Dreamscape | The Toyah Willcox Fansite

• Toyah At Home: The Anthem Specials: Part 3 – Watch… • Robert At Home (and Away!): Episode 8 – Watch… • Objects Of Desire: The Toyah Edition 2 – Watch… • Toyah & Robert’s Sunday Lunch – It’s Officially The One & Only – Watch…

Press for Toyah & Robert’s Sunday Lunch – This week covering Chesney Hawkes (with Chesney Hawkes). (Image © Toyah Willcox)

• NME: Toyah Willcox and Robert Fripp enlist Chesney Hawkes for ‘The One And Only’ cover: This edition is labelled an ‘interlude’ as Fripp is currently on tour – Continue…

• Brooklyn Vegan: Watch Toyah & Robert Fripp cover Chesney Hawkes’ “The One and Only” with Chesney Hawkes – Continue…

• Guitar World: Robert Fripp and Toyah recruit Chesney Hawkes for the latest ridiculous installment of Sunday Lunch: Fripp lets Hawkes handle guitar duties on a Surf Green Fender Tele while he gets bread rolls batted off his head by his wife. Yes, really – Continue…

• DGM Live: Toyah & Robert’s Weekend – Continue…

A montage from the Anthem Tour 2022 at Epic Studios Norwich (16th September). See/hear a full version of Pop Star from the same gig here. (Thanks to Julie and Tony)

Join Toyah for a deep dive into the music and stories and your questions answered in the third of three new specials dedicated to Anthem. As the classic Gold-certified selling album receives its long-awaited remastered, expanded and deluxe release, this special celebrates the songs, the images and history in style. Enjoy much-loved songs, rarely seen footage plus and an extended selection of your questions answered by Toyah as she goes behind the music.

• Toyah At Home – The Anthem Specials: Part 3 premieres on Saturday 24th September, 11am at Toyah’s Official You Tube channel & Facebook. (Image © Toyah Willcox)

80s Stars – Then & Now!: NOW 80s: Monday 26th September: 1pm
Where are they now? Classic hits, followed by some recent songs – Including Pet Shop Boys, Kylie, Toyah, The Stones, Gary Numan, The Pretenders, New Order, Rick Astley & T’Pau!

Toyah’s ‘Anthem’ gets the super deluxe treatment, and never sounded so good!

It’s a mystery why Toyah was never eternally enormous. But the thunder in the mountains has never sounded so good.

Toyah / Anthem
Cherry Red (3-CD, 1 DVD, 2-LPs, 1-45rpm Box Set)

This is it – the big one, both in commercial terms and, compared to previous releases in Toyah’s reissue series, packaging, too.

Anthem was Ms Willcox’s fourth album, but it was home, too, to her greatest single hits yet – and if you only need one super deluxe early ’80s album, this might well be it.

Disc one here is the original album; disc three is a DVD stuffed with promos and TV appearances; discs two and four add in the outtakes, demos, remixes, backing tracks and live cuts. Including the nine bonus tracks appended to the album itself, and four more on tucked away elsewhere, there’s some 40 largely unreleased performances to get your teeth into. Plus the album on picture disc, a 12-inch mini album and a four track 7-inch EP. Which can, if you wish, be slimmed down to a simple 2CD + DVD package, or reduced even further to a gold colored LP of Anthem alone. In every guise, Anthem shines brightly.

The most confident sounding of Toyah’s early albums, if not the most unexpected (that remains her debut), Anthem was the sound of Toyah finally finding her direction. The songs are generally stronger than before, the band is definitely tighter, and her voice feels more controlled, without losing an iota of its original idiosyncrasy.

• Continue reading at Goldmine. Browse more reviews; of Anthem, Toyah! Toyah! Toyah!, Posh Pop, The Blue Meaning, Sheep Farming In Barnet, Posh Pop Tour, Give Them Wings, and much more, in Dreamscape’s Reviews News Archive.

Toyah / Live at the Rainbow
First time on DVD and CD/LP

Toyah Live at the Rainbow was issued on VHS back in 1981 (and later on laserdisc) but now gets the full reissue treatment with remixed and remastered audio on vinyl and CD as well as a DVD with restored visuals.

