The Band Toto Asia
Toto was expanding its production facilities abroad and was doing business in France, Germany, Indonesia, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and the People's Republic of China. Toto saw 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 the next generation would be able to read them. However, many words were being replaced by foreign ones, like dui, which is Bengali for verandah.
Origins
The company was founded in 1917 and its early years mirrored Japan's economic development. In the first half of its existence, the company made products to meet the demands of new, modern urban housing. It had the first tunnel kilns in the country that could produce ceramics continuously. It also pioneered the use of automation for production control, which allows for greater efficiency and a more consistent production.
The company began expanding overseas in the latter part of the 1980s to profit from new markets and sales opportunities. The company created the Cera Trading Company to import and distribute other products of other manufacturers in order to expand its range of sanitary earthenwares and plumbing fittings. This strategy increased sales and increased the company's market share in the world.
In the 1990s Toto began to concentrate on research and development for water-related appliances. It also improved its distribution system to better meet the needs of customers and increase profits. The company used the same just-in-time approach to its supply chain management as well as sales program. This resulted in a higher level customer satisfaction.
Toto has continued to innovate with regard to toilet technology. Its latest toilet has an environmentally friendly, powerful tornado flush. The company makes use of recycled water in its manufacturing process and has a green buying policy. In addition to toilets Toto manufactures faucets and bathtubs and hand dryers that are more efficient in energy use than standard models.
The first Toto museum opened in 2015. It has exhibitions on the most iconic products of Toto and their evolution, the group companies (all of which are made of ceramics), the history of plumbing and other products like bath units. In another gallery, visitors can view Toto products that are sold across the world. The museum also includes a bathroom with the WASHLET toilet, as well as other toilet-related innovations.
Before forming Toto the band, members of the band did sessions for many musicians. Keyboardist David Paich, drummer Jeff Porcaro, and guitarists Mike Porcaro and Steve Lukather all played on the album Silk Degrees by Boz Scaggs. They also played on records by Steely Dan, Seals and Crofts, and Sonny and Cher.
Discography
With a name as evocative as Asia one would think that the group would be prog kings and queens - but it's actually a fairly simple rock group. The band started out as a group and released two albums - 1979's self titled debut and 1980's Armed to the Teeth. However, even though the group have a wide range of musical backgrounds, their biggest success was in 1982 with Toto IV.
The album was a huge blockbuster, but it was not without its share of issues. Record companies placed the band on the spot with the ultimatum "give us a hit record or we'll take you off the market" and the pressure was on to meet the deadline. Toto was able to achieve this with the help from the smash hit "Africa."
Toto's musical mastery is due to their previous experience since the members were session musicians for artists like Boz Scaggs, Steely Dan, and Seals and Crofts prior to forming the group. Their sonic signature has since become the standard for '80s pop, influencing many modern artists.
The album starts out hard with tracks like Running Out of Time or Unknown Soldier that show the band's ability to write fantastic AOR tunes that slowly creep into your head. But the album also contains some more mellow, jazzy tracks like The Little Things and Chinatown. The album concludes with Great Expectations, a song that mixes folk with distortion AOR and sounds totally wrong, but works amazingly well.
After Toto IV The band's fortunes took a turn to the downside. David Hungate left the band to pursue a solo career, and the band was dominated by drummers. In 1984, Bobby Kimball left the band after drug charges. The band continued to play with Michael Porcaro, Steve Lukather and Michael Porcaro.
Toto released Isolation despite the turmoil. It wasn't as well-liked as IV. However, the band still managed to release another chart-topping album in the year 1992 with Kingdom of Desire. The album was the last of Toto's lineup and the debut of Simon Phillips, a new singer.
Tours
The band has performed all over the world, performing to an audience of millions, and has sold-out shows across Europe, North America, Asia and Australia and New Zealand. The band's repertoire is huge, and their collective catalog has accumulated over a billion streams on streaming services across the globe. The band's music has inspired generations of fans.
Steve Lukather has forged a rich, deep friendship with Joe Williams that is flourishing professionally around the globe. In 2018 the duo celebrated their 40 Tours Around The Sun by a hugely successful global tour. The album with the same title was ranked #5 on Billboard 200. The band's latest tour includes their most popular songs, rarely performed live deep-cuts, and an assortment of songs from Lukather's and Williams catalogs.
TOTO has an NP Score of 20. This score measures how likely it is that customers will recommend the brand. Promoters are people who give a good rating to the company and encourage others to utilize its products or services. Detractors are those who rate the company poorly, and can even actively dissuade others from using their products or services.
Join Toto for a unique cultural experience in Asia. This highlights tour of a region that the French once called Indochine provides luxurious accommodations, a day on a luxury cruise ship in Halong Bay, and an exploration of the mysterious temples of Angkor Wat. Also, you'll spend a night in the charming town of Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage city that is a feast for the senses. This is an unforgettable journey that you will not want to miss!
Line-up
Turn Back, the band's third studio album it was an ode to the classic sextet format and a more consistent, stronger album with a sharper edge. The more edgy sound of the album reflected the maturation of the group and included drummer Bobby Kimball's improved ability on the drums and a more confident, mature vocal delivery by singer Joseph Williams. David Paich's keyboard work was also more sophisticated, sharper, and less derivative on earlier efforts.
After touring to promote their album, the band recorded their Amsterdam live show that was released on Eagle Records as a 2-CD set entitled Falling In Between. The studio album came out a few months later, and the group embarked on a long-distance tour in support of the album. In this time keyboardist Greg Phillinganes filled in for Paich, and bassist David Hungate left the group to spend more time with his family.
In 1998, Paich & Lukather began searching through old tapes & demos to discover songs that had never been recorded before. 안전놀이터 추천 was completed as a double-album titled Then and Now in 2001. It was the first album by the band without a single song titled "A". The album also included a previously unreleased track titled "Kari-Anne".
By 2003, Toto had begun to decline in popularity. The group's fourth record, Old Is New was not a commercial success and vocalist Williams was suffering from laryngitis that affected his singing abilities. Additionally, Hungate returned to Nashville as a drummer, and Leland Sklar was replaced by Shem von Schroeck.
Downes along with the other original members of Asia--Wetton, Palmer, and Howe--convened a meeting in England in the early part of 2006 to discuss the possibility of officially restructuring the band. This lineup, minus Howe who was working with Yes during that time, was renamed 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 also featured an appearance by singer Michael McDonald, and a backing singer named Mabvuto Carpenter.