Lukather
1989 studio album by Steve Lukather
Lukather is the first solo studio album by Toto guitarist Steve Lukather. It was released in 1989 through CBS Records internationally but was never given a U.S. release due to tensions between Lukather and Columbia Records. The album would make it to the Sverigetopplistan record chart, peaking at no. 14.
01History
Lukather came about after Toto had been recording and playing for eleven years and the band consensus was to take a break. Since Lukather had a number of songs written that did not appear on Toto albums, he decided to pursue a solo album. His intention was to present a dimension of his musical work that fans would not be familiar with, and he collaborated with many notable musicians. Among the people involved in Lukather were Eddie Van Halen, Steve Stevens, Richard Marx, Jan Hammer, and fellow Toto members Jeff Porcaro and David Paich.
Lukather has stated that the album is produced in a very simple manner and that one can hear a lot of ambient studio noise such as counting off on various tracks. He also credits bands Pink Floyd, Cream, Led Zeppelin, and guitarists Jimi Hendrix, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, and Eric Clapton as influences on the album. Much of the material was debuted live in late 1988 when Lukather did a number of solo live dates in the Los Angeles area while the album was being recorded.
02Track listing
All tracks are written by Steve Lukather, with additional writers noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Twist the Knife" | Eddie Van Halen | 5:24 |
| 2. | "Swear Your Love" | Richard Marx | 3:58 |
| 3. | "Fall into Velvet" | Cy Curnin, Steve Stevens | 9:03 |
| 4. | "Drive a Crooked Road" | Danny Kortchmar | 5:20 |
| 5. | "Got My Way" | Randy Goodrum, Michael Landau | 4:57 |
| 6. | "Darkest Night of the Year" | Stevens | 5:19 |
| 7. | "Lonely Beat of My Heart" | Diane Warren | 4:17 |
| 8. | "With a Second Chance" | Goodrum | 4:36 |
| 9. | "Turns to Stone" | Goodrum | 5:35 |
| 10. | "It Looks Like Rain" | Tom Kelly, Billy Steinberg | 4:21 |
| 11. | "Steppin' on Top of Your World" | Kortchmar | 5:41 |
| Total length: | 58:31 | ||
03Personnel
Adapted from album's liner notes.
- Steve Lukather, lead vocals, backing vocals (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9), guitars (1-3, 5-9, 11), guitar solo (3, 4, 10), "backwards" guitar (3), synthesizers (4, 7-9), keyboards (9), drum programming (9), acoustic guitar (10), 12-string guitar (10), lead guitar (11), rhythm guitar (11)
Additional musicians
- C.J. Vanston, keyboards (2)
- Jan Hammer, synthesizer solo (3), Hammond B3 organ (3)
- Eric Rehl, additional synthesizers and effects (3, 6)
- Randy Goodrum, synthesizers (5, 9), synthesizer programming (8), drum programming (8, 9), backing vocals (9)
- Aaron Zigman, synthesizers (5)
- Kim Bullard, keyboards (7)
- David Paich, organ (7)
- Jai Winding, keyboards (10)
- Steve Stevens, guitars (3), guitar solo (3)
- Danny Kortchmar, rhythm guitar (4, 11), backing vocals (4), keyboards (11), percussion (11), sequencing (11)
- Mike Landau, guitars (5, 10)
- Eddie Van Halen, bass (1)
- Neil Stubenhaus, bass (2, 7)
- Will Lee, bass (3, 6)
- John Pierce, bass (4, 11)
- Randy Jackson, bass (5, 10)
- Leland Sklar, bass (9)
- Carlos Vega, drums (1)
- Prairie Prince, drums (2)
- Thommy Price, drums (3, 6)
- Jeff Porcaro, drums (4, 11)
- John Keane, drums (5, 7, 10), backing vocals (5, 9)
- Lenny Castro, percussion (1, 3, 5, 10)
- Warren Ham, backing vocals (1), ad-libs (1)
- Richard Marx, backing vocals (2, 7)
- Cindy Mizelle, backing vocals (3), ad-libs (3)
- Stan Lynch, backing vocals (4, 11)
- Tom Kelly, backing vocals (5, 10)
- Tommy Funderburk, backing vocals (7)
- Ivan Neville, backing vocals (11)
04Production
- Produced by Steve Lukather
- Co-produced by Eddie Van Halen (1), Richard Marx (2), Steve Stevens (3, 6), Danny Kortchmar (4, 11), Randy Goodrum (5, 8, 9), Richie Zito (7), Tom Kelly (10), Billy Steinberg (10)
- Assistant engineers, Charlie Brocco, Paul Dieter, Clark Germain, Mike Kloster, Jay Lean, Bob Loftus, Danny Mormando, Rail Rogut, Duane Seykora, Brett Swain, Mike Tacci, Rick Clifford, Mike Bosley, Ken Felton
- Production coordinator and contractor, Shari Sutcliffe
- Art direction, An Rafferty
- Creative Director, design, Doug Brown
- Photography, Jeff Katz
- Management, The Fitzgerald/Hartley Company
05Charts
| Chart (1989) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) | 57 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) | 14 |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Lukather”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Lukather album cover.jpg by Unknown author, Fair use
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