Styx vs Toto

As a drummer I like to play along with lots of different music for practice , I find Styx to be mostly a piece of cake to get my drumming sounding close to the original drummer does his, however   I find much of Toto's drumming much more technical and frankly much more progressive which is strange since Toto are not even on this site and Styx are ? considering ToTo feature some of musics big names like David Paich (keys) ,Jeff Porcaro (drums) ,Simon Phillips(drums)   and who could ignore Steve Lukather on the axe shouldn't they be considered as prog related ?

You can`t go and pen songs like Hydra  or Home Of The Brave not expect a prog related tag ...  c'mon      


Edited by Snakes & Arrows - May 27 2007 at 06:34

The name Toto came from the phrase In Toto which means encompasing all. I think the band are pretty successful in making tunes that touches various genres, be it straightforward rock, jazz, funk, and yes even proggy (to some extent) tunes. I remember watching Toto peform here in the Philippines, and hearing I'll Be Over You live for the first time.Lukather played his heart out on that one. Not their greatest song, but probably one of the most memorable and most emotional contemporary ballad ever written ( together with America's I Need You). Songs like Melanie, Kingdom of Desire, Rossana, Lea, Maiden Voyage, Child's Anthem, i Won't Hold You Back and Georgy Porgy are my favorites from them. Great and influencial band if you ask me. Prog? I think not, but some songs came close to that.

Styx

Toto

Styx for the firsts works.

Toto in "99" song and lasts works.

But , and are masterpieces!!!

^ I can't imagine anyone considering either to be Proto-Prog.

I'll go with Toto Torquati (haven't actually heard the band...)

But really, between these choices, Styx is more closely related to Prog.

Off-topic: Toto's "Take my Hand" from the Dune soundtrack is one of my favourite pieces of music.

E-Dub wrote: I like Toto, but don't consider them progressive. Styx became less and less prog, but there was a time when they were. I went with Styx. And as a sidenote, as much as I like Peart, Portnoy, Gadd, Harrison, Collins, etc., I consider Porcaro one of the best (if not the best) drummer that I've ever heard. Technically, the guy was a master who possessed impeccable timing and feel. Donald Fagan of Steely Dan once said that out of all the various drummers they used, Porcaro was the only one who consistently nailed his parts on the first take. Out of all the musicians who have passed on, I miss Porcaro the most. R.I.P., Jeff. E

that post deserves some clappies..  good post...  Fagen and Becker would spit drummers like Peart or.. hahha.. you have to be kidding me.. Portnoy out..  Porcaro was a master, more than a walking drum solo.

Boy was their cover of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" wretched.  

E-Dub wrote: Majestic_Mayhem wrote: E-Dub wrote: I like Toto, but don't consider them progressive. Styx became less and less prog, but there was a time when they were. I went with Styx. And as a sidenote, as much as I like Peart, Portnoy, Gadd, Harrison, Collins, etc., I consider Porcaro one of the best (if not the best) drummer that I've ever heard. Technically, the guy was a master who possessed impeccable timing and feel. Donald Fagan of Steely Dan once said that out of all the various drummers they used, Porcaro was the only one who consistently nailed his parts on the first take. Out of all the musicians who have passed on, I miss Porcaro the most. R.I.P., Jeff. E . Well said E. A highly underrated dummer. I admire his single hand 16-beat pattern on the hi hat. Thanks, MM; but, I don't think he was underrated at all. While he was alive he was one of the more sought after studio drummers from Boz Scaggs to Madonna. Maybe outside of music's inner circle he's not mentioned a lot; however, within the music industry he was highly regarded as one of the best in the business. I agree with you regarding his 1/16 notes on the high hat...particularly with only his right hand. What's also not known by all is his 'dancing in the pedals' technique where he could duplicate a double bass pedal with only his right foot. He demonstrates it on his instructional video and it's amazing to watch. E

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I would hazard a guess that there's a bit of chauvinism involved due to Porcaro's musical associations. You can't be good if you're in the mainstream, right