As previously mentioned, Toyah guest presents this week’s edition of Ramblings on ‘BBC Radio 4’. Here are a couple of photos of Toyah and Cathy Dreyer (with Buster) from the walk. Visit the Ramblings website to view larger versions of the photos and full details on this Thursday’s programme. (Photos © BBC)
• Visit Cathy’s Walking In A Circle blog. The page on the Ramblings walk is here.
We’re now into the last few days of the build up to the launch of Toyah’s Love Is The Law & More Tour. A 30th anniversary tribute to the 1983 album which kicks off this coming Friday in Newcastle. Here are another two pictures, Rebel of Love and Time is Ours – Will they be on the set list? View larger versions by clicking here, and get your tour tickets by clicking below. (Original photos by Dean Stockings © Toyah Willcox Ltd)
A sweet reminsence about Toyah in “Brief Encounters With Famous People” at Vloggerheads.
My Mum’s hobby was knitting. She was an absolute EXPERT at hand-knitting Arran sweaters.
One day in the late 80’s, I got a call on my carphone (yeah – I had one of those – I thought I was the Dog’s Bollocks) telling me I should come over for tea – there was someone famous that was coming over she wanted me to meet.
Turns out that one of Mum’s friends worked in the music business and she was having sweaters knitted to give as special gifts to her clients. One of her clients was Toyah Willcox (yeah – I know – lots of you won’t even know who she was!) – and Toyah was so impressed, she wanted to meet the knitter and order some special sweaters.
That was a surreal evening – Toyah was at the house for about 2 hours chatting with Mum about patterns and wool. I just sat transfixed. She was absolutely beautiful in real life – nothing like her stage persona at all.
Mum knitted special-order Arran sweaters for Toyah Willcox and her friends from 1987 right up until her death in 2003. I always told her that they were rich and famous and she wasn’t charging them enough! :-)
• Visit the blog at Vloggerheads.
A reminder that there are two upcoming radio appearances for Toyah this week. Today on Jowheretogo on ‘ne1fm102.5′ and Thursday, guest presenting Ramblings on ‘BBC Radio 4’.
Jowheretogo: ne1fm102.5:
Monday 14th October: 12.00pm
Jo Oliver presents listeners with an hour of information on what’s on in the local area, including gigs, theatre, comedy and more. This Monday’s show has an interview with Toyah who is at Legends Rock Club next Friday – fun starts at 12.
Ramblings: BBC Radio 4: Thursday 17th October: 3.00pm
Ramblings: BBC Radio 4: Saturday 19th October: 6.07am
5: The Same Walk 365 Times. Walking series. Guest presenter Toyah Willcox joins listener Cathy Dreyer as she completes yet another circuit of a short local route in Oxfordshire that she has chosen to walk 365 times.
Toyah’s second, and final single, from the Love Is The Law album was ‘The Vow’, the first time a ballad had been released as a single by Toyah. This was also the final single on Safari Records (though at the time there were still plans to release ‘Dreamscape’ as a single in early 1984). No official promo video was filmed for the single so ITV’s The Saturday Show and Toyah made one, and it’s a good clip. View at Dreamscape’s You Tube channel by clicking below. View larger versions of the screen caps here. (Thanks to Andy for the clip)
I’ve always loved the original Love Is The Law press advert published in Japanese magazines in 1983. The ad was only ever available in black and white so I’ve made an attempt at colourisation. It didn’t turn out quite as well as I hoped it would but I thought I’d share it anyway… View the original here.
