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Rating: The album is the eighth in their discography, released in 1992. Sitting behind the drums for the last time is the late Jeff Porcaro... when the album hits the market, he had tragically just left this world: a heart attack (induced by cocaine abuse) claimed him at only thirty-eight years old.
The Toto are thus left with only three members to face (and overcome!) the darkest moment in their career. At that time, they were also without a lead singer, after the unceremonious booting of the vacuous Jean Michael Byron, a mulatto who had initially enchanted them with his talent but quickly proved unreliable and opportunistic, only interested in his own career. Therefore, the album is played by a quartet, and the usual guest appearances are at an all-time low... it had never happened before and would never happen again.
Guitarist Steve Lukather thus takes on the role of lead singer for the entire album; alongside the ballads, which were already typically his domain, this time he also interprets the rock pieces, without even the contribution of keyboardist David Paich, who had always reserved a couple of episodes per album for himself (after all, he is the singer of "Africa").
And it's not the ideal solution... Luke's decent but nothing more voice works well as an alternative to the more significant and sonorous voice of a regular frontman, much less when it has to lead an entire twelve-track album of excellence, such as a Toto production.
Moreover, the compositional choices for "Kingdom Of Desire" lean heavily towards hard rock, perhaps because the guitarist at that time was fully cultivating his friendship with Eddie Van Halen, who was at the peak of popularity and commercial success during those years, so there was a strong desire to crank the amp up to the max. The bandmates went along with his moods, and the album sounds rough, immediate, simple (for Toto's pop rock standards, of course): the rockers are grateful, the detractors of the group's AOR and commercial side lend an ear for once, but the sales diminish.
It's also the way the tracklist is organized that contributes to the overall "grunge effect", so to speak... the album opens with a quartet of episodes all grit and no frills, especially the opener "Gypsy Train", characterized by a lean bass/drums/guitar base that sounds like the Extreme, or even Steve Morse (another Lukather idol/friend) in Deep Purple mode. The following boogie "Don't Chain My Heart" at least makes some concessions to pop with a chorus adorned by backing singers, but "Never Enough" again exudes roughness and spareness from start to finish, while "How Many Times" features a Zeppelin-esque blues riff, unfortunately compromised by a melodically predictable and uninspired development.
When, at the fifth and sixth track, the pace eases, instead of some aesthetic pop rock flirtations you get first a heavy, pure power ballad ("2 Hearts") à la Bon Jovi/Aerosmith, supported and thick, the opposite of this band's usually agile and enveloping outings in the realm of romance and slow songs, and then immediately after a mournful and insignificant "Wings Of Time", which rolls its mid-tempo without surprises from beginning to end.
Also emblematic is the next "She Knows The Devil", a funky hard once again centered on distorted guitar, pounding bass, and stiff drums... keyboardist Paich continues to be absent, here arriving just with the piano to doodle the rock'n'roll solo and then disappears again. The Toto orchestra, with its synth fanfares, multifaceted voices, piano leading the dance, is absent this time. There's infinite space between the few active instruments, it always seems like a trio is playing, as if they were The Police... For fans of "raw" music and detractors of all that is elegant and sophisticated, this is the right Toto album to have in their collection.
The classically pop songs in Toto-style arrive only at this point of the album: "The Other Side" is a Lukather-style love ballad, warm and enveloping, with the usual neglectable lyrics, but the "sung" solo that starts after the bridge is simple, deep, and beautiful. The following "Only You" is its first cousin: equally romantic, not exactly indispensable, well-crafted.
"Kick Down The Walls" blatantly recycles the rhythmic groove of the epochal "Dance Hall Days" by Wang Chung (who?... pop stuff from 1984, of good lineage). The album concludes first with the cadenced and chiming title track and finally with the usual funky/fusion instrumental digression called "Jake To The Bone", very textbook and didactic but brilliant and sincere... you can feel it emerged spontaneously in the studio, with fun and verve.