The concert was in February 1981 at London’s iconic Rainbow Theatre and includes a performance of ‘It’s A Mystery’. Such was that single’s success (it reached number four as part of the ‘Four From Toyah’ EP) it prompted a gig upgrade from the Lyceum Theatre to The Rainbow.

Live at the Rainbow was originally a 12-song video, but on CD it has been expanded with with seven additional tracks, all previously unheard and unreleased; restored exclusively for this release. These include ‘Bird In Flight’, ‘Mummies’, ‘Computer’ and ‘Love Me’. Three of these seven songs are in mono because the original multi-track masters could not be found. The coloured blue vinyl edition doesn’t include the mono tracks and is therefore a 16-song offering.

• Continue reading at Super Deluxe Edition.

This new article, published by The Reprobate Press, is more of an opinion piece on Toyah rather than just a review of Anthem, but an interesting read.

WITH CHARM AND CHANCE: TOYAH’S ANTHEM REVISITED

Looking back at Toyah’s magnificent 1981 breakthrough album and its dystopian, rebellious sci-fi concepts.

Back in the 1980s, when teenage musical tribalism was at its height, stepping out of your lane was simply not the done thing. Yet for many of us, the strict divisions that split punk from metal from pop and all points in between seemed increasingly ludicrous and arbitrary, as much based on what a band or performer looked like as on their musical output. I rather threw all that aside very early into my teenage musical fixation. After all, bands themselves – especially what we now call classic rock but what at the time was often dismissed as old farts* – were sneered at for chasing trends, sometimes with good reason but often unfairly in retrospect. There was nothing wrong with developing and experimenting with your sound, and those artists who managed to escape the sneering by remaining defiantly art rock – Peter Gabriel, say – were just as likely to be making albums that were nothing like their past work and, in retrospect, very much of their time.

This preamble leads us to your author’s curious fascination with Toyah, who was – depending on which period of her career in the 1980s you were talking about – seen as a punk or a pop star. I’ve already made the case that she was neither, at least musically at the start of her career – the ‘pop star’ dismissal by former punk admirers has a bit more credibility as her career shifted towards kid’s TV appearances, increasingly less arty record covers and more radio-friendly singles, but we could make that particular accusation against many performers. Once Toyah had a couple of hits – which we’ll come to shortly – then she was unavoidable, and as a teenager with a fascination for the terminally uncool worlds of prog, art rock and industrial music, there was something that drew me to her.

• Continue reading at The Reprobate Press.

A new interview with Robert Fripp, including mention of Toyah and You Tube/Sunday Lunch…

Robert Fripp Lightens Up
No one expected to see the leader of King Crimson dancing in a tutu on YouTube. In a rare interview, the guitarist explains “an entirely different trajectory.”

• Continue reading at The New York Times.

Toyah’s Sack The Stylist?! Top 30: NOW 80s:
Thursday 22nd September: 9am
Pop legend Toyah brings 30 memorable videos featuring a cavalcade of clothing calamities from superstars including Visage, Five Star, Divine, Cher, The Jam, Bananarama, Dead Or Alive, Bucks Fizz, ABC, Depeche Mode, David Bowie, Madonna, Adam & The Ants, A Flock Of Seagulls, Roxy Music, Kajagoogoo, Duran Duran, Grace Jones, Su Pollard, Toyah herself and more in this crazy countdown! See the full Toyah’s Sack The Stylist?! Top 30 playlist here.

Carol Decker’s 30 Rock Chicks!: NOW 80s:
Thursday 22nd September: 10pm
T’Pau’s Carol Decker brings a bit of Heart and Soul to a countdown of ’80s ladies who like to rock! With Joan Jett, Tina Turner, Stevie Nicks and Pat Benatar. (as well as Toyah via the Thunder In The Mountains video)

Congratulations to Toyah. Anthem returns to the Official UK Album Chart, exactly 40 years after it left – in 1982, after spending a year on the chart.

Anthem placed at #33 today, following the reissue of the album on Deluxe and Super Deluxe formats, giving Toyah her sixth charting album in the past four years.

