Dreamscape | The Toyah Willcox Fansite

Toyah’s 1993/94 album Take The Leap! is now available digitally for the first time.

The album was initially sold on cassette on the 1993 ‘Take The Leap!’ UK Tour, and released on CD in Japan only the following year.

After over a decade of only being available on import the album was released in the UK on CD in 2006 on Edsel Records. The CD had an additional four previously unavailable bonus tracks, including the stunning Requite Me and Tears For Elie.

• Buy at iTunes or Amazon. The CD is also still available at Amazon.

The Acoustic Album went on sale at Thursday’s Acoustic, Up Close & Personal date at Shire Hall, Howden.

The newly pressed CD, with completely revised artwork, will also be available to buy online in the near future. Keep an eye on the official Toyah website for info on this.

There will also be an opportunity to win a signed copy of the album via the November issue of the ‘Breaking Through’ newsletter.

• View a larger preview of the CD here. (Thanks to toyahwillcox.com)

The Acoustic Album, Toyah’s 1996 re-working of a selection of previous recordings, including Blue Meanings, Angels & Demons, The Vow and Moonlight Dancing, will be available again on CD soon. The album, which has become a real fan favourite in recent years, has been out of print for some time.

The CD, which will feature all new artwork, will be available to buy at future Toyah concerts, exactly when TBC by toyahwillcox.com.

• The Acoustic Album was released digitally, for the first time, in February of this year. View further info on the album at The Official Toyah Discography.

“The acoustic gigs have been so successful that I really need to consider doing another acoustic album.” said Toyah in a recent interview with The Argus. I would love to hear songs from Minx and In The Court Of The Crimson Queen recorded acoustically. In the meantime The Acoustic Album is available at iTunes.

Yesterday was day nine of toyahwillcox.com’s, excellent and eclectic, countdown to the start of the Songs From The Intergalactic Ranch House tour, with an acoustic version of ‘Dreamscape’ being made available. Today a Sheep Farming In Barnet archive has been added to Toyah’s Official Website. Open door ten by clicking below…

• Toyah has been tweeting over the last few days about possible outfit ideas for the Intergalactic Ranch House tour, saying she may wear something different for each date, and posting a photo of a previously unseen design by Melissa Caplan.

Phil Spalding’s Official Website has recently been updated with more content, including his memories of working on Warrior Rock and Love Is The Law. Read by clicking below.

Toyah @ Twitter today: “learning ALL IN A RAGE, DONT FALL IN LOVE and SOUL PASSING THRU SOUL 2day. talk about walk down memory lane”

It has now been confirmed that songs from Minx will be included in the Songs From The Intergalactic Ranch House Autumn tour, the first time anything from the 1985 album has ever been performed live by Toyah (though for some reason I thought that ‘Don’t Fall In Love’ had been played live at some point at a PA, I’m obviously mistaken or mis-remembering). Click below for the full tour dates schedule and links to buy tickets.

Could songs from Minx be played live this Autumn for the very first time? – An excerpt from the latest Breaking Through newsletter mentions the possibility: “The autumn live dates as previously reported will focus on the Safari catalogue with some resurrected rarities putting in an appearance. There’s also a chance that one or two (maybe even three!) selections from Minx may just make a live debut too. They will be tried in rehearsal so it’s all still to play for. It would be the first time ever they’ve been performed in a Toyah set list”.

Toyah performing at yesterday’s Rock Choir event in Birmingham Symphony Hall. ‘It’s A Mystery’, ‘Angel In You’ and ‘Sensational’. Sounding great with the choir.

