The Band Toto Asia
Toto was expanding its production facilities abroad and doing business in France, Germany, Indonesia, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the People's Republic of China. North America was seen as an opportunity to grow for toilets and bidet seats, in contrast to its "base" markets in Japan and China.
Dhaniram Toto recorded Toto words so that the next generation could understand them. Many words were replaced with foreign ones. For example dui, which is Bengali for verandah, was being used.
Origins
The company was founded in 1917 and its beginnings mirrored Japan's growth. In the early years of its existence, the company produced products to meet the demands of modern and contemporary urban housing. It used the first tunnel kiln in the country that could produce ceramics continuously. It also pioneered automation to allow production control, which helps to increase efficiency and consistency.
In the late 1980s, the company began to expand overseas in order to take advantage of sales and new markets. The company created the Cera Trading Company to import and sell other products of other manufacturers to expand its range of sanitary earthenwares and plumbing fittings. This strategy helped increase sales and increased the company's global market share.
In the 1990s, Toto had shifted its emphasis to research and development of household appliances that use water. It also improved its distribution system to better serve customers and improve profit. The company implemented a just-in-time approach to managing its supply chain, and it used the same approach in its sales strategy. This led to a higher level of satisfaction of customers.
Toto continued to innovate toilet technology. Its most recent toilet, for example it has a powerful tornado flush that is more eco friendly than traditional toilets. The company makes use of recycled water for its manufacturing process, and has a green buying policy. Toto also produces bathtubs, faucets, and hand dryers with higher energy efficiency than conventional models.
The first museum of the company was opened in 2015 and features exhibits about Toto's iconic products and their evolution as well as its group companies (all that deal with ceramics) and the history of plumbing and products like bath units, and in a separate gallery, Toto products sold around the world. The museum houses a bathroom with a washbasin and other toilet innovations.
Before forming Toto, members of the group performed sessions for many musicians. Boz Scaggs' album Silk Degrees featured keyboardist David Paich, guitarists Mike Porcaro & Steve Lukather and drummers Jeff Porcaro & Steve Lukather. They also performed on records by Steely Dan, Seals and Crofts, and Sonny and Cher.
Discography
With a name as evocative as Asia, you would expect the group to be prog queens and kings but they're actually a pretty straight forward rock group. The band began as four-piece, and released two albums that were self-titled in 1979 and 1980's Armed to the Teeth. The group has a wide musical background, but their biggest success came in 1982 with Toto IV.
The album was a huge blockbuster, but not without its own set of issues. Record companies put the band on spot with the ultimatum "give us an album that's a smash or we'll drop you" and the pressure was on to give it. Luckily for Toto they delivered, with the assistance of the smash single "Africa."
Toto's musical mastery is a result of their prior experience since the members were session musicians for artists like Boz Scaggs, Steely Dan, and Seals and Crofts prior the group. Their distinctive sound has since become the standard for '80s pop, influencing many modern artists.
This album starts off hard with songs like Running Out of Time and Unknown Soldier showcasing the bands ability to write great AOR songs that slowly build their hooks into you. The album also has some more mellow, jazzy tracks such as The Little Things and Chinatown. The album ends with Great Expectations. This song is a mix of folk and distorted AOR which could appear completely unnatural, but actually is very effective.
After Toto IV the band's fortunes began to wane. David Hungate left the band to focus on his solo career and the band was dominated by drummers. In 1984, Bobby Kimball was fired from the band in the aftermath of drug-related charges. However, the band continued as a trio with Michael Porcaro and Steve Lukather.
Toto released Isolation despite the turbulence. It was not as popular as IV. The group managed to release an album that was chart-topping, Kingdom of Desire, in 1992. This album marked Toto's final lineup and the debut of Simon Phillips, a new singer.
Tours
The band has performed all over the world, performing to an crowd of millions, with sold-out shows in Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia and New Zealand. The band has a huge collection of songs, and their catalog has been played over one billion times on streaming services across the globe. The band's music has inspired many generations of fans.
Steve Lukather and Joe Williams have formed a strong colorful friendship that is thriving professionally on a global scale. In 2018 the duo celebrated their 40th anniversary of Tours Around The Sun with an incredibly successful tour around the world. The album with the same title was ranked at #5 on the Billboard 200. The new tour by the band features their greatest hits and rarely live cuts, alongside a selection of songs from Lukather and Williams' individual catalogs.
TOTO has a customer satisfaction rating of 20 according to its Net Promoter Score which measures how likely its customers are to recommend the brand. Promoters are people who give a high score to the company and encourage others to use its products or services. Detractors rate the company negatively and actively discourage people from using its products or services.
Join Toto to enjoy a unique cultural experience in Asia. This highlights tour features luxurious accommodation, a day on an elegant cruise ship on Halong Bay and an exploration of Angkor Wat, a mystical temple that is what the French called Indochine. Also, you will spend an evening in the charming city of Luang Prabang. This UNESCO World Heritage City is a feast for your senses. This is a once-in-a-lifetime excursion you should not skip!
Line-up
Turn Back, the band's third studio album is an ode to the traditional sextet style and it was a more consistent, more powerful effort with a harder edge. The edgier sound of Turn Back was a reflection of the maturation in the group. Drummer Bobby Kimball's increased proficiency was evident in the vocals of Joseph Williams, who had become more confident and mature. David Paich's keyboard work was also sharper, more complex, and less derivative on earlier efforts.
After touring to promote 안전놀이터 추천 , the group recorded a live show in Amsterdam that was released as a set of two CDs titled Falling In Between Live on Eagle Records. The group released a new studio album a few months later and embarked on a world tour support the album. In this time keyboardist Greg Phillinganes filled in for Paich, and bassist David Hungate left the group to spend more time with his family.
In 1998, Paich & Lukather began searching through old tapes & demos to discover songs that hadn't been recorded before. The album was released in 2001 as a duo album titled Then and Now. It was the band's first album that did not contain one single track titled "A". The album also contained a previously unreleased track called "Kari-Anne".
By 2003, Toto had begun to decline in popularity. The group's fourth album, Old Is New was an uncommercial success and vocalist Williams was suffering from laryngitis, which affected his singing abilities. Additionally, Hungate returned to Nashville and drummer Leland Sklar was replaced by Shem von Schroeck.
Downes along with the other original members of Asia--Wetton, Palmer, and Howe--convened a meeting in England in early 2006 to discuss the possibility of formally reforming the group. This lineup, with the exception of Howe (who was busy with Yes at the time) was later referred to as Toto XIV and toured extensively.
In 2010, the band reunited for another reunion tour with a slightly different line-up, including guitarists Mike Porcaro and Steve Lukather, drummer John Pierce, bassist Shannon Forrest, and multi-instrumentalists Warren Ham and Dominique Taplin. The group also featured a special guest appearance from singer Michael McDonald and a backing vocalist named Mabvuto Carver.