The Band Toto Asia
Toto expanded its production facilities overseas, and doing business in France and Germany, Indonesia, Korea and Taiwan, Thailand and the People's Republic of China. Toto believed that North America as a growth market for Washlet bidets and toilets, in contrast to its "base" markets of Japan and China.
Dhaniram Toto was recording Toto words to ensure that the next generation would be able to read them. However, many words were replaced with foreign words, such as dui from Bengali for verandah.
Origins
The early history of Toto that began in 1917, mirrored Japan's economic expansion. In the beginning, Toto produced products to meet the demands for modern, brand new urban housing. To accomplish this, it employed the first tunnel kiln in the country to make ceramics in continuous flow. It also pioneered the use of automation to control production, which allows for greater efficiency and consistency.
The company began expanding its operations overseas in the late 1980s to benefit from new markets and sales opportunities. The company founded the Cera Trading Company to import and sell other products of other manufacturers in order to enhance its own line of sanitary earthenwares and plumbing fittings. This strategy helped increase sales and expand the firm’s global market share.
In the 1990s Toto began to concentrate on research and development of water-related appliances. It also upgraded its distribution system to better serve customers and improve profit. The company employed the same just-in-time approach to its supply chain management and sales program. This led to a higher degree of customer satisfaction.
Toto continues to invent in the toilet technology. The latest toilet, for instance, has an extremely powerful tornado flush that is more environmentally friendly than conventional toilets. The company also makes use of recycled water in its production process and has a green purchasing policy. Toto also produces faucets, bathtubs and hand dryers that have higher energy efficiency than conventional models.
The company's first museum opened in the year 2015 and features exhibits on Toto's seminal products and their evolution and its group companies (all that deal with ceramics) and the history of plumbing and products like bath units and, in a different gallery, Toto products sold around the world. The museum even has a bathroom that features a WASHLET toilet as well as other toilet-related innovations.
Before the formation of Toto, members of the group performed session work for various musicians. Keyboardist David Paich, drummer Jeff Porcaro and guitarists Mike Porcaro and Steve Lukather all performed on the album Silk Degrees by Boz Scaggs. They also performed on records by Steely Dan, Seals and Crofts, and Sonny and Cher.
Discography
With a name as evocative as Asia, you would think that the group would be prog kings and queens - but it's actually a fairly simple rock group. The band began as four-piece, and released two albums in 1979, the self-titled debut album and 1980's Armed to the Teeth. The group has a wide musical background, but their greatest success was in 1982 with Toto IV.
The album was a major blockbuster, but not without difficulties. Record companies put the band on the position with the order "give us a hit record or we'll take you off the market" and the pressure was on to give it. Toto was able achieve this through the aid of the hit song "Africa."
Toto's musical mastery is a result of their previous experiences. Before joining the group, the members worked as session musicians for artists such as Boz Scaggs. Steely Dan and Seals and Crofts. Their distinctive sound has since become the standard for pop music from the 1980s, and has influenced many modern artists.
The album begins with a hefty dose of hard rock with tracks like Running Out of Time and Unknown Soldier showcasing the bands ability to write great AOR songs that slowly get their hooks into you. However, the album also includes some more mellow, jazzy tracks like The Little Things and Chinatown. And the album ends with Great Expectations, a song that combines folk with distorted AOR and sounds completely wrong, but actually works amazingly well.
After Toto IV, the band's fortunes began to wane. David Hungate left the band to pursue a solo career, and the band was dominated by drummers. In 1984, Bobby Kimball left the group due to drug charges. The band continued to play with Michael Porcaro, Steve Lukather and Michael Porcaro.
Toto released Isolation despite the turbulence. It was not as well-liked as IV. However, the group had a successful chart-topping album in 1992 with Kingdom of Desire. This album marked the end of Toto's lineup and the debut of Simon Phillips, a new singer.
Tours
The band has performed for millions of fans across the world, with sold-out shows in Europe, North America and Asia and also Australia and New Zealand. The band's repertoire is huge and their catalogue has accumulated more than a billion streams on streaming services worldwide. The band's music has influenced numerous generations of fans.
Steve Lukather and Joe Williams have developed a deep colorful friendship that is thriving professionally on a worldwide basis. In 2018, the duo celebrated 40 Tours Around the Sun with a massively successful tour across the globe. The album with the same name was ranked #5 on Billboard 200. The latest tour of the band features their greatest hits rare live deep-cuts as well as an assortment of songs that come from Lukather's and Williams individual catalogs.
TOTO has a satisfaction rating of 20 according to its Net Promoter Score which is a measure of how likely customers are to recommend the brand. Promoters are those who give a positive rating to the company and encourage others to utilize its products or services. Detractors are those that have negative opinions about the company and actively discourage people from making use of its products or services.
Join Toto to have a unique experience in Asia. This highlights tour features luxurious accommodation, a cruise on a deluxe junk on Halong Bay and an exploration of Angkor Wat, a mystical temple that is what the French called Indochine. You'll also stay a night in the charming town of Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage city that will delight the senses. This is a once-in-a-lifetime trip you don't want to miss!
Line-up
The band's third album, Turn Back, marked a return to the classic sextet arrangement of the previous albums. It was a more ferocious, consistent effort with a harder edge than Hydra. The more edgy sound of the album was a reflection of the maturation of the group and featured drummer Bobby Kimball's greater virtuosity on drums, and a more confident, mature vocal delivery from singer Joseph Williams. 안전놀이터 was more precise, sharper and less cloying than previously recorded performances.
After touring to promote their album, the group recorded their Amsterdam live concert which was released on Eagle Records as a 2-CD set entitled Falling In Between. A new studio album followed just a few months later and the group went on a world-wide tour in support of the album. During this time, keyboardist Greg Phillinganes replaced Paich and bassist David Hungate quit the group to spend time with his family.
In 1998, Paich & Lukather began exploring old tapes and demos to discover songs that hadn't been recorded prior to. It was completed in 2001 and released as a double album titled Then and Now. It was the first album by the band not to include a single song with the word "A" in its title and it included one previously not released track, "Kari-Anne".
By 2003, Toto had begun to decline in popularity. The fourth album, Old Is New, was a commercial failure, and singer Williams suffered from a bad laryngitis condition that limited his singing abilities. Additionally, Hungate returned to Nashville as a drummer, and Leland Sklar was replaced by Shem von Schroeck.
Downes, Wetton Palmer and Howe, the founding members of Asia, met in England in the beginning of 2006 to discuss the possibility that the band could be reformed. This lineup, minus Howe who was busy with Yes during that time, became Toto XIV. They toured extensively.
In 2010, the band reunited for another reunion tour with a slightly different line-up, including guitarists Mike Porcaro and Steve Lukather, drummer John Pierce, bassist Shannon Forrest, and multi-instrumentalists Warren Ham and Dominique Taplin. The band featured a special appearance by singer Michael McDonald and a backing vocalist named Mabvuto Carver.