Anthem is also high up in numerous other charts, including #1 on the official Independent chart, #6 on the official Physical chart, #6 on the official Sales chart, #6 on the official Vinyl chart, #61 on the official Download chart and #6 on the official Scottish chart. Anthem also places at #29 on the official Record Store chart. Great stats! As with Posh Pop last year, if the Album Chart was, as it used to be, a sales chart, Toyah would certainly have another Top 10 album!

• Chart Stats: Toyah has now had six albums on the Official Charts in the past four consecutive years: In The Court Of The Crimson Queen (2019) #74, Sheep Farming In Barnet (2020) #99, The Blue Meaning (2021) #59, Posh Pop (2021) #22, Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! (2022) #72, Anthem (2022) #33.

• Official Charts: See this week’s full Top 100 Album Chart – Continue reading…

• Official Charts: And finally, a remastered reissue sees Toyah’s Anthem re-enter the Top 40 (33). The record originally peaked at Number 2 upon its release in 1981 – Continue reading…

• Official Charts @ Twitter: British icon Toyah’s 1981 record Anthem re-enters the Top 40 this week – Continue reading…

• Cherry Red Records @ Twitter: Congratulations Toyah on her Top 40 charting place for the deluxe Anthem reissue! – Continue reading…

• Anthem: Click to buy the album on 2CD+DVD, Colour Vinyl or Super Deluxe. (Update: The Anthem Super Deluxe box set is currently out of stock)

• Official Charts: See Toyah’s full charts stats on the Official Chart – Continue reading…

• Dreamscape: Browse our “Toyah On The Official Charts” news archive…

Join Toyah for a deep dive into the music and stories and your questions answered in the second of three new specials dedicated to Anthem. As the classic Gold-certified selling album receives its long-awaited remastered, expanded and deluxe release on Friday 9th September, this special celebrates the songs, the images and history in style. Enjoy much-loved songs, rarely seen footage plus and an extended selection of your questions answered by Toyah as she goes behind the music.

• Toyah At Home – The Anthem Specials: Part 2 premieres on Saturday 17th September, 11am at Toyah’s Official You Tube channel & Facebook. (Image © Cherry Red)

** Toyah Willcox and the Toyah team wish to extend condolences to the Royal Family, and respect the dedication HRH Elizabeth II showed her country during her unprecedented reign. This special was filmed before the news of the sad death of Her Majesty the Queen.**

The celebrations for Anthem‘s 40th (+1) Anniversary continue with the opening gig of the Anthem Tour, taking place this evening at Epic Studios, Norwich. The album has just been released on 2CD+DVD, Gold Vinyl and Super Deluxe Box Set, with great reviews and hopes for a good chart placing later today (Official Charts, 6pm). Click below to browse all the tour dates and ticket links.

The first series of The Older Woman, the six-part radio drama which was originally broadcast in 1993, is currently airing again on BBC Radio 4 Extra.

Toyah plays Elsa, alongside Martun Clunes and Zoë Wanamaker as Roy and Jane in this excellent, and slightly surreal, drama by Tony Bagley. Toyah also performs the theme song to The Older Woman.

The series, produced by Paul Schlesinger, also features David Troughton, Geoff McGivern, David Holt, Keith Drinkel and Melanie Hudson in a variety of roles.

The Older Woman: BBC Radio 4 Extra: Tuesday 27th September: 9.30am
The Older Woman: BBC Radio 4 Extra: Tuesday 27th September: 4.30pm
The Older Woman: BBC Radio 4 Extra: Wednesday 28th September: 4.30am
Episode 4 of 6. Roy tries to impress Jane with some campaigning local journalism. Stars Zoe Wanamaker, Martin Clunes and Toyah Willcox. From February 1993.

Who Won Wot? 1980 – 1989: NOW 80s: Friday 16th September: 12pm
From Smash Hits “Most Unwanted Person of 1980” to the Brits “Best Group” of 1989 – Mark Goodier’s 10 hour marathon of 80s award winners lasts nearly as long as the Oscars. (The first artist played from 1981 is Toyah, with the Thunder In The Mountains video. Mark said: “We begin 1981 with a 4ft 11 pop star who had the biggest hair of the entire decade, here’s the Most Fanciable (as voted by Smash Hits magazine readers) Toyah Willcox with Thunder In The Mountains“).