• Love Is The Law & More: Tour Starts This Friday in Newcastle: Like and Share this image on Facebook and be entered into a draw to win this brand new 2013 tour t-shirt and both brand new posters – signed by Toyah. Tickets: www.toyahwillcox.com/gigs. Terms: www.toyahwillcox.com/tour – Visit Toyah’s Official Facebook…
• Live 2013: KAOS, Blackpool: The set list for Toyah’s PA on Thursday was: Echo Beach, Thunder In The Mountains, Rebel Yell, It’s A Mystery, I Love Rock ‘N Roll, I Want To Be Free. View a clip of Echo Beach at You Tube… (Thanks to Michael O’Brien)
• Naked Eye: Quadrophenia – The Reunion: Scroll down to the September 24 post to read a great report on last month’s Quadrophenia-fest in London – View here…
• Upton Festival 2013: Toyah’ full set was recently uploaded to ‘You Tube’. The set list includes Bird in Flight, Jungles of Jupiter, Rebel Run, Brave New World and Danced – View here…
• Record Collector: Newsletter: Derek Jarman’s Sketchbooks is published by Thames & Hudson in September and features contributions from Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant, and Toyah, who appears at the Classic Cinema: The Reunion Q&A/screening of Quadrophenia at London’s Institut Français Ciné Lumière, Queensberry Place, 23 September, and the Kensington Victoria & Albert Museum’s In Conversation, 8 November – View here…
Back in 2003 the marking of the 20th anniversary of Toyah’s Love Is The Law album was a far more subdued affair than what’s currently happening for the 30th. Maybe it was considered too soon to go down Nostalgia Avenue (!). One of the very few things that did happen was Dreamscape’s 20th Anniversary feature. I think this was my first attempt at something like this and compared to later features it is very amateurish but I knew I wanted to do something to remember one of my favourite albums. This was definitely before I had learned to use Photoshop properly :) One of the best things about it, though, was In The Fairground‘s Andrew York reminiscing about 1983. Go back 10 years, to when the internet was a little less frenetic, by clicking below.
A bumper update to In The Fairground: Andrew York’s Arternative Universe, with 12 new photos added. View Andrew’s latest wonderful Toyah creations by clicking below (full details on the Updates page)
Toyah will be interviewed on Jo Oliver’s Jowheretogo radio show on, Newcastle & Gateshead based, ‘ne1fm102.5’ next Monday afternoon.
Jo’s programme airs from Midday and can be listened to online at the station’s website. Toyah’s ‘Love Is The Law & More’ Tour kicks off at Newcastle’s Legends on Friday 18th October.
Jowheretogo: ne1fm102.5: Monday 14th October: 12.00pm
Jo Oliver presents listeners with an hour of information on what’s on in the local area, including gigs, theatre, comedy and more. This Monday’s show has an interview with Toyah who is at Legends Rock Club next Friday – fun starts at 12.
“I’ve got Broken Diamonds going round & around & around in my head! One week till first show!“, Toyah tweeted today. Click below to view all the ‘Love Is The Law & More’ tour dates and links to buy your tickets. Click here to view a larger version of Dreamscape’s “Broken Diamonds” picture, and here to visit our ‘Love Is The Law: The Complete Songwords’ page. (Original photo by Dean Stockings © Toyah Willcox Ltd)
In late November 1983, just after Love Is The Law had been released and just before the start of the ‘Rebel Run’ Tour, Toyah guested on The Janice Long Show on ‘BBC Radio One’. She talked about all manner of topics, including recording the album, her plans for the future and an embryonic idea which is close to what we now recognise as the internet. Listen to the interview by clicking below.
The latest issue of Breaking Through, Toyah’s Official Newsletter, was mailed out to subscribers at the beginning of the week and, as always, it contained lots of news… I won’t spoil it too much in case you haven’t read yours yet, but here is Dreamscape’s usual brief summary of what is included:
• Love Is The Law & More: News on the upcoming tour (which is now just nine days from premiering in Newcastle), and related merchandise (see posters below). Get your tour tickets here.
• Dispatches: News briefs on Toyah’s Vintage Christmas 2013, Shakespuss (a new project by Melissa Mailer-Yates), Ramblings, Quadrophenia Reunited, The Official Website’s partial makeover, and plans for Toyah’s Advent for December 2013
• Live 2013: Info on Toyah’s other PAs and events for the remainder of this year, including the PA at KAOS in Blackpool tomorrow night.
• Next Newsletter: There will be a ‘Breaking Through’ mailed out in November too.
• Subscribe: For full info on all of the above, and to receive future issues of the newsletter, sign up to ‘Breaking Through: The Official Toyah Mailing List’ here. (Photo by Dean Stockings © Toyah Willcox Ltd)
The two new Toyah posters which will be on sale at all dates on the Love Is The Law & More UK Tour have been previewed in the latest ‘Breaking Through’ newsletter, mailed out at the beginning of the week. They are certainly eye-catching, and as Toyah tweeted, they are the first new posters to be available on a Toyah tour for 30 years! Click here to subscribe to ‘Breaking Through’. (Photos by Dean Stockings © Toyah Willcox Ltd)
A couple of Love Is The Law rarities from outside the UK – Toyah on the cover of Yugoslavian magazine ‘itd’ and an unofficial cassette release of the album, most probably from Saudi Arabia. The tape is interesting as not only does it include all 10 songs from Love Is The Law, in a different order to the official release, but it also has five songs from Toyah’s previous studio album The Changeling. Unfortunately I don’t have photos of these in great quality but I think they are worth a post as there are very few LITL rarities in existence.
Vote for your top albums of 1988 in Slicing Up Eyeballs poll. Toyah’s album ‘Prostitute’ is included as an option. Voting closes on 25th October and the results will be announced at the beginning of November. Click below to participate in the poll. View Dreamscape’s mini ‘Prostitute’ feature.
Dreamscape is compiling Love Is The Law – The Complete Lyrics. We’ve reached the eighth song on the album – the rowsing and anthemic title track Love Is The Law, co-written by Toyah, Joel Bogen, Simon Darlow and Phil Spalding. Click below to visit the LITL – The Complete Lyrics page.
• Toyah’s Official Website have added another live song in the countdown to the start of the Love Is The Law & More Tour. It’s ‘Race Through Space’ live at Concorde 2, Brighton from last year’s The Changeling Resurrection II Tour. Listen to the track here. View Dreamscape’s past news posts on all of the previously available Official Live Tracks here.
• As mentioned earlier, a new collection of Toyah photos have been added to the Official Website. As well as this, the headers on each section of the website have been revamped, also including some new photos, with the new Toyah logo.
• Toyah Kicks Off Love Is The Law Tour This Month: Toyah kicks off her natonal autumn music tour on Friday 18 October in Newcastle. The Love Is The Law & More Tour follows on from two years of successful UK live dates which have revisited the cult classic beginnings of Sheep Farming In Barnet and The Blue Meaning through to the Platinum-selling Anthem and the critically acclaimed The Changeling.
The seven UK live dates will see Toyah perform the 1983 hit single Rebel Run, from Love Is The Law, as well as other songs from the same album for the first time in thirty years.
• Continue reading at www.toyahwillcox.com. Toyah talks about the tour in the her latest Blog for the site. Tickets for the tour can be bought from links at the Gigs page.
It’s Love Is The Law Month here at Dreamscape, and our latest post is a selection of screen caps, and the video clip, from Toyah’s phone in/interview on BBC1’s weekend morning show Saturday Superstore. Presented by, Radio 1 DJ, Mike Read, this aired in December 1983. Click here for larger screen caps and below to watch the clip at Dreamscape’s You Tube channel. (Thanks to Andy)
Great new photos have been added to The Official Toyah Willcox Website, featuring the new image created for the forthcoming ‘Love Is The Law & More’ UK Tour. Click below to visit the site and view the photos in full size (Photos by Dean Stockings © Toyah Willcox Ltd). Visit the Official Gigs page for info on the tour.
• You Tubing with Dreamscape: Just uploaded to Dreamscape’s You Tube channel – Toyah guesting on ITV’s Neno from 1987, around the time of the release of her ‘Desire’ album. Not great quality but worth a watch to see Toyah having some fun while discussing the album, Cabaret, her earlier career and more – Watch at You Tube…
• Neno: View larger versions of the screen caps here.
• LITL T-Shirt Image: There was a great response yesterday, on Facebook and to a lesser extent Twitter, to the new image included on the ‘Love Is The Law & More’ t-shirt, with people saying it updated the LITL imagery well etc.
• Time Out: ‘Quadrophenia’ producer: ‘We’re planning a sequel set in the 1970s’: At an exclusive Time Out reunion event, one of the key men behind the counter-culture classic reveals details of a long-awaited follow-up – Continue reading…
• Prostitute: A photo of the rare pre-release cassette of Toyah’s 1988 album was added to catmachine’s Instagram yesterday – View the photo…