• Mark Satchwill: Snow Covers The Kiss: So I’m a big Toyah fan and have been for nearly 35 years. I’ve painted her several times over the last few years. Back in 1985 she released a song called “Snow Covers The Kiss”. It was relegated to a B-side of the single “Don’t Fall In Love (I Said)” but for me it was equally as good. So this image came about from imagining if “Snow” had been the single and needed a cover image – View/Continue reading… (Photo © Mark Satchwill)

• Let’s Rock Bristol: Toyah hangs out with Darth Vader in Bristol – View the photo @ Instagram…

• Bristol 24-7: Thousands get the taste of a Bristol summer: Some 14,000 people turned up for Grillstock at the amphitheatre and a host of 1980s stars performed at the Let’s Rock Bristol festival at Ashton Court… Over at Ashton Court, a host of 80s pop stars took to the stage to the delight of nostalgia-seeking crowds, including Rick Astley, Tony Hadley, Toyah, Midge Ure and Sunday night headliners Level 42 – Continue reading…

• JM Barrie – Peter Pan: Episode One, Away To Neverland, is available to listen to at BBC iPlayer for the next week.

• Fandor: Derek Jarman: The World Is All: Spells are cast and love is spun throughout Jarman’s films: …Toyah Willcox (as Miranda) and David Meyer (as Ferdinand) beholding a brave new world in ‘The Tempest’ – Continue reading…

• Rock N Roll In My Blood: 34 Years Ago Toyah Released The Blue Meaning: The Blue Meaning is the second album by Toyah, released in 1980 by Safari Records. Although not the first full-length release, this is often considered to be the band’s first “proper” album. It saw its first release on CD in 1990 on the Great Expectations label (As PIPCD 015), and was reissued in a double-CD package with Sheep Farming in Barnet in 2002. The latter release was remastered and included two bonus tracks – Continue reading…

• Toyah 1980 #1: An original copy of the eight-page fanzine Fagends, from 1980, recently sold on ebay for a tidy £77! It includes a review of Toyah’s Glasgow Tiffanys gig from the Ieya UK Tour. The fanzine is available to read online, via scans at the ‘Still Unusual’ website – You may have to scroll down, there’s no direct link – View here…

• Toyah 1980 #2: Three photos, two of which are previously unseen, of Toyah from The Blue Meaning era in 1980 are on sale at photographer Brian Griffin’s website (Photos © Brian Griffin) – View these fantastic photos here…

• Echo News: Clare Balding rambles in Leigh: In the 26 series of the show Clare has made, she has walked with Toyah Willcox in Worcestershire, with taxidermists in Boston, and with a bereavement walking group in Shrewsbury – Continue reading…

• Live 2014: Tickets for the Live Wyre Festival, which Toyah plays on Sunday 1st June, are now on sale – More info and buy tickets here…

• Namechecking!!: Mentions for Toyah in a couple of recent online press articles: Herald Express: South Devon Arts Centre is also hosting artists such as Toyah, The Wurzels, Beverley Craven and China Crisis later in the year – Continue reading… Northumberland Gazette: Some pretty big names in the music industry have graced the series, including Status Quo, 10cc, Marc Almond, Alison Moyet, Toyah and Midge Ure – Continue reading…

• 80s Heaven: Toyah – View here…

The edition of The Janice Long Review Show which featured a second guest appearance from Toyah, and a look back at the 1982 album ‘The Changeling’, is also being repeated later this month. This originally aired in August 2012.

The Janice Long Review Show: Vintage TV
Wednesday 14th May: 10.30pm
Toyah and Sex Pistols. Broadcaster Paul Sexton returns, alongside producer Trevor Horn and 80s starlet Toyah, to discuss her 1982 gothic release ‘The Changeling’ and Sex Pistols’ ground-breaking ‘Never Mind The Bollocks’.

We haven’t had a Classic Toyah post for a while – Rectifying this with a very rare magazine advert from July 1981, from Finnish magazine ‘Soundi’. They also published an issue with Toyah’s Brave New World image on their cover in 1982, and another full-page advert for The Changeling. Click below to see the full size advert. (Thanks to Juha Merilainen for this amazing scan)

Only Toyah could launch two UK tours within days of each other… My favourite workaholic (and singer) premieres Crimson Queen/Greatest Hits…Live! tonight at the Holmfirth Picturedome. Celebrating the wonderful 2008 album In The Court Of The Crimson Queen and other fan favourites too. Click below for full details on the tour, including dates and ticket booking links. Sending best wishes to Toyah for another successful opening concert tonight.

