I gave it a listen (the whole thing)
I dig it. Didn't sound like yacht stuff to me
Yeah it's kind of funny, in one sense Toto is the ultimate yacht rock band because all of those musicians featured heavily in so many yacht rock recording sessions.
But at the same time, I don't consider a lot of their actual music under their own band name, to be yacht rock. For example, I have no idea why Africa gets played on yacht rock stations or placed on yacht rock playlists. It's a power pop rock
anthem, not a smooth groovy yacht rock tune. And that's true of a lot of their stuff IMO. Power ballads and rock anthems don't satisfy the criteria of yacht rock IMO.
There's a period of time where some of their music fell into the yacht rock genre, the late 70s into early 80s. But on those early albums, as MDT points out there's also plenty of rock-rock, and also a fair amount of progressive rock clearly influenced by bands like Yes and Rush.
And then once we get into the early 80s, there's a pretty big shift in their music. I'd say maybe only half of Toto IV should be considered yacht rock, and probably nothing
after that album.
But I also think that's kind of true across the board for all bands-- the instrumentation and vibe of music changed, so that after maybe 1983, even the yacht rock bands and artists, were no longer making yacht rock. Kenny Loggins, a cornerstone of the genre, clearly moved on past it once the early 80s came around and he released songs like Footloose, I'm Alright, and Danger Zone.
Just my opinions of course, but I'm always very interested in discussion of "musical etymology" for lack of a better term.
