Roughly translated from Latin, Toto means “in all” or “all encompassing.” The original idea behind the band was that they were not going to constrain themselves to a single genre, that their music would be all-encompassing. Ironically, the album that most embodies this principle is also arguably their most disjointed. Unlike with most other Toto studio projects there’s a lack of cohesiveness to hold 1999’s Mindfields together but that weakness is also its greatest strength.
Up until then, Toto seemingly at least dipped their toes into most genres. They had indeed been, all-encompassing. Except for one glaring omission: country. And finally, due to the general lack of overall cohesiveness, Mindfields was the perfect album to finally have a crack at country. On any other Toto album, the inclusion of “No Love” would be jarring and completely out of place.
Driven by Steve Lukather’s acoustic guitar, and some harmonica and guest backing vocals by country music superstar Clint Black, the song goes almost all-in on country – almost all-in because hey, where’s the pedal steel? Even without the pedal steel, Toto makes “No Love” work, and bringing in a ringer like Clint Black gave the song some legitimate instant country cred.
Written by Lukather, David Paich and long-time Toto songwriting collaborator Randy Goodrum, “No Love” is a delightful surprise right in the middle of the track listing. With a catchy groove buoyed by Black’s harmonica, the song is a perfect change of gears following “Selfish.” But perhaps one of the biggest surprises is the Lukather vocal.
One could argue that Bobby Kimball might have been a more obvious choice to handle the vocals on a country song, given his Louisiana drawl. However, listening to the song, Bobby’s voice would have sounded out of place. Steve Lukather’s more gravely vocal delivery is a much more natural fit for the song. A Bobby Kimball vocal would have required a considerably different arrangement to be anywhere near as effective as the vocals that Lukather laid down on “No Love.”
Given the lack of harmonica player in the band or on the road crew, this song was a delightful album-only gem that most fans likely did not expect would ever get performed live.
On the 2018 tour, Toto brought back one of their favorite ringers from the road, Warren Ham. While he’d toured with Toto in the ’80s, it had been awhile since he’d lent his talents to the band. As a vocalist, sax player and harmonica player, Ham is to music what a utility player is to baseball. And finally — nearly 20 years later – Toto dusted off “No Love” for their live set and Warren Ham totally brought it.
Given that the song had never been performed on stage, hearing “No Love” in concert was just as delightful a surprise as first hearing it when Mindfields was first released.
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