Released October 1979 Length 41:23 Artist Toto Label Columbia Records | Recorded January 1979 Hydra
(1979) Turn Back
(1981) Release date October 1979 | |
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Studio Sunset Sound and Reggie Fisher Recording Studio (Los Angeles, CA) Producer Tom Knox, Reggie Fisher, Toto Genres Rock music, Progressive rock, Hard rock, Rhythm and blues, Funk rock Similar Toto albums, Rock music albums | ||
Toto hydra
Hydra is the second studio album by American rock band Toto, released in 1979. It reached #37 on the Billboard Pop Albums. While most of the album's singles failed to make any impact in the charts, "99", a song inspired by the 1971 science fiction movie THX 1138, reached #26 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Contents
Toto hydra bass cover
Reception
Though a commercial success, Hydra was far less popular than the band's top-selling debut. Allmusic suggested this was due to the band's failure to establish a distinctive, recognizable sound on either Hydra or their debut, which would have allowed listeners to immediately identify Toto's major hits with the band themselves. They also speculated that most listeners were not familiar with the film (namely, THX 1138) on which "99" was based, and thus found the lyrics hopelessly abstruse, preventing the song from becoming as big a hit as it could have been.
Critical response to the album was mixed. Allmusic's retrospective review made little judgment on the quality (noting only as an aside that the songs were "well-played"), instead discussing why it had failed to match the commercial success of their debut.
Track listing
All tracks written by David Paich, except where noted.
Toto
Additional musicians
Production
Singles
Songs
1Hydra7:31
2St George and the Dragon
3995:14