STEVE LUKATHER: Candyman (ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Guitarist/vocalist and figurehead of the band Toto since its creation in 1977, but also the most sought-after studio guitarist in L.A. between 1978 and 1990, Steve Lukather created with other studio monsters, the group Los Lobotomys in 1989. This supergroup gathers the artists regularly performing at "The Baked Potato" in Hollywood (Jeff Porcaro, Vinnie Colaiuta, Lenny Castro, Will Lee, David Garfield...) and gives in a genre that mixes Rock, Blues, Jazz, Latin, Reggae and more, sometimes within the same track. But why do we dwell on this band? Simply because this "Candyman" could (should?) have been released under the name Los Lobotomys and is often considered as the second official recording of the band. Because apart from the absence of Jeff Porcaro, now replaced by Simon Phillips, the whole Baked Potato team is here reunited, even on the composition.

And the album starts with the track that synthesizes probably the best all the musical facets present here. Apart from the tribal side raised by the percussions and the massive choirs, "Hero With A 1000 Eyes" has a Jazzy side (the bass solo), a Rock side (the riff) and an AOR line in the vocals and the text. Powerful and rich, it opens an opus without dead time, in which no title is below the other. The band follows with a cover (its favorite exercise) and puts Hendrix in the spotlight with a very dense and groovy "Freedom". The other cover, at the end of the album is "The Bomber" from Joe Walsh, another pure and direct rock title. Steve Lukather, on his favorite playground, shines with a huge sounding guitar (it's at this time, even more than on the last Toto albums, that he finds the unique and characteristic sound that he has kept since).

"Extinction Blues", which exceeds 5 minutes (like the majority of the titles here) proposes another facet of the formation: the Blues roots, a Blues with the Californian mode which one plants with a beautiful distorsion and some federative "Oh, Oh, Oh". All in feeling, it reveals a Steve Lukather decidedly very in voice. "Born Yesterday", as well as "Borrowed Time" and its superb acoustic guitar solo, are the only tracks that leave the "Los Lobotomys" frame and are curiously close to Toto. Two instrumentals come to bring a grain of madness to the whole: "Party In Simon's Pants", fruit of the first collaboration Lukather/Phillips which is a piece in 17/8 testing, dazzling of technicality and groove and "Froth", certainly much less famous but which does not have less panache.

The album ends with a very emotional tribute to Jeff Porcaro, one of Steve Lukather's favorite tracks to this day. A complete tribute album to Jeff will follow soon after, in which we will find all the musicians present here, surrounded by a large team of stage and studio mates... But that's another story. For the time being, enjoy listening to this album that sounds like a tour de force, probably one of Steve Lukather's most accomplished albums because it is the result of a real group work. - Official website

STEVE LUKATHER

CANDYMAN

COLUMBIA

ROCK