Toyah and, Anthem – and many other Toyah releases during the Safari Records years – producer, Nick Tauber are interviewed in The Guardian today, discussing It’s A Mystery, from the Four From Toyah EP and the, just reissued in deluxe formats, iconic/legendary/magnificent 1981 album, Anthem.

Toyah on It’s a Mystery: ‘I told Princess Margaret I was a punk rocker. She said “How ridiculous”’

‘There was a vinyl shortage when it was released. Old records had to be sent to the factory to be melted down and pressed. But soon it was selling 75,000 copies a day’

I was a cult punk singer playing sweaty little clubs and getting covered in so much gob that dry cleaners would go: “Yeuch! We’re not touching that!” Then a brilliant PR woman called Judy Totton turned everything around. She put me in every parish magazine in the country that would talk to me. I soon had all these fans who said they discovered me because their parents or grandparents had told them about this punk rocker.

I was making singles that were eight minutes long with reams of lyrics and had never had a hit. When Safari Records played my 1980 single Ieya on rotation in their office, a man apparently appeared at their door with a knife and said: “If you play that song again, I’ll kill you!” I started working with a new producer, Nick Tauber, who said I needed to simplify the message. He was completely right.

• Continue reading at The Guardian.

More press for Toyah & Robert’s Sunday Lunch – This week paying respects to Queen Elizabeth II with David Bowie’s Heroes. (Image © Toyah Willcox)

• David Bowie News: Toyah Willcox and Robert Fripp dedicate cover of David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ to Queen Elizabeth II – Continue…

• Guitar.Com: Robert Fripp and Toyah Cover David Bowie’s Heroes In Honour Of Queen Elizabeth II: The musical duo hit pause on their weekly Sunday Lunch series to pay tribute to Britain’s longest-reigning monarch – Continue…

• NME: Toyah Willcox and Robert Fripp dedicate cover of David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ to Queen Elizabeth II: The couple paused their usual style of program to pay their respects with the song – Continue…

• Classic Rock/Louder: Toyah and Robert Fripp salute Queen Elizabeth II by re-sharing their cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes”: Toyah Willcox and Robert Fripp pause their regular Sunday Lunch series in acknowledgement of the passing of Her Majesty the Queen – Continue…

• Far Out: Toyah Willcox and Robert Fripp cover David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ in dedication to Queen Elizabeth II – Continue…

Almost mirroring Posh Pop last year, Anthem is high in the Official Charts Album Chart Update (aka midweeks) today, placing at number 8. Posh Pop was at number 9 in the midweeks and eventually achieved number 22 in the confirmed/final chart later in the week, so things are looking very good for Anthem this Friday!

Toyah remains an iconic figure across several decades of the UK music scene. Outside of her acting career, she chalked up a series of chart hits as a musician including ‘It’s A Mystery’, ‘I Want To Be Free’ and ‘Thunder In The Mountains’.

More recently, she returned with the album Posh Pop which reached the top 25 in the UK charts. She also enjoys her regular (and popular) Sunday Lunch video shows, alongside husband Robert Fripp.

This October sees Toyah supporting Billy Idol as part of his Roadside tour. Meanwhile, Toyah’s classic 1981 album Anthem is also being reissued this September. Blitzed sat down with Toyah to discuss her busy autumn plans…

You’ve got the Billy Idol tour coming up in October, which is an interesting contrast. You’re both very different, yet at the same time you’re both seasoned travelers from that fervent 80s pop scene.

It’s great and don’t forget punk rock. Billy used to be based in London with Generation X, which is when I met him. We both have 45-year careers, are quite diverse in our individual journeys as musicians and then you’ve got Television performing Marquee Moon.

I think it’s quite a clever line up because I’m only on stage for 7:30 to 8:00 o’clock and I’ve got to fit in 28 albums and 15 hit singles. That’s quite a journey to make, but what all of us have in common on this bill is we started in punk and we’ve both, all of us, evolved into rock. I think it’s quite diverse. I’m not just an 80s icon. I’ve been pretty present, especially in the last few years. I think it’s a very clever mix I hope that I can get in some good punk rock material. Obviously the 80s material, but also the new stuff as well because Posh Pop went to No. 1 in 36 charts, 22 in the main charts on August the 27th last year and I’m certainly going to be including some Posh Pop tracks.

