Six days to go… Another audio interview that’s been available at Dreamscape and The Changeling 30 sites but good to have it here too in this countdown week to the launch of ‘The Changeling Resurrection’ tour.
This is the only audio that exists from 1982 with Toyah discussing ‘The Changeling’ in any detail.
Toyah guests on Rock On on ‘BBC Radio 1’, talking to Mark Ellen about the album, aliens, fairies, changelings, critics, the ‘Brave New World’ image and much more.
Mark Ellen sounds quite bemused but it’s fair to say that in 1982 he would probably have been far happier interviewing Bruce Springsteen or REO Speedwagon.
• There’s also a full transcript of this interview, at ‘The TW Interview Archive’, here.
• ‘The Blue Meaning’ is one of the choices at the Naim Audio forum’s “What are you listening to and WHY might anyone be interested? (Vol.VIII)”.
• Toyah, 1979 is included in a gallery of great art by Gary Thomas in ‘My Art’ at Pinterest.
• Uploaded to ‘You Tube’ on Friday, this ‘ITV Night-Time Junction 1996’ advert includes a brief clip of Toyah presenting The Good Sex Guide Late: “Sex, sex and more sex! That’s what you’ll be getting from me for the next hour!!” View here.
‘The Changeling Resurrection 2012’, Toyah’s highly-anticipated new tour, opens in a week’s time in Brighton. Toyah will be playing songs live that she hasn’t performed for 30 years!
Counting down to the first gig of ‘The Changeling Resurrection’… To mark the build-up to this exciting tour, and the first date, I’ll be bringing you something Changeling related each day…
Seven days to go and first up, let’s marvel, once more, at some of Andrew York’s incredible Changeling art. Click on these to view more.
This has been available on Dreamscape for a few years but I thought I’d add it here in case anyone hasn’t heard it or wants to listen again. It’s a really interesting interview with Toyah in mid 1980, discussing details about her career up to that point. (Thanks to Giddy Gavin)
Toyah discusses the origins of her name, The Tempest and playing Miranda, how she was “discovered”, Jubilee, Quadrophenia, the forming of the first Toyah band, her career to date, future plans and more. (The sound is quite low so please crank up your volume)
• Read a full transcript of this interview, at ‘The TW Interview Archive’, here. (Thanks to Min)
The second monthly online live track has been added to Toyah’s official website. It’s the majestic ‘Pop Star’, recorded live at The Regal, Oxford on 2nd July 2011.
Toyah’s official website will be offering visitors exclusive live tracks each month as Toyah’s Changeling Tour and summer festival/concert dates approach. At the beginning of each month an exclusive live track recorded from Toyah’s extensive 2011 tour dates will feature on the Gigs page.
The live tracks will be available to listen to for a limited time only with a new track replacing it each month. These live tracks are a taster for a special live album release planned for digital release in autumn/winter of 2012.
• Listen to ‘Pop Star’, live at Oxford’s The Regal, here.
Two brief excerpts from last night’s ‘BBC Radio Shropshire/Stoke/etc’ interview, with Toyah talking about ‘The Changeling’ and ‘The Changeling Resurrection’. See below for info on how to hear the full interview. (Apologies for the noises, they are included in iPlayer’s recording)
More ‘Changeling’ related tweets from Toyah yesterday: “Fab day plugging in2 The Changeling. Started to really like the songs again. Can c beyond the stresses at the time.”, and this morning: “Pop Star (Live) is online 4 ur pleasure. toyahwillcox.com/gigs. Only 13 days till 1st concert. Can’t wait. The devil in me is excited.”
Welcome to the month of ‘The Changeling Resurrection 2012’… It’s going to be wild (child)!
From Toyah’s Official Facebook today: Welcome to April…the month of THE CHANGELING RESURRECTION 2012 tour which kicks off in Brighton on 14 April. Full details of the 7 tour dates plus lots of additions to Toyah’s gig diary are now online along with a new exclusive live track….. ONLY at www.toyahwillcox.com/gigs
2012 is a significant anniversary year for two of Toyah’s albums: It is, of course, the 30th since the release of ‘The Changeling’ (1982) and also the 25th since ‘Desire’ (1987).
Aside from this vague connection there’s a more explicit link for the two albums, the songs ‘Dawn Chorus’ and ‘Moonlight Dancing’. In 1982 Toyah performed the former on BBC1’s 6.55 Special (think The One Show with the added bonus of Sally James) and towards the close of the song added new lyrics that weren’t included on the album version. This “alternative” version of ‘Dawn Chorus’ was never performed again, and it wasn’t until the release of ‘Desire’ five years later that ‘Moonlight Dancing’, which the new lyrics were an excerpt from, was heard again.
