Toyah’s “Warrior Rock” Double Live Album Gets Expanded Reissue
Toyah‘s 1982 double live album, Warrior Rock, is getting a long overdue remastered and expanded release. Originally released as a double album in October 1982, Warrior Rock was recorded at London’s Hammersmith Odeon across the final two nights of the tour and contained 15 songs centred around material from the band’s Top Ten albums, Anthem and The Changeling.
The album was named after the B-Side of Toyah‘s 1982 single Brave New World and features hit singles It’s A Mystery, I Want To Be Free and Thunder In The Mountains alongside fan favourites Ieya, Danced and War Boys. This expanded reissue now documents The Changeling Tour, Toyah‘s highly successful run of 25 UK concert dates in the Summer of 1982 in a more comprehensive fashion.
Warrior Rock: Toyah on Tour was the second live album by the band Toyah. It was originally released in November 1982 by Safari Records and is the next release in Cherry Red’s comprehensive reissue campaign.
The 15-track double album featured material recorded on 17 and 18 July 1982 at Hammersmith Odeon at the end of The Changeling UK tour. A new 3CD set (compiled by Craig Astley and Joel Bogen) sees the album remastered and expanded to 41 tracks featuring 26 previously unreleased bonus tracks, with a total of 19 different songs from 11 gigs, at nine different locations!
These means that for the first time all four sides of the original vinyl live album are included on CD – unabridged and uncut. The first CD offers 12 of the 15 tracks while CD 2 starts with the last three songs from the concert. After that follows ‘Street Creature’ a mixed and mastered outtake from Hammersmith, soundcheck recordings, and rehearsals from Brixton Fair Deal (now known as Brixton Academy).
The new issue(s) of Dreamscape’s Toyah Fanzine are available to pre-order. Celebrating the reissue of the glorious Warrior Rock: Toyah On Tour live album, as well as 60 issues of the fanzine. This bundle is also the start of a three-part celebration of Toyah’s album discography, via a flyers/postcards collection. Further info/pre-order by clicking below.
On 17 May 2024, Cherry Red Records is delighted to issue the remastered and expanded editions of Toyah’s 1982 Top 20 album “Warrior Rock -Toyah On Tour”. Originally released as live double album in October 1982, Warrior Rock was recorded at Hammersmith Odeon (Now Hammersmith Apollo), London across the final two nights of the tour.
The album presents 15 songs centred around material from the band’s top 10 albums Anthem and The Changeling. The album is named after Warrior Rock, the B-Side of Toyah’s 1982 single Brave New World. The band’s hit singles It’s A Mystery, I Want To Be Free and Thunder In The Mountains all feature on the album alongside fan favourites Ieya, Danced and War Boys.
This expanded reissue now documents The Changeling Tour, Toyah’s highly successful run of 25 UK concert dates in June/July 1982 in a more comprehensive fashion. The 3CD set was compiled by Craig Astley and Joel Bogen and presents 41 remastered tracks from master tapes/archive sources featuring 26 previously unreleased bonus tracks. A total of 19 different songs feature from 11 different gigs, recorded at 9 different locations.
For the first time ever, the ’four sides’ of the original live double album are included on CD – unabridged and uncut. Nick Watson/Fluid Mastering has remastered the package from the original mastertapes and archive sources, overseen by Joel Bogen.
A wealth of bonus tracks have been unearthed from the archives to provide both a glimpse backstage at concert preparations, and act as a definitive souvenir of the tour’s journey across the UK.
• Pre-order Warrior Rock on 3CD and translucent green double vinyl from tomorrow at 10am at Cherry Red’s new website. Read the full news/press release at toyahwillcox.com. See the full tracklist and release images in the Music section at Toyah’s official website. Watch Toyah announce the release at You Tube.
Tune into Toyah’s official You Tube or Facebook tomorrow at 10am (UK time) for the announcement of the Cherry Red deluxe reissue of Toyah’s legendary 1982 live album, Warrior Rock – Toyah On Tour. A very exciting release for one of the finest live albums…
Nigel Glockler wasn’t always behind the kit for Saxon! Dive deep into his fascinating career, from his early days drumming for Toyah to how he landed the coveted gig with Saxon. Get ready for some truly unbelievable rock & roll stories!
On this day in music history… In 1955 Bill Haley and his Comets, entered the UK chart for the first time with “Rock Around The Clock”, who will be rocking up to be our No.1 this week? In this week’s show, our artists include The Rolling Stones, Engelbert Humperdinck, Owen Paul, Carla Olson, Deniece Pearson, Allan Clarke & Laurence Juber, The Korgis, The Jive Aces, Classix Nouveaux & Phil Hendriks. And from the Heritage New Year charts of 2021, 2022 & 2023 Toyah, Paul Weller & Bruce Foxton & Russell Hastings. (• Browse previous Sensationalnews… )
A great review, by Velvet Thunder, of The Changeling reissue
TOYAH – THE CHANGELING: DELUXE REISSUE (CHERRY RED)
“Far from being the musical Yin to Fripp’s Yang in those 1980s days, comparison of their respective works reveals as many creative similarities as there are differences.”
