As a lover of rock and roll with horns there’s a lot to love about the Toto track “Last Night,” from 1998’s Toto XX. This marked Chicago trombonist James Pankow’s third Toto contribution: He also played on “Rosanna” and “Pamela,” which is and perhaps why 1988’s The Seventh One was and is a favorite album of mine.
It could be argued that Pankow was then having a bigger impact with Toto than he was with his own band in the ’80s. The horn charts on “Rosanna,” “Pamela” and “Last Night” are the better for his contributions on trombone.
There’s nothing subtle here: “Last Night” comes in strong with a tight groove laid down by Jeff Porcaro at his best. However, as is generally the case with Toto’s music, this song exemplifies that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. From start to finish, “Last Night” is a whole group effort and Toto is firing on all cylinders – from Porcaro’s opening drums to Steve Lukather’s guitar accents that close out the song as it fades.
Considering that Toto XX was a “rarities” collection of songs that didn’t quite make it onto the albums they were recorded for, “Last Night” might initially leave people scratching their heads: “How could such a catchy and fun song have missed the cut?” This song could easily have been released as a single. It’s got a great groove and a catchy hook that begs the listener to sing along.
But “Last Night” was recorded for The Seventh One, and the fact that it was left on the cutting room floor is a testament to the strength of the album it missed as a whole. This didn’t make the cut not because it wasn’t a good enough, but because that whole project is as strong as it is from start to finish.
In an age when compact disc were just starting to take off, while vinyl was starting to fade away, cassettes seemed to be the go-to choice for listening to music – so there were time constraints to take into consideration. As terrific as “Last Night” is, as catchy as it is, I can’t think of any of the other songs I’d want left off in order to make room on The Seventh One.
While it took a little longer to finally see the light of day, Toto’s “Last Night” was well worth the wait. Better late than never!
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