Hydra (Toto album)



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.

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.

Toto

 * Bobby Kimball – lead and backing vocals
 * Steve Lukather – guitars, lead and backing vocals
 * Steve Porcaro – keyboards, electronics
 * David Paich – keyboards, lead and backing vocals
 * David Hungate – bass, guitar
 * Jeff Porcaro – drums, percussion

Additional musicians

 * Michael Boddicker: keyboards
 * Roger Linn: synthesizers
 * Lenny Castro: percussion
 * Marty Paich: string arrangements

Production

 * Produced by Tom Knox, Reggie Fisher and Toto.
 * Engineered and Mixed by Tom Knox and Dana Latham.
 * Assistant Engineer: Stephen McManus
 * Mastered by David Donnelly
 * Art Direction: Jim Hagopian, Tony Lane and Jeff Porcaro.
 * Design: Philip Garris
 * Photography: Jim Hagopian
 * Calligraphy: Mike Manoogian
 * Management: The Fitzgerald Hartley Co.

Singles

 * "99" / "Hydra"
 * "St George and the Dragon" / "A Secret Love"
 * "All Us Boys" / "Hydra" (released in US)