The excellent Cherry Red reissue campaign of Toyah’s classic early 1980s catalogue continues here with 1982’s The Changeling, the fourth Toyah studio album in just over three incredibly prolific years. Nowadays it is common for people, particularly those from a prog rock background, to simply regard Toyah as her contemporary incarnation as ‘Mrs Robert Fripp’, and the person responsible for dragging the famously irascible and studiously earnest King Crimson keystone out of his shell and into an ongoing series of light-hearted and often hugely entertaining YouTube video clips of them performing together in a variety of guises. All of which is fine as far as it goes, but there was far more to her wonderfully creative musical side than that – and this reissue series really ought to bring that to the fore in the public consciousness. Far from being the musical Yin to Fripp’s Yang in those 1980s days, comparison of their respective works reveals as many creative similarities as there are differences.
Following an intensely creative 1981, it would have been a very tempting – and indeed understandable – development for The Changeling to follow a relatively commercial and public-pleasing course. Just a year previously, the album Anthem – and particularly its two hugely successful singles It’s A Mystery and I Want To Be Free – had sent her into the world of mainstream TV and media in an easily marketable guise as a sort of ready-made ‘pop-punk with glam’ persona, with subsequent hits such as Thunder In The Mountains continuing that impression. As that whirlwind year came to an end, however, Toyah and her band (led by her chief songwriting partner and musical soulmate Joel Bogen) had other ideas. Indeed, not only did Toyah want to go back to the darker, more challenging template of previous works such as 1980’s The Blue Meaning, but she also planned to base the new album conceptually around how the events of 1981 had affected her on a personal level. The resulting album was certainly not the one which the record company executives wanted or expected her to produce, yet despite, or indeed because of that fact, it has remained one of her key creative statements.
The Changeling was placed fifth best reissue of the year from RetroPop
If there’s one thing we love more than new material from our favourite artists, it’s diving into the vaults and unearthing forgotten gems from their classic eras – the hallmark of a strong reissue.
This year, there have been plenty and in addition to revisiting iconic releases and sharing unreleased cuts, an increasing number of acts have taken to reworking and remixing their best-loved recordings for a new avenue of bonus material that bridges the gap between ‘then’ and ‘now’.
Looking back on highlights from the year, here are Retropop’s Top 10 Reissues Of 2023.
5. Toyah – The Changeling (Cherry Red)
The seminal 1982 album from Toyah was expanded across two audio discs – including 20 previously unreleased tracks – and a further three previously unavailable on any CD, for its latest reissue, which contains outtakes, B-sides, an alternate album sequence of ‘work in progress’ variations, and home demo recordings. Meanwhile, the accompanying DVD features a wealth of classic content, plus up-to-date commentary from the lady herself!
• See the full Top 10, plus more year end Best Of 2023 charts, at Retropop. The Changeling is available to buy from Cherry Red Records – a great Christmas gift for the music fan in your life.
Christmas 2022, and a mere 41 years after its original release, Four More From Toyah was rereleased – on expanded eight song neon violet colour vinyl mini LP. Boasting gorgeous artwork and unreleased tracks, the LP, which was remastered from the original master tapes, referenced that original release while bringing the glorious EP bang up-to-date for new and old fans alike.
The Four More From Toyah Extended EP/Mini Album was the latest in an impressive release schedule of colour Toyah vinyl LPs made available over the previous five years – and something which has also continued during 2023.
The Tracklist: Side One: 1. Good Morning Universe, 2. Urban Tribesmen, 3. In The Fairground, 4. The Furious Futures | Side Two: 1. Go Berserk (Tour Intro), 2. Stand Proud, 3. Clapham Junction, 4. I Want To Be Free (Roundhouse Session)
SDEtv takes a look at all three physical formats of the recent Toyah The Changeling reissue, including the super deluxe edition box set. The Changeling is out now, via Cherry Red. Watch at You Tube. See also Super Deluxe Edition.
The Changeling gives Toyah another Top 100 album this week, with the album landing at #79 on The Official Albums Chart.
The Changeling also places incredibly well in other Official Chart countdowns.
Independent Album Chart at #9, Vinyl Album Chart at #11, Physical Sales Chart at #13, Album Sales Chart at #15, Scottish Album Chart at #19.
• Chart Stats: Toyah has now had eight albums on the Official Albums Chart in the past five 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, Live At The Rainbow (2022) #100, The Changeling (2023) #79.
NB. As well as those album stats, the two box sets, Toyah Solo (March 2020), and The Humans: Noise In Your Head (July 2020), both entered a number of the Official Charts, including Sales and Independent.
• Browse Toyah’s Official Charts history, including numerous releases from recent years on a variety of Official Album Charts. Order the Remastered reissue of The Changeling by clicking below.
Toyah welcomes you to October for a new instalment of Toyah At Home. There’s a catch-up of the past few weeks, but also it’s Part Two of The Changeling Special with more fan questions, song excerpts and insights to this album. Look out for special clips of previously unseen footage too.
• Order The Changeling Super Deluxe Box Set & other formats, here. Watch Pt 1, of Toyah At Home: The Changeling Special, here.
We’ve screenshotted (is that a word?) from it a couple of times already, but here is the full promo advert/trailer for The Changeling – Remastered, reissued, reborn…
The Changeling has returned to the official UK Album Chart, a mere 41 years after it originally entered. The album is currently at No. 16 in the chart update/midweeks, published by The Official Charts Company.
• See the midweek chart here. Browse more Toyah on The Official Charts news/stats, which has occurred numerous times over recent years, at Dreamscape’s Official Charts archive.
Toyah’s “Warrior Rock” Double Live Album Gets Expanded Reissue