Thus a very spartan work by Toto, the least over-structured in their career: few synthesizers, only occasional choirs, no brass section, the poor Porcaro engaged in pounding hard and straight all the time, without indulging in virtuosity, the hoarse and somewhat depressed tone of the singer declaiming verses completely subservient to the music (as always), while from his ever-knowledgeable and robust guitar come particularly masculine and essential sounds and phrases.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Gypsy Train (06:45)
Downtown Jimmy, say you're feelin' kinda blue
It's no problem, this is whatcha gotta do
Telephone your baby, tell her that you're workin' late
Come and pay a visit, please don't hesitate
Come join the party, come along and be our guest
Sit back and let us do the rest, we're the best, yeah
Come on an' meet me at the station
Don't pack your bags, just fix your hair
Gotta get up, gotta get in, gotta get out
Just look for me, I'm always there
Chorus:
Come on let's ride, ride that gypsy train
All aboard, now don't you be afraid
Come on let's ride, ride that gypsy train
Feed the fire, let's go one mo' time again
Medication, little love and sympathy
Cool libation, it's complimentary
Play a little poker, love when the stakes are high
Lotta nasty women, givin' everyone the eye
Say downtown Jimmy, tell me whatcha need
Satisfaction guaranteed, guaranteed, yeah
It's a perfect situation, it's so nice to have you here
Gotta get up, gotta get in, gotta pull out
Happy shiny people everywhere
Chorus
(Instrumental break)
It's a perfect situation, it's so nice to have you here
Gotta get up, gotta get in, gotta put out
Happy shiny people everywhere
Chorus repeats 2x
02 Don't Chain My Heart (04:46)
Tired and frozen
I'm under your spell
I thought I knew you
But now I know you well
I wake up beside you
Move across your killing floor
I need my freedom and I see an open door
The room is getting smaller and the walls are closin' in
No one's leavin' and nobody's gettin' in
I try to run
I try to hide
I try to tell you what I'm feelin' inside
Should I stay
Should I go
You know I wanna touch you
But there's nothing left to hold
Don't chain my heart
Don't chain my soul
Don't chain my heart
'Cause you got to let it go
Looks like trouble
The signs are everywhere
I bend a little but you take more than your share
Crimes of passion
Crimes of mortal men
It's a deadly attraction and I won't be fooled again, baby
The storm is coming
The winds begin to rise
Please release me from this house of compromise
All day
All night
Your love is like an outlaw waiting till the time is right
Nobody's wrong
No one's to blame
Maybe it's just too hot because we're standin' in the flame
Don't chain my heart
Don't chain my soul
Don't chain my heart
'Cause you got to let it go
I'm a victim of your pain and jealousy
I feel like a prisoner and you hold the lock and key
We lost our vision
We lost our paradise
But there's still a part of me I refuse to sacrifice
(Instrumental break)
I try to run
I try to hide
I need to tell you what I'm feelin' inside, baby
Should I stay
Should I go
You know I wanna touch you
But there's nothing left to hold
Don't chain my heart
Don't chain my soul
Don't chain my heart
'Cause you got to let it go
(repeats 2x)
07 She Knows the Devil (05:28)
She got fingernails like knives, she got twenty-four karat eyes
She wants everything she sees, she'll drop you to your knees
She ain't gonna change her wicked ways, I'll love her till my dying day
She got poison heart, painted smile, she always has a girlfriend
(Hey, hey, hey, hey)
Chorus:
She knows the devil, she knows the devil
She knows the devil, and the devil knows me
She knows the devil, she knows the devil
She knows the devil, and the devil knows me
Whoa, whoa, whoa
Bad little girl with a vermin tongue, ooh, she loves to have her fun
The daughter of Mephistopheles, she loves to aim and she aims to please
She'll take any young god and burn him down
He'll see who's the queen and who's the clown
She got lips that bleed, she's what I need, I want her for my girlfriend
(Hey, hey, hey, hey)
Chorus
(Instrumental break)
She wants everything she sees, she'll drop you to your knees
She ain't gonna change her wicked ways, I'll love her till my dying day
She got poison heart, painted smile, she always brings a girlfriend
(Hey, hey, hey, hey)
Whoa, whoa, whoa, she knows the devil
Whoa, whoa, whoa, she knows the devil
08 The Other Side (04:40)
The waiting game is over
No need for pretending, we were meant to be
It's only getting stronger
The love I feel for you, it's no mystery
I've got to find some way to tell you
Though our world seems far apart
It just don't have to be
The time has come to testify
All the feelings I've been holding back
It's time to set them free
Chorus:
I've been watching you from the other side
I've been wanting to hold you through the night
I've got to find my way to the other side
I want to hold you tonight and forever
The moment that I saw you
I knew inside my heart, all my dreams would come true
I know it took some time to realize
A love we can't deny, I've got to see it through
Chorus
I want to be the one who loves you, now and forever
I want to take my place beside you
I want to be the one to hold you, now and forever
I will meet you there on the other side
(Instrumental break)
Chorus repeats 2x
From the other side, from the other side
I want to hold you tonight and forever
11 Kingdom of Desire (07:17)
You used to be on fire, now you chill me to the bone
We used to fly like angels, now we're sinking like a stone
You say you're trying to help me but that ain't the way it feels
I think you're trying to kill me with those stiletto heels
Paint the town black babe and let that pendulum swing
I been stabbed in the back babe
And if you don't love me, I'll never feel a thing
And oh, one thing I know, there's only one place left for me to go
Chorus:
Going back to the kingdom of desire
Going down to the valley of the gun
I'm gonna stand too close to the fire
I'm gonna fly too close to the sun
They say the king of love sleeps on a velvet bed
My sheets feel like sandpaper, and my pillow feels like lead
But as sure as Atlantis sank into the sea
I'm sinking like a stone babe, that's how it's got to be
Paint the town black babe and let that pendulum swing
I been stabbed in the back babe
And if you don't love me, I'll never feel a thing
And oh, if I don't have you, there's only one thing left for me to do
Chorus
(Instrumental break)
When you dig up God's little acre, you lose all peace of mind
You stare into the distance, looking for a sign
But that sign it never comes babe, your wishes won't come true
You keep praying for the rain while the sun beats down on you
And oh, one thing I know, there's only one place left for me to go
Chorus repeats 2x
I'm gonna fly too close to the sun, yeah
I'm gonna fly too close to the sun
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