Toto 25th Anniversary: Live in Amsterdam

Like many formerly popular rock bands, Toto was very much a part of its time. And despite its quarter-century career, the group sounds mired in the late '70s and early '80s in this February 2003 concert from Amsterdam's Heineken Music Hall. Although Toto's signature tunes seemed fairly catchy back then, they haven't exactly worn well. Not really noted for their inspired lyrics, “Hold the Line,” “Africa,” and “Rosanna” nevertheless still sport the hooks that make them immediately recognizable (and listenable). Less ear-friendly are secondary Toto songs dispatched in a pair of medleys, as well as inferior covers of songs immortalized by their creators, such as George Harrison's “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Original group member Bobby Kimball is back at lead vocals, but, like his middle-aged bandmates, he sounds a bit enervated, and while not a rock 'n' roll dinosaur on the scale of, for instance, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Toto is far from timeless. Still, this well-captured retrospective (missing, unfortunately, their hit "99"), presented in DTS, Dolby Digital 5.1, and stereo, should be considered for exhaustive pop music DVD collections. Aud: P. (T. Rich)