Dreamscape | The Toyah Willcox Fansite

40 years ago this very week Toyah was filming the video that would accompany the release of the 1982 single, Brave New World.

In Monday’s repeat of Video Killed The Radio Star on Sky Arts, Toyah recalled filming the sea and beach scenes on 9th April 1982, as well as riding the horse for scenes filmed in London.

Brave New World was directed by David Mallet and the beach scenes were filmed in Hastings and took place incredibly early in the morning, Another location was Battersea Power Station in London later on the same day. There was also studio filming.

The song was written by Toyah and Joel Bogen and produced by Steve Lillywhite. The single was released in May 1982, the only one to be taken from the album The Changeling, and certainly had an effect on me at the time. I still remember the day I bought the single, being mesmerised by the sleeve, and Toyah’s, still stunning, imagery. I loved Brave New World then and still do now. As with Be Proud Be Loud (Be Heard), it’s message and lyrics are just as relevant today. It transcends time.

This past weekend Toyah revisited her 1985 album, Minx, by exploring the second single released from it, Soul Passing Through Soul, in Toyah At Home. Here’s a bit of SPTS fan art I put together a few years ago… (While on the subject of Minx – Space Between The Sounds is still one of my favourite Toyah songs. Yup, it’s over-the-top but bloody brilliant!!)

• Toyah At Home – Soul Passing Through Soul: This week Toyah goes behind the scenes of the iconic Soul Passing Through Soul, we hear the story of the video and how the song came together – Watch here…

• Toyah & Robert’s Objects Of Desire: Toyah and Robert take a look at some of the objects that surround them in middle England, direct from social medias most famous kitchen! – Watch here…

• Toyah & Robert’s Sunday Lunch – Living Colour – revisited!: Airing at Midday today!! We take another look at this belter of a song, and a special look at Barefoot On Mars straight after :-) – Watch here… (Images © Toyah Willcox)

Pre-order Toyah! Toyah! Toyah!, in deluxe formats, by clicking on the CD+DVD back cover…

A preview of the live performance of Danced performed live in June 1980 at Club Lafayette, Wolverhampton is premiering on Toyah’s Official You Tube channel on 5th April. As featured on the DVD with the Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! Deluxe CD+DVD release from Cherry Red Records. Released Friday 13 May 2022.

1980 live album • CD+DVD includes ‘Toyah’ doc

Toyah’s 1980 live album Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! will be reissued by Cherry Red in May.

The album featured a June 1980 performance at Club Lafayette, in Wolverhampton, and was recorded using the Rolling Stones legendary Mobile Recording Unit. The audio for this reissue has been remastered by Nick Watson from the original master tapes.

The CD+DVD deluxe edition includes the ATV documentary, Toyah, in which director Graham Moore follows Toyah around for more than six months capturing rehearsals, studio recording sessions, rehearsals for plays and then in the notorious Battersea warehouse ‘Mayhem’. This documentary has never been issued commercially before (the DVD is NTSC, region-free).

• Continue reading at Super Deluxe Edition.

Available to stream and download now… Track by Track Commentary Editions of the classic Toyah albums Sheep Farming In Barnet and The Blue Meaning. Listen to Toyah go behind the music and listen to the remastered album too.

A celebratory 16-date tour of Toyah’s legendary 1981 album, Anthem, is confirmed today.

Here is the press release, with info and full tour dates, from toyahwillcox.com:

ANTHEM 40+1 ANNIVERSARY TOUR CONFIRMED FOR SEP-NOV 2022

A special tour is confirmed today to celebrate 40 years of the iconic, acclaimed and Gold-selling Toyah album Anthem. Originally released May 1981, the album contains the smash hit singles I Want To Be Free and It’s A Mystery.

Spending 46 weeks in the charts, Anthem became one of the most-loved LPs of the 1980s.⁣
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To mark its 40+1 anniversary, an extended selection from Anthem will be performed by Toyah and her band alongside her other greatest hits and classics.⁣
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ANTHEM 40+1 ANNIVERSARY TOUR⁣
MOST DATES ON SALE FRI 18 FEB⁣
SEE toyahwillcox.com/gigs for links.
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September 2022⁣
16 Norwich Epic Studios⁣
23 Leamington Assembly⁣
24 Leeds Brudenel⁣
29 Bristol The Fleece⁣
30 Frome Cheese & Grain⁣
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October 2022⁣
06 Hertford Corn Exchange⁣
07 Brighton Concorde2⁣
08 London 229⁣
21 Stockton ARC⁣
22 Sale Waterside⁣
23 Blackburn King George’s Hall⁣
29 Milton Keynes Stables⁣
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November 2022⁣
04 Southampton Concorde Club⁣
10 Blackpool Leyton Institute⁣
11 Worcester Huntingdon Hall⁣
12 Stroud Subscription Rooms

Toyah’s 1980 live album gets deluxe reissue with CD/DVD and limited vinyl editions

Toyah’s 1980 live album is the latest in her back catalogue to be reissued.

