Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

Toyah’s 1980 live album Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! entered the Official Charts on Friday 20th May and reached #6 in the Physical Album Chart, #10 in the Vinyl Album Chart, #6 in the Sales Chart and #2 in the Independent Album Chart. The deluxe reissue also entered the Top 100 Album Chart, Rock Chart and Scottish Chart.

• Chart Stats: Toyah has now had five 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.

• In other chart news, Barefoot On Mars, from Posh Pop, spent two weeks at the top of The Heritage Chart, dropping one place to #2 this week in it’s sixth week in the Top 10. See the news at toyahwillcox.com, where you can also watch Toyah receiving the news on The Heritage Chart Show. Browse our Toyah Official Charts archive…

Alive, She Cried: ‘Toyah! Toyah! Toyah!’

❉ Cherry Red continue with their impressive re-releases of Toyah’s albums, writes James Collingwood.

After only two albums it may have seemed slightly early in Toyah’s career to record a live album. However there appeared to be three reasons for the release of Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! in 1980.

One: Toyah had been filmed for a one-hour ATV documentary that included clips from this gig and brought her nationwide coverage. Two: It was a last add on gig of a UK tour and would be the last time she played with this particular band. Thirdly: She was on the cusp of stardom and becoming a regular Smash Hits and Look-In cover star.

Cherry Red continue with their impressive chronological repackaging of Toyah’s Safari Records albums with their re-release of the live album Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! Presented as an expanded deluxe CD+DVD and a limited edition coloured vinyl LP this album includes the full ATV documentary Toyah!, originally broadcast December 1980, a 24-page booklet with artwork and photos, an introduction by Toyah herself and sleeve notes by Toyah’s archivist and compiler Craig Astley.

Toyah must have been the hardest working woman in showbiz at the time and really was on a mission to succeed. She seems to have been everywhere. As well as fronting and touring with the band Toyah was constantly working as a TV, film and stage actress. On stage she had recently appeared in Nigel Williams’ Sugar and Spice at the Royal Court. She had appeared as Monkey in Quadrophenia, in Derek Jarman’s Jubilee and The Tempest, and who can forget her appearance in Shoestring!

• Continue reading at We Are Cult. See links to four other Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! (Deluxe Release) album reviews… + recent news!

Third instalment in Cherry Red’s deluxe reissue series of Toyah’s Safari Records catalogue

Release Date: 13th May 2022
Label: Cherry Red Records
Formats: CD + DVD, Limited edition neon yellow vinyl

So – here we are again. Just about a year ago, we were pleased to review the deluxe reissue of Toyah’s second album, The Blue Meaning, and now, here comes installment number three in Cherry Red Records’ Toyah reissue series – a CD/DVD reassessment of the seminal 1980 live album, Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! And, as usual, it’s a cracking package. The CD-half of the package comprises, for the first time, the entire concert – complete with encores – from Toyah’s show on 17 June 1980 at Wolverhampton’s legendary Club Lafayette. The CD is accompanied by a DVD of the 1980 ATV documentary film ‘Toyah’ – a splendid period piece that captures Toyah at home, at work and at play, just as she reached the very cusp of her major commercial breakthrough. As usual, the package comes complete with an informative booklet, this time with detailed sleevenotes from Craig Astley, Toyah’s official archivist, and an introductory reminiscence from Toyah herself.

The gig at the Club Lafayette was added, for the benefit of the ATV camera crew, to the itinerary of Toyah’s 1980 Ieya Tour to provide some live footage for inclusion in the documentary that was in the process of being compiled. The band played a slightly shorter set than was normal for the time, with material drawn exclusively from the debut album Sheep Farming In Barnet and the (then) new release The Blue Meaning and the resulting live album, Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! was a triumph. Toyah is on top form as she shrieks, squeaks, groans and howls her way through a dramatic performance. The recording captures the enclosed atmosphere of the packed club wonderfully – in the way that the best live albums always seem to manage – and the setlist is inspired. Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! Reached number three in the indie chart and stayed in that chart for over a year and was Toyah’s first album to creep into the national album chart, peaking at number 22. Big things were just around the corner, and that impending breakthrough seems to ooze from the very grooves of this album.

• Continue reading at At The Barrier. See links to three other Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! (Deluxe Release) album reviews… + recent news!

Great news! The Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! 2022 reissue is #11 in the Album Midweek Charts update! It looks like it is going to surpass its original peak position all those years ago. The final confirmed position will be announced on Friday at 6pm. Click below to see the Midweek Chart.

A great, comprehensive, review of the. just released, deluxe Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! by Velvet Thunder.

Toyah – Toyah! Toyah! Toyah!
CD/DVD Edition (Cherry Red)

These reissues are a long-overdue reassessment of Toyah’s early-’80s output, and reaffirm just how much depth and sheer great musicianship and songwriting there was to her catalogue

The deluxe Toyah reissue series reaches its third instalment here, with this 1980 live album getting the treatment. It is slightly confusing now, as a later compilation album was given the same title (coming, of course, from the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora!, about the bombing of Pearl Harbour), but this is the original. Coming after the first two albums, Sheep Farming In Barnet and The Blue Meaning, it finds Toyah just on the cusp of becoming a mainstream success, as the next release following this would be the Four From Toyah EP containing It’s A Mystery, and everything would suddenly go up a level in terms of profile. This release, then, manages rather neatly to cap the first phase of Toyah’s career, that of the underground ‘rebel’ new wave/art rock figurehead, before the words ‘pop star’ had even hovered on the horizon.

This was, however, more by happy circumstance than grand design, as the recording was arranged for inclusion in a TV documentary special for ATV, who had got wind of the stir that Toyah was beