Isolation

Isolation is the Gold-certified fifth studio album by Toto, released on October 18, 1984. Isolation is the first album to feature longtime bassist Mike Porcaro and the only album with Fergie Frederiksen as the primary vocalist. Isolation failed to achieve the popularity of its predecessor, Toto IV, although it achieved gold record status and gave the band their highest charting mainstream rock single "Stranger in Town" (No. 7). Relatively few songs from this album were featured in live performances after 1985's Isolation World Tour. Background and recording While Toto IV was a massive, Grammy winning success, Toto elected not to mount a U.S. tour behind the album, a decision Steve Lukather has since regretted as a missed opportunity to become a "US-arena rock band." Part of the reluctance to tour was the ongoing personal and legal drug-related problems of lead vocalist Bobby Kimball. As the band began sessions for Isolation, Kimball reportedly struggled badly with his vocals. While Kimball would argue in later years that he sang lead on all the tracks on the album, Lukather has stated that he only recorded one lead vocal, for the track "Lion." Even that reportedly required weeks of work, primarily because of Kimball's tendency to not show up for sessions and, when he did, to struggle with the vocals which were at the top of his range. Ultimately, Jeff Porcaro fired Kimball from the band. The fact the band used multiple lead vocalists on their songs, including David Paich and Lukather, mitigated some of the impact of losing their primary lead vocalist. Nonetheless, it was a significant change for the band. Over the course of the next year, Toto would focus on other projects, notably the soundtrack for the film Dune. The commercial failure of Dune served only to add insult to the injury of having lost their lead vocalist. When the band finally began auditioning potential lead vocalists, the job was first offered to Richard Page, who ultimately declined the offer because he had a contract for his band, Mr. Mister. Lukather then wanted to offer the job to Eric Martin, later of Mr. Big, but Porcaro was interested in Fergie Frederiksen, then lead singer of the band LeRoux. The gig went to Frederiksen, who contributed not only vocals to Isolation, but co-wrote the tracks "Angel Don't Cry," "Isolation," "Mr. Friendly," and "Change of Heart."