TOTO IN SESSION

“FAHRENHEIT.” Toto. Columbia. This band, made up of excellent session musicians, apparently will never stop sounding like a band made up of excellent session musicians. Its motto seems to be precision over passion, which has tended to make its commercially oriented pop-rock largely uninvolving.

This album features no first-rate songs, but a few, like “Till the End” and “Somewhere Tonight,” are melodious and interestingly arranged.

At least “Fahrenheit” is superior to the last one, the dreadful “Isolation,” which nearly ruined the band’s career. The problems with “Isolation” were limp material and a lame lead singer, Fergie Frederiksen. New lead singer Joseph Williams, though merely adequate, is a marked improvement over Frederiksen.

The material is better this time too, but none of it is especially absorbing. Even the ultramodern techno-pop feel that permeates some of these pieces is just window dressing. Toto’s romantic ballads have always been dry and innocuous, and that hasn’t changed. This album’s love ballads, particularly the snail-paced “Lea,” barely register on the passion meter.