The third instalment of Cherry Red Records’ campaign sees the star’s Safari Records LP ‘Toyah! Toyah! Toyah!’ revisited and expanded for a new release.

The recorded gig took place on June 17, 1980 at the legendary Club Lafayette, Wolverhampton and was recorded on the Rolling Stones’ Mobile Recording Unit.

It’s been remastered from the original master tapes by Nick Watson and a CD/DVD edition features the full concert setlist – including the previously unreleased songs She, a reprise of Danced and an unedited complete version of Neon Womb, which originally faded early as the B-Side of live single Danced – paired with a DVD of the 1980 television documentary ‘Toyah’.

• Continue reading at Retro Pop. Pre-Order Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! at Cherry Red.

Following the deluxe releases of Sheep Farming In Barnet in 2020, and The Blue Meaning in 2021, comes the third Cherry Red release from Toyah’s Safari albums discography, Toyah! Toyah! Toyah!, the live album with the glorious artwork by Dexter Brown.

Press Announcement from toyahwillcox.com and Cherry Red:

The third instalment in Cherry Red’s deluxe re-issue series of Toyah’s Safari Records back catalogue is the 1980 live album ‘Toyah! Toyah! Toyah!’,  released on Friday 13 May 2022.

PRE-ORDER NOW FROM CHERRY RED WITH LIMITED EDITION SIGNED POSTCARDS WHILST STOCKS LAST…. One design for the LP Edition, one for the CD+DVD Edition

The album is released as an expanded deluxe CD+DVD and a Limited Edition Coloured Vinyl LP.

The live album originally peaked at #22 in the UK Top 40 Album Chart in 1980 and also spent an entire year in the Independent Album Chart, earning a Silver sales certification.

The recorded gig took place on 17 June 1980 at the legendary Club Lafayette, Wolverhampton where Sex Pistols, Led Zeppelin and Stevie Wonder all performed. The gig was recorded on the Rolling Stones’ Mobile Recording Unit and has been remastered from the original master tapes by Nick Watson.

With sleevenotes by Craig Astley, Toyah’s official archivist, who also compiled the package, the CD+DVD set finally restores the full concert set list and pairs the live album with a DVD of the 1980 television documentary Toyah, released on disc for the first time ever. Directed by Graham Moore and originally broadcast by the ATV (former name for ITV) network on 17 November 1980, it followed Toyah for over half a year capturing band rehearsals, studio recording sessions, play rehearsals and in her then-home, the notorious Battersea warehouse ‘Mayhem’.

The CD+DVD features the previously unreleased songs ‘She’, a reprise of ‘Danced’ and an unedited complete version of ‘Neon Womb’ which originally faded early as the B-Side of live single ‘Danced’.

The CD+DVD contains a fully illustrated 24-page booklet featuring an introductory note from Toyah alongside rare and unseen photography of Toyah and the band line-up which disbanded before this album’s original release.

The documentary features promo-style video footage for the songs ‘Blue Meanings’ and ‘Neon Womb’ alongside concert footage of ‘Danced’, ‘Insects’ and ‘Ieya’ as heard on the live album.

LP and CD: Toyah! Toyah! Toyah!
1 Victims Of The Riddle
2 Indecision
3 Love Me
4 Vision
5 Bird In Flight
6 Tribal Look
7 Danced
8 Insects
9 Race Through Space
10 Ieya

CD-only Bonus Tracks
11 Ghosts
12 Neon Womb (Unedited)*
13 She*
14 Danced (Encore Version)*
*Previously unreleased

DVD in CD+DVD Edition
Toyah: ATV Documentary
Including promo video-style footage of ‘Neon Womb’ and ‘Blue Meanings’ and concert footage of ‘Insects’, ‘Danced’ and ‘Ieya’.

• Pre-Order Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! on colour vinyl and CD at Cherry Red (The editions with signed postcards sold out almost immediately!). Read the press release at toyahwillcox.com. Watch Toyah announcing the release during this morning’s Toyah At Home.

Two more videos from Posh Pop have just premiered online: Monkeys and Kill The Rage. Watch these and a selection of others, from Toyah’s hit album, at The Official Toyah You Tube channel by clicking below. (Images © Toyah Willcox)

Toyah’s 1979 debut single, Victims Of The Riddle (Part 1), is included on the forthcoming 3CD Box Set, Revolt Into Style 1979. The compilation is released on 21st January 2022.