“Toyah Unplugged!” The Acoustic Album is now on sale at iTunes. This is the first time the album, originally released on CD in October 1996, has been available in digital format. Availability via other digital music stores will follow soon. Great vocals on this, by Toyah (and Tayce).

To mark the 2014 acoustic concerts, Toyah’s unplugged recording The Acoustic Album will be available digitally for the first time from next Monday, 24th February. The release has the same track listing as the original album:

1. The Vow, 2. Moonlight Dancing, 3. Revive The World, 4. I Want To Be Free, 5. It’s A Mystery (Piano Version), 6. Danced, 7. Good Morning Universe, 8. Blue Meanings, 9. Jungles Of Jupiter, 10. It’s A Mystery (Up Tempo Version), 11. Ieya, 12. Angels And Demons, 13. I Am, 14. Thunder In The Mountains, 15. It’s A Mystery (String Version)

The digital version features new artwork. This kickstarts a digital release programme which will see Toyah’s non-Safari catalogue become available digitally.

• News Source: Breaking Through: The Official Toyah Newsletter.

To celebrate the acoustic gigs and to accompany The Acoustic Album a downloadable digital exclusive, available only to subscribers to Breaking Through, has also been made available. The Acoustic Collection compiles thirteen unplugged tracks spanning 1976-2006 with some previously unreleased archive live recordings.

• Sign up to Breaking Through: The Official Toyah Newsletter for further info on this and details of how to download The Acoustic Collection.

The latest “Live Track Of The Month” is also something acoustic: ‘We Are’ from one of Toyah’s trio of live, and acoustic, gigs at Bourbon Street, Glasgow back in early 1997. This track is also included in the aforementioned The Acoustic Collection.

• Visit The Official Toyah Gigs page to listen to ‘We Are’. The entire GLR interview with Toyah, which features the fantastic live versions of ‘Now I’m Running’ and ‘Invisible Love’, is available in Dreamscape Downloads. Look for “Leap! Interview 1993”.

This year I’m planning on sporadically looking back at a few of Dreamscape’s past Toyah features – What better way to kick off than with In The Court Of The Crimson Queen, especially as Toyah begins her year-long Crimson Queen/Greatest Hits… Live! Tour later this month. Click below to view our feature all about Toyah’s brilliant 2008 studio album.

• Dreamscape also had a dedicated News & Press page for all things In The Court Of The Crimson Queen – this was updated between September 2007 and May 2010 – View that here.

Dreamchild, Toyah’s 1994 album, will be released digitally for the first time in May of this year. There will also be digital EP releases for the album’s singles Now and Then and Out Of The Blue. These mark the 20th anniversary of the album’s original release, and will include some previously unreleased mixes and versions.

You can listen to the, also previously unreleased, ‘Anthemic Ambient’ mix of Out Of The Blue at The Official Toyah Willcox Discography by clicking on Dreamscape’s Dreamchild “advert” below. (News Source: Breaking Through)

A review, by Darren Lock of ‘Prog Review’, of The Lady Or The Tiger. He says: And so I look at Fripp & Toyah’s first official collaboration (excluding them both appearing on the “Stranglers & Friends” live album).

A few Toyah bits & pieces included in the latest issue of ‘Smash Hits’, November 10 – 23, 1983, uploaded to the Smash Hits Archive exactly 30 years since originally being published.

Singles: Reviewed by Mark Steels TOYAH: The Vow (Safari) Not yer classic rock ballad but enough folksy guitar bits and flowery keyboard patterns to get a whole forest of peace-signs pointing skywards at next year’s Reading Festival. Laurence Olivier will love it – View at the SH Archive…

Bitz: Toyah’s latest single, “The Vow” precedes a massive British tour – her first since her pre-Christmas jaunt in ’82 – that takes her through November and December. See Dates for details  – View at the SH Archive…

Dates: Includes a Love Is The Law photo of Toyah and the full tour dates for the Rebel Run Tour  – View at the SH Archive…