequencing software looked like even "older school" player piano rolls in their display versions). That original video spawned a whole host of subsequent memes which playfully replaced part of Keats’ original conception with “in jokes” about various regions. Among these was this video which kind of cheekily bursts into one of Toto’s most memorable hits when it gets to a certain continent. Toto has not only enjoyed significant success over the decades, it’s had a really remarkable series of musicians who have participated in the group at various points. This particular “anniversary” concert offers Steve Lukather on vocals and guitar, David Paich on keyboards and vocals, Steve Porcaro on keyboards, and Joseph Williams on vocals, along with a “little help from [their] friends” Shannon Forrest on drums, Lenny Castro on percussion, Shem Von Schroeck on bass and vocals and Warren Ham on sax, harmonica and vocals. Fans of the band will almost certainly enjoy this well sung and played concert, one which covers a number of Toto's biggest hits (including the one alluded to above), but which does kind of curiously omit some tunes that charted relatively highly. There are a number of interesting choices here (as outlined below), and the tunes have been fashioned to allow for some expressive playing by the band. The concert was filmed in Amsterdam in 2018 and clocks in at close to two and half hours, giving all of the principal band members a chance to stretch out on various tunes.

• Intro
• Hold the Line
• Lovers in the Night
• Spanish Sea
• I Will Remember
• English Eyes
• Jake to the Bone
• Lea
• Rosanna
• Miss Sun
• Georgy Porgy
• Human Nature
• Holyanna
• No Love
• Musanga
• Stop Loving You
• Girl Goodbye
• Angela
• Lion
• Dune (Desert Theme)
• While My Guitar Gently Weeps
• Stranger in Town
• Make Believe
• Africa
• The Road Goes On

Toto: 40 Tours Around the Sun Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Toto: 40 Tours Around the Sun is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Vision, an imprint of Eagle Rock Entertainment, and Universal Music Group with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.83:1. While large swaths of this concert are bathed in pretty deep tones like blues and purples, perhaps surprisingly detail levels are remarkably consistent throughout this presentation. While the lighting regimens give a somewhat unnatural look to the palette in terms of things like flesh tones and the like, fine detail makes it through the gauntlet very well. Coverage is excellent, though occasionally on the "arty" side, and there are some quick editing moments that can deprive long looks at things, which may give the perception at least of fewer fine detail levels being evident. Some very minor crush comes into play in terms of things like the black grand piano kind of fading into the surrounding shadows.

Toto: 40 Tours Around the Sun Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Toto: 40 Tours Around the Sun features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 mixes, though as tends to be the case with a lot of Eagle Rock concert releases, the disc has kind of curiously been authored to default to the stereo track. Both tracks offer great fidelity, with nicely nuanced dynamic range. The surround track definitely opens up the proceedings, offering nice breathing room for the multi-keyboards and other supporting rhythm instruments. I personally found that the surround track tended to over emphasize the rapturous crowd responses at times, something that the stereo iteration keeps slightly more tamped down.

Toto: 40 Tours Around the Sun Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The 40 Tours Featurette (1080p; 22:34) is a really appealing set of interviews with the band members.

Toto: 40 Tours Around the Sun Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Some longtime Toto fans may have a qualm or two about a couple of pretty well remembered tunes not making this particular playlist, but there are other perhaps unexpected pleasures here (including a rather nice reworking of a venerable Beatles classic). The band sounds great throughout, and this Blu-ray sports solid technical merits. Recommended.