Isolation (stylized as (ī’so-lā’tīon)) is the fifth studio album by American rock band Toto, released in October 1984. It is the first album to include Mike Porcaro as the band's official bassist (after the departure of David Hungate) and the only album with Fergie Frederiksen as the primary vocalist.
While Isolation failed to achieve the popularity of its predecessor, Toto IV, it achieved gold record status and gave the band their highest charting mainstream rock (chart) single "Stranger in Town" (No. 7).
Relatively few songs from this album were featured in live performances after 1985's Isolation World Tour due to Frederiksen's departure and the lack of well-known material from the album.
Background and recording
While Toto IV was a massive, Grammy-winning success, Toto elected not to continue touring in 1983, a decision Steve Lukather has since regretted as a missed opportunity to become a "US-arena rock band."
As the band began sessions for Isolation, Kimball reportedly struggled with his vocals. although Lukather has stated that he only recorded a lead vocal on the track "Lion." The job was first offered to Richard Page, who ultimately declined the offer because he had a contract for his band, Mr. Mister.
| rev2 = Rolling Stone
| rev2Score =
AllMusic's retrospective review praised the performances of Jeff Porcaro, David Paich, and Steve Lukather in passing but dismissed Isolation as "a Journey clone album, minus the aching ballads that had made Journey such a success."
|65
|-
|align="left"|Canadian RPM Albums Chart
|57
|-
|align="left"|Dutch Mega Albums Chart
|26
|-
|align="left"|Finnish Albums Chart
|17
|-
|align="left"|French SNEP Albums Chart
|12
|-
|align="left"|Japanese Oricon LP Chart
|2
|-
|align="left"|Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart
|8
|-
|align="left"|Swedish Albums Chart
|8
|-
|align="left"|Swiss Albums Chart
|15
|-
|align="left"|UK Albums Chart
|67
|-
|align="left"|U.S. Billboard 200
|42
|-
|align="left"|West German Media Control Albums Chart
|15
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!Chart (1984)
!Position
|-
|align="left"|French Albums Chart
|74
|-
|align="left"|Japanese Albums Chart (Oricon)
|81
|}