‘Moonlight Dancing’ probably didn’t even exist as a fully formed song at this point in time, though both were written by Toyah and Joel Bogen. It’s interesting, though, that these few extra lines from 1982 went on to become part of one of Toyah’s finest singles and forged an ever lasting link between two very different Toyah albums…
All the best things come boxed, right? Check out the great “themed” packaging Andi has created for the ‘Anthem’ Toyah doll. You can almost imagine this sitting on a toy shop (or Woolworths’) shelf, Christmas 1981. Click below to view a larger photo. (Thanks to Andi)
Salvaged from eBay for your viewing/reading pleasure. An article from 1983 by ‘Disco 45’. Hardly mind blowing journalism but I thought I’d add it as it’s admirably positive.
Contrary to what a lot of people expected, Toyah Willcox has returned strongly to the charts after an absence from recording of nearly a whole year.
Yes, it’s been that long since ‘Be Proud Be Loud (Be Heard)’ was released and became Toyah’s seventh hit single, while around the same time her most recent album, ‘Warrior Rock (Toyah On Tour)’, also came out, and not unexpectedly hit the Top 20 on the day of release. That was her fifth consecutive hit LP, and at the end of last year things were looking very good for the Birmingham girl with the big voice and the huge fan following. At the start of this year she was voted Top Female Singer in both a national newspaper and one of our own music rags, and we all expected a new record to be released to capitalize on that acclaim. But busy Toyah had other ideas, because as every Toyah fan knows, she is highly talented at more than just singing in front of a rock band.
With the very recent discovery of two rare, and fantastic, ‘Desire’ photos now seems as good a time as any to take a look back at some of the imagery from this era. In a 10 year career this was probably the first time Toyah had looked “conventional”. The ‘Desire’ album and related image seems to be more appreciated retrospectively than at the time of release… dive in!
• View the 25th anniversary ‘Desire’ feature at Dreamscape here. (Photography by Carrie Branovan)
I hope to occasionally bring you some rare Toyah footage. Here’s Toyah performing ‘Danced’ live on Friday Night Saturday Morning in 1980. The also performed ‘Mummies’.
You wait 25 years and then, not one but, two very rare photos of Toyah from 1987 (a year I prefer to refer to as “the ‘Desire’ era”) surface.
This one is from an official EG print, and, as with all of the fantastic ‘Desire’ promotional photography, is likely to have been taken by Carrie Branovan.
If I was wealthy I would definitely publish a Toyah Photo Book: ‘Visions’. Full sessions, rare photos, outtakes… Every coffee table would want one! Toyah’s amazing visual imagery, both past and present, really should be captured for posterity. Anyway, back to reality! (Thanks to Michael for this great photo)
This incredibly rare shot of Toyah, from the 1987 ‘Desire’ era photo shoot, has recently been listed on eBay.
The seller is a photographer who has taken photos of numerous pop stars and says of this one: From my own collection… A posed and gorgeous, stunning, different and rare, promo 35mm slide, a great posed close up. One of the best we ever had. Cool pic!
Great that an unseen photo should surface in the 25th anniversary year of ‘Desire’.
This great ‘Crimson Queen’ Toyah art by Cliff Matthews is definitely worth another look. It really captures Toyah’s “Crimson Queen” aura and would look amazing on a wall!
It’s available to buy: £285 (70x50cm, acrylics on box canvas), and Toyah herself has saw the painting and given it her seal of approval and trademark “Big Love” autograph.
View the painting here and Toyah with Cliff, here.
It would be good if the same could happen with Mark Satchwill’s amazing works of Toyah art.
The first “Album Of The Month” and it has to be ‘Prostitute’. Not only for being a great album but also for including the song that this new Toyah Newsletter takes its name from.
Released in 1988, I think this album shocked every Toyah fan at the time. It was the successor to ‘Desire’ and couldn’t have been more different but also that title. Tame by today’s standards maybe, but in 1988 it was still a word that Toyah couldn’t even say when she guested on TVAM.
‘Prostitute’ is definitely Toyah’s most experimental album to date, and her least commercial. Using all manner of samples and noises to create a weird, yet addictively interesting, soundscape. It’s minimalist and raw and has Toyah sounding quite like Kate Bush in parts, Laurie Anderson in others. There’s an abundance of spoken and whispered vocals and Toyah’s unmistakable laugh and in comparison to its two predecessors; ‘Desire’ and ‘Minx’ is almost a return to the brashness of Toyah’s early Safari albums. Go on, give ‘Prostitute’ another listen… View more here.
This will possibly be a regular feature on ‘Falling To Earth’. Collecting together key images from a specific Toyah “era”. Starting us off… Various Toyah photos from the ‘Sheep Farming in Barnet’ days.
Six days to go… Another audio interview that’s been available at Dreamscape and The Changeling 30 sites but good to have it here too in this countdown week to the launch of ‘The Changeling Resurrection’ tour.
