On this work, the left half of the original album cover art design was processed with glowing edges which converted its red background into black. It was then positioned at centre.
The unprocessed image was then pasted at extreme left with its right half hidden by the image at centre. Glowing edges was also applied on the right half of the original image and
the resulting work was pasted at extreme right with its left half hidden by the image at centre. The three overlapping images left spaces an inch wide each at the top and at the
bottom which were filled in red and black, respectively.
Philip Garris, well known for painting many Grateful Dead album covers, created the emblem of the first Toto album (below) after listening to a lyric from the song "Manuela Run"
("You better watch that sword that's hanging over you") which referred to the Sword of Damocles. The sword also represented the band's powerful, hard-edge sound, and, due to
their ability to play many types of music, Garris made the sword double-edged to show their versatility. The iron ring represented a piece of work being constructed (the record
itself), and the ribbons represented the Year of the Child (1979, proclaimed by UNESCO). More
Philip Garris' original emblem from the Toto album was updated to show four rings since this was their fourth album. The newer looking, well-polished ring around the hilt
of the sword represented their latest work. Each successive ring showed a little more wear and a few more chips which represented the band's previous records. More
Album cover art design by Philip Garris. Album produced by Bobby Kimball, Steve Lukather, David Paich, Jeff Porcaro, David Hungate & Steve Porcaro.
Columbia 1982.
Rick Samimi's Music Review: There are two main aspects that make this album one of the finest pop albums of all time:
(a) By the time Toto recorded this album, all band members were amongst the most sought after "Studio Musicians" around
the world. Toto in its own way was a band of highly skilled super musicians & the chemistry produced an album much bigger
than the sum of the parts.
(b) "Africa" & "Rosanna" are generally acknowledged as two of the greatest pop songs ever written, with the pop culture
stories of Rosanna's subject matter being the actress Rosanna Arquette who had at the time broken up with Steve Porcaro.
Full article
(A) Rosanna - Make Believe - I Won't Hold You Back - Good For You - It's a Feeling
(B) Afraid of Love - Lovers in the Night - We Made It - Waiting For Your Love - Africa
"Africa" live in Paris, 2007 from Thomas Andre Hjelleset on YouTube.
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