• Four exceptional hours of music that defines British pop at the end of a tumultuous decade

• Continuing Cherry Red’s yearly overview of the late ‘70s UK “new music” scene

• Housed in a stylish clamshell box, ‘Revolt Into Style’ features the best of a fast-splintering scene, rife with creativity

If 1977 was the year that punk broke, and 1978 saw the UK turn Day-Glo, then 1979 was all about the aftershock of punk, with the redrawn British musical landscape divided between various youth sub-cultures and factions. The release of the film Quadrophenia gave a focal point to the growing mod revival, power pop bands like The Jags similarly sought inspiration from the mid-‘60s, while 2-Tone recalibrated the ska sound of Prince Buster for a new generation of pork pie hat-wearing rude boys.

Running parallel to those developments, a plethora of bands – prominent among whom were Public Image Ltd, Siouxsie And The Banshees, The Fall and Joy Division – were demanding the future now with an uncompromising sound and nonconformist approach that would subsequently be labelled post-punk. They were joined by the likes of The Human League and Tubeway Army, who brought avant-garde electronic influences and dystopian lyrical themes into the pop charts.

With the more mainstream Spirit-of-’77 bands now rebranded by the radio-friendly marketing term New Wave, 1979 turned out to be an epic pot-pourri of sounds and styles. The likes of Madness, Echo And The Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes, Pretenders and Dexy’s Midnight Runners all made their vinyl debuts, while the singles chart boasted instant three-minute classics from The Jam, The Clash, The Skids, Squeeze, The Ruts, XTC and The Undertones.

• Further info on this release at Cherry Red Records. (Thanks to Michael Murray)

Toyah’s iconic 1981 single, Thunder In The Mountains, is included on the 3CD compilation, Musik Music Musique 2.0 – The Rise Of Synth Pop. This was released in October.

• Sequel to the hugely successful ‘Musik Music Musique’, This time exploring 1981, The year synth pop broke into the mainstream.

• Over 50 tracks showcasing the innovation and exploration that gave rise to what would become the decade’s pre-eminent musical form.

• Featuring Ultravox, Duran Duran, OMD, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Devo, Gina X Performance, Fashion, Spandau Ballet, Soft Cell, Heaven 17, Hazel O’Connor, Yello, A Flock Of Seagulls, Toyah, Kim Wilde, The Passage, Chris and Cosey, Japan, John Foxx and countless other electronic luminaries.

• Packed with familiar classics and lesser known gems.

• Further info on this release at Cherry Red Records. (NB. Toyah was also included on Musik Music Musique – 1980 | The Dawn Of Synth Pop collection in 2020.

The National Album Listening Party 2020 for Anthem took place one year ago this week. You can listen to a replay of it by clicking below. Toyah tweeted on Tuesday: “we shall celebrate the 40+1 anniversary of the Anthem album in 2022“.

The remastered and expanded deluxe editions of Toyah’s first two albums Sheep Farming In Barnet and The Blue Meaning can now be downloaded or streamed in 24-bit sound from supported platforms. Click on either, or both, album title for links.

The official video for the Toyah song The Bride Will Return written by Toyah Willcox & Simon Darlow. From the album Posh Pop out now. Order the album here.

Browse Dreamscape’s Posh Pop news archive: Reviews, interviews, charts, press, release news, tour news, photos and more – And much more to come! (Photo © Toyah Willcox)

Toyah scores highest solo album placement with ‘Posh Pop’

The ’80s icon has teased plans to tour the album across the UK, Europe and the US.

‘Posh Pop’ is Toyah’s best charting album of her solo career. The singer’s 16th LP, featuring the singles Levitate, Zoom Zoom and Summer of Love, debuted at No. 22 on the UK chart, beating her solo debut ‘Minx’, which peaked at 24.

It’s beaten only by ‘Anthem’ and ‘The Changeling’, both of which were released by the singer’s eponymous new wave band, of which she was frontwoman. ‘Anthem’ was a UK No. 2 hit, while ‘The Changeling’ reached No. 6. The live album “Warrior Rock’ also hit No. 20.

• Continue reading at Retro Pop. Read Retro Pop’s recent interview with Toyah.

Toyah / Posh Pop is also #1 on the Retro Charts Album Top 10.

Toyah’s reaction and thank you message on finding out her album Posh Pop has entered the UK album charts at #22.

Can I just say… I always try to remain professional with this website, but yesterday I just felt ridiculously proud and pleased for Toyah, and yes, slightly emotional. I’ve been a fan of this amazing and inspirational artist since I was knee high to a grasshopper and know that throughout her entire 43+ year career she has worked tirelessly and never asked for or expected anyone’s praise or thanks, and yet has always been dedicated to her craft and produced such high quality work – so that’s what makes the success and the achievement of Posh Pop all the more worthy and well deserved. What a great artist. Talent will always win in the end!