2008 Steve Lukather – Ever Changing Times

Ever Changing Times was released on February 22, 2008, is a collection of songs Steve Lukather recorded in 2007 between Toto tours. The album contains contributions from fellow session musicians Bill Champlin, Abe Laboriel Jr, Leland Sklar, Steve Porcaro, and many others. Steve Lukather’s son Trevor contributed as well. Joseph Williams provides backing vocals on five of the tracks. Lukather wrote the songs for the album in a hotel room with his son and a handful of other musicians, using basic equipment. His song-writing philosophy is that if a song sounds good with only guitars and vocals, it will likely sound good after a full production.
Lukather collaborated with Grammy Award-winning engineer and producer Steve MacMillan on the project, with the goal of introducing some new methods and techniques into the recording process. Lukather described the final tracks as “perfectly imperfect”, preferring to record with the five-piece backing band in one room and in one take. MacMillan encouraged Lukather to use “organic, vintage tones”. As a result, Lukather eschewed effects and played the guitar parts directly through tube amplifiers manufactured by Marshall, Vox, and some boutique brands. Lukather commented that MacMillan served as a valuable “second set of ears” in the studio, often encouraging him to keep parts that he normally would have discarded. As Toto had recently disbanded when Ever Changing Times was released, Lukather embarked on a solo tour to promote the album. The shows featured a mixture of songs from the album, songs written for other side projects, and “a few Toto obscurities”

Tracks

1  Ever Changing Times (Steve Lukather; Randy Goodrum) 5:29
2  The Letting Go (Steve Lukather; Randy Goodrum) 5:52
3  New World (Steve Lukather; Randy Goodrum; Trevor Lukather) 4:32
4  Tell Me What You Want From Me (Steve Lukather; Phil Soussan; Trevor Lukather) 5:13
5  I Am (Steve Lukather; Randy Goodrum) 3:14
6  Jammin With Jesus (John Sloman) 5:55
7  Stab In The Back (Steve Lukather; Randy Goodrum) 5:59
8  Never Ending Nights (Steve Lukather; Randy Goodrum) 5:35
9  Icebound (Steve Lukather; Randy Goodrum) 4:19
10  How Many Zeros (Steve Lukather; Jeff Babko; Stan Lynch) 4:33
11  The Truth (Steve Lukather) 3:50

Musicians

1 Ever Changing Times

BassJohn Pierce
DrumsAbe Laboriel Jr
GuitarSteve Lukather
KeyboardsJeff Babko
SynthesizerSteve MacMillan
SynthesizerRandy Goodrum
SynthesizerJyro Xhan
Background VocalsJoseph Williams
VocalsSteve Lukather

2 The Letting Go

BassLeland Sklar
DrumsAbe Laboriel Jr
GuitarSteve Lukather
KeyboardsJeff Babko
SynthesizerJeff Babko
SynthesizerRandy Goodrum
PercussionLenny Castro
VocalsSteve Lukather


3 New World

BassLeland Sklar
DrumsAbe Laboriel Jr
GuitarSteve Lukather
GuitarTrevor Lukather
KeyboardsJeff Babko
SynthesizerSteve MacMillan
Background VocalsBernard Fowler
Background VocalsJoseph Williams
Background VocalsTrevor Lukather
VocalsSteve Lukather


4 Tell Me What You Want From Me

BassPhil Soussan
DrumsAbe Laboriel Jr
GuitarSteve Lukather
GuitarTrevor Lukather
KeyboardsJeff Babko
SynthesizerJeff Babko
Background VocalsPhil Soussan
VocalsSteve Lukather


5 I Am

BassLeland Sklar
DrumsAbe Laboriel Jr
GuitarSteve Lukather
KeyboardsJeff Babko
SynthesizerSteve MacMillan
SynthesizerRandy Goodrum
SynthesizerJeff Babko
Background VocalsRandy Goodrum
VocalsSteve Lukather


6 Jammin With Jesus

BassLeland Sklar
DrumsAbe Laboriel Jr
GuitarSteve Lukather
KeyboardsJeff Babko
OrganGreg Mathieson
SynthesizerJeff Babko
PercussionLenny Castro
Background VocalsBernard Fowler
Background VocalsBill Champlin
Background VocalsSharolette Gibson
Background VocalsTrevor Lukather
VocalsSteve Lukather


7 Stab In The Back

BassLeland Sklar
DrumsAbe Laboriel Jr
GuitarSteve Lukather
OrganGreg Mathieson
Fender RhodesJeff Babko
SynthesizerSteve Weingart
SynthesizerJeff Babko
Background VocalsTina Lukather
VocalsSteve Lukather


8 Never Ending Nights

BassLeland Sklar
DrumsAbe Laboriel Jr
GuitarSteve Lukather
KeyboardsJeff Babko
SynthesizerOlle Romo
PercussionLenny Castro
Background VocalsJoseph Williams
VocalsSteve Lukather


9 Icebound

BassLeland Sklar
DrumsAbe Laboriel Jr
GuitarSteve Lukather
KeyboardsJeff Babko
SynthesizerSteve Weingart
SynthesizerSteve MacMillan
VocalsSteve Lukather


10 How Many Zeros

BassLeland Sklar
DrumsAbe Laboriel Jr
GuitarSteve Lukather
KeyboardsJeff Babko
SynthesizerRandy Goodrum
Background VocalsBill Champlin
VocalsSteve Lukather


11 The Truth

GuitarSteve Lukather
KeyboardsSteve Porcaro

Liner Notes

Producer – Steve Lukather, Steve MacMillan
Producer (Executive) – Randy Goodrum
Producer (Executive Ride Records) – Yoshuhiro Ricky Miyagi
A&R (Ride Records A&R) – Micky Suzuki, Naoki Nomura
Coordinator (Album Coordination For Sonny Abelardo) – Amy McGuire Lynch
Coordinator (Album Coordination For Steve Lukather) – Rhoda Neil
Engineer (Assistant Engineering) – John Silas Cranfield, Ken Eisennagel
Mastered By – Stephen Marcussen
Mixed By – Steve MacMillan
Recorded By – Steve MacMillan

Art Direction (Creative Director) – Ricky Rodriguez
Design (Cd) – Satoshi Hasegawa
Photography – Maryanne Bilham-Knight, Robert Knight

Pressed By – www.multimediapress.it
Licensed To – Frontiers Records
Mastered At – Marcussen Mastering
Recorded At – Steakhouse Studios
Mixed At – MacMan Digital