Bobby Kimball - All I Ever Needed | ||
Tracks:
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Album Cover: ![[Image]](../../Images/kimball.jpg)
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Label: Point Music/AOR Heaven Producer: John Zaika & Bobby Kimball Year: 1999 Total Playing Time: 50:18 m:s Review date: 05/01/2000 |
| Web site: www.bobbykimball.com www.point-music.com www.aorheaven.com Email: | ||
| Rating: 70% | ||
| Verdict: Some good ballads, but unlikely to have much appeal outside Toto fans.
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| Point Music/AOR Heaven have picked this one up for distribution in Germany and other European territories and have spruced up the artwork, liner notes etc. Bobby Kimball is one of Toto lead singers and featured on their last release "Minefields". Bobby has enlisted the help of Starship's Mickey Thomas to useful effect on a few of the tracks.
Surprisingly, not that much Toto or Toto related material has found it's way into my collection, despite the fact that they up there with Journey, Survivor, Styx etc when AOR reigned supreme in the 80s. Of course, it is only relatively recently that I've found myself gaining some appreciation of Westcoast style AOR. " 'Till Tomorrow" starts the off the album in a mid-tempo Toto westcoast groove, which is pleasant, but maybe lacks the impact that an opening number should have. The title track is a big keyboard driven ballad which outclasses the opening easily. The album is fairly mellow affair with quite a helping of ballads. These ballads are where the album excels. "Two Souls" is a slow smoochie number with a soulful feel. On the biggest ballad, "Kristine", which features piano, strings etc, Mickey Thomas shares lead vocals. This is easily the album's highlight. There are yet more ballads in the form of "Do You Ever" and "Hand In Hand". Whilst other artists might struggle to maintain interest with so many ballads, Bobby manages to carry it off with style. The remainder of the tracks didn't capture my interest quite so much. The funky horn driven "My Kinda Lover", the swirling keyboards and funk guitar of "Live The Groove" and "Love Gonna Find A Way" all didn't match the standard set by the ballads. Only the Toto/Huey Lewis "This Time" seemed to come close For me, I've got to be in the right mood to get into this album. There are some very impressive ballads on here and the mid-tempo westcoast style number merely serve as adequate filler as far as I am concerned. I'm not sure how much appeal this will have outside existing Toto fans. | ||
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