"HOME OF THE BRAVE"

ARTIST/BAND: TOTO
WRITTEN BY: PAICH, LUKATHER, WEBB & WILLIAMS
TAKEN FROM ALBUM: THE SEVENTH ONE (1988)
RELEASE DATE: MARCH 01, 1988 (never released as a single)
LENGTH: 6:51
GENRE: AOR/MELODIC ROCK
LABEL: COLUMBIA RECORDS
RECORDED: 1987/1988
PRODUCED BY: PAYNE, MASSENBURG & TOTO
FORMAT: ONLY AVAILABLE AS ALBUM TRACK

 THE BAND
Toto is one of the most succesfull bands in the AOR-genre. In many ways their input in the genre is crucial and can’t be denied. Toto’s founded by a bunch of superb studio musicians in Los Angeles in 1976. Keymembers are Steve Lukather (guitar) and David Paich (keyboards). During their long career the band has seen many members come and go: Bobby Kimball, Fergie Frederiksen, Joseph Williams, Jean-Michel Byron (lead vocals), David Hungate, Mike Porcaro (bass), Steve Porcaro, Greg Phillinganes (keyboards). Founding member and drummer Jeff Porcaro passed away in 1992 and has since been replaced by Simon Phillips.

The band has released a total of 17 albums, and have sold over 35 million albums to date. The group was honored with several Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2009.

THE ALBUM
To the succes of Toto’s seventh studio album and probably their best album ever, goes a prior history.
The ‘IV’-album is overwhelmed with Grammy’s and both singles ‘Rosanna’ and ‘Africa’ are topping the charts around the globe in 1982. With ‘IV’ the sound of Toto changed. The album contains more softpop and is less rockier than it’s predecessors.
The band returns to their rock-roots with the brilliant ‘Isolation’-album in 1984. New lead-vocalist Fergie Fredriksson has the perfect voice and writing skills and the band sounds fresher than ever. But ‘Isolation’ doesn’t receive the praise it deserves. Critics are rejecting the album because of it’s harder approach, and records sales are truly dissapointing.
After this deception it’s softpop time again with the ‘Fahrenheit’-album in 1986. Fergie Frederiksen has been replaced by Joseph Williams and even Miles Davis imparts a small contribution. Beside these facts, the album is subjected to a lack of good songs and decent production. 

With ‘The Seventh One’ Toto has everyting filled in well liners. For the first time in five years the band appears unaltered in the recording studio. According to the producing skills they partly handed over to George Massenburg and Little Feat-genius Bill Payne. This subject is paying off! 
‘The Seventh One’ is a well crafted and most of all a balanced album that brings Toto back to the top in 1988, and contains the wordwide no. 1 singles ‘Stop Loving You’ and ‘Pamela’.
‘The Seventh One’ is also the second and last album to feature Joseph Williams on lead vocals. He was fired after the Seventh One world tour due to loss of voice attributed to drug abuse.

THE SONG
"Home of the Brave" is the 11th and last song on the 1988 "The Seventh One" album. According to it’s running time of almost 7 minutes, ‘Home Of The Brave’ is formated in an epic size. Together with ‘Hydra’ (from the second Toto-album) they never came so close near neo-prog. There are tempo changes, dazzling guitar solos’s, and a keyboard-anthem that returns in several parts. It’s a full powerfull up tempo rocker where the all the guys are giving the best they can.

Although never released as a single the song became a fan favourite and mostly finds its place as last tune on the setlist or as encore.

The song is carrying socially critical lyrics, and that’s startling! Because most of the band’s repertoire are truly love songs. ‘Home Of The Brave’ also contains a kind of patriotism. The lyrics refer to the feeling of a being  a proud nation and stand up for it’s glory of it.

PERSONNEL
Joseph Williams - lead vocals
Steve Lukather - guitars, backing vocals
David Paich - lead vocals, keyboards, backing vocals
Mike Porcaro - bass guitar
Jeff Porcaro - drums, percussion

Strings Arranged By David Paich, Conducted By Marty Paich

LYRICS
Everything's gonna be alright boys
Help is on the way
Hold your head up high now
There's no need to cry now
We're not running anymore

Leave the politics behind boys
They're not working anymore
There's so much more at stake here
It's make or break here
Haven't we been here before
Tell me what we're waiting for

You gotta remember
You don't have to be afraid
You still have the freedom to learn
And say what you wanna say
You gotta remember
Don't let 'em take away
The land we call the home of the brave

Who sings the song of the people
You don't hear it anymore
I heard it late last summer
To the beat of a different drummer
It never sounded quite like this before

So you're trying to shake this feeling
That trouble's right outside the door
You lie awake each dark night
Like a time bomb wound up too tight
A storm in waiting just offshore
Tell me what we're waiting for

You gotta remember
You don't have to be afraid
You still have the freedom to learn
And say what you wanna say
You gotta remember
Don't let 'em take away
The land we call the home of the brave

[Instrumental break]

You gotta remember
You don't have to be afraid
You still have the freedom to learn
And say what you wanna say
You gotta remember
Don't let 'em take away
The land we call the home of the brave

[repeats 2x]

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