Opening with a trademark Steve Lukather guitar riff, “Change of Heart” once again finds Toto in top form. Fergie Frederiksen’s vocals start in a range that Bobby Kimball before him or Joe Williams after him would have hit with ease, but he does power his way into his upper range.
This is a track I’d have liked to have heard Joe and Bobby tackle as well, because I believe their vocal interpretations would have been decidedly and noticeably different. Bobby Kimball would have injected a bit more soul; Joe Williams would have used his vocal chameleon skills to borrow from his influences, and still put his own stamp on it.
That being said, “Change of Heart” was and is perfectly suited to Fergie. Having heard his work with LeRoux, Toto knew what they were getting – and while much of the material on 1984’s Isolation had been written and even recorded with Bobby, the band stepped back and let Fergie own the material and put his stamp on it.
The only problem with Fergie’s tenure, in my humble opinion, is that it didn’t last long enough. His vocals on this album left me wanting more. While we got a parting taste with his background vocals on “Could This Be Love” from Fahrenheit, I wouldn’t have minded another full Toto album with Fergie Frederiksen on vocals.
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