• Continue reading at Blitzed.

• Toyah At Home: The Anthem Specials: Part 1 – Watch… Robert At Home: Episode 6 – Watch… • Toyah & Robert’s Objects Of Desire – Watch… • Toyah & Robert’s Sunday Lunch – Heroes – Watch…

Press for Toyah & Robert’s Sunday Lunch – This week paying respects to Queen Elizabeth II with David Bowie’s Heroes. (Image © Toyah Willcox)

• Brooklyn Vegan: Watch Toyah & Robert Fripp cover David Bowie’s “Heroes” in tribute to the Queen – Continue…

• Brave Words: Robert Fripp & Toyah Perform David Bowie’s “Heroes” In Honour Of Queen Elizabeth II – Continue…

• DGM Live: Toyah & Robert’s Weekend – Continue…

The first series of The Older Woman, the six-part radio drama which was originally broadcast in 1993, is currently airing again on BBC Radio 4 Extra.

Toyah plays Elsa, alongside Martin Clunes and Zoë Wanamaker as Roy and Jane in this excellent, and slightly surreal, drama by Tony Bagley. Toyah also performs the theme song to The Older Woman.

The series, produced by Paul Schlesinger, also features David Troughton, Geoff McGivern, David Holt, Keith Drinkel and Melanie Hudson in a variety of roles.

The Older Woman: BBC Radio 4 Extra: Tuesday 20th September: 1.30am
The Older Woman: BBC Radio 4 Extra: Tuesday 20th September: 4.30pm
The Older Woman: BBC Radio 4 Extra: Wednesday 21st September: 4.30am
Episode 3 of 6. Roy’s quest to insinuate himself further into Jane’s good books gets a new lease of life when she requests his help to save a tree. Stars Zoe Wanamaker, Martin Clunes and Toyah Willcox. From January 1993.

One of the most long-awaited titles by Toyah fans finally comes home this November. ‘Toyah Live At The Rainbow’ will be released on CD+DVD and aqua-blue transparent vinyl LP by Cherry Red Records on Friday 25 November 2022.

Featuring the original 12-song concert film released for the first time ever on DVD, much requested and sought after by fans for decades.

The previously unreleased concert audio is released for the first time ever on CD with seven additional songs, all previously unheard and unreleased; restored exclusively for this release. These include ‘Bird In Flight’, ‘Mummies’, ‘Computer’ and ‘Love Me’.

For this release, the original Rolling Stones multitrack reels have been revisited and remixed from scratch by Nick Watson at Fluid Mastering to create a new full stereo mix of the gig for the first time in its history. All audio remastering was approved by Joel Bogen.

This newly remastered and expanded release is the fifth in the Toyah reissue programme.

Celebrating the much-loved February 1981 concert at North London’s legendary Rainbow Theatre, this hotly anticipated title marks the first time ever the concert audio has been released on vinyl.

At the time, the Toyah band had seen a new line-up with Willcox and Joel Bogen joined by Nigel Glockler, Phil Spalding and Adrian Lee. In February 1981, the lead track ‘It’s A Mystery’, from the EP ‘Four From Toyah’, rose up through the charts and following an appearance on BBC’s Top Of The Pops, saw the band ‘Toyah’ crossover to mainstream singles chart success. This concert, originally due to take place at the Lyceum, was upgraded to the Rainbow following the EP’s success and demand for tickets.

Safari Records decided to record this unique moment in history as the band were ascending to greater fame and recognition, and before they’d recorded an album to follow the success of ‘It’s A Mystery’.

‘Toyah Live At The Rainbow’ includes the classic tracks ‘It’s A Mystery’, ‘War Boys’, ‘Angels & Demons’, ‘Race Through Space’, ‘Danced’ and ‘Ieya’.

• Pre-Order “Toyah Live At The Rainbow” on CD+DVD and Transparent Aqua Blue Vinyl at Cherry Red, where you can also see the full tracklist for both formats.