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When Steve Lukather signalled the end of his 31-year tenure

But following the sad announcement in early 2010 that Toto’s original bassist Mike Porcaro is suffering from the motor neuron disease ALS, Lukather did the decent thing and rejoined the band for a European tour to benefit his ailing former colleague. Moreover, Lukather’s description of this tour as ‘amazing’ has opened the door to a more permanent reunion.

In the meantime, his seventh solo album proves Lukather still has plenty of good music in him. As one of rock’s premier guitar virtuosos, Lukather enjoys showing off his chops on the smart-arse jazz/funk/rock fusion instrumental Tumescent.

But overall, this is very much a song-based album. Flash In The Pan, co-written by The Tubes’ Fee Waybill, has ‘Luke’ paying homage to Hendrix. On My Way Home has the cocktail-party vibe of classic Steely Dan. And best of all, the soft-rocking Don’t Say It’s Over and Watching The World are Toto songs in all but name.

Come on, Steve. You know what to do next.

Freelance writer for Classic Rock since 2005, Paul Elliott has worked for leading music titles since 1985, including Sounds, Kerrang!, MOJO and Q. He is the author of several books including the first biography of Guns N’ Roses and the autobiography of bodyguard-to-the-stars Danny Francis. He has written liner notes for classic album reissues by artists such as Def Leppard, Thin Lizzy and Kiss, and currently works as content editor for Total Guitar. He lives in Bath - of which David Coverdale recently said: “How very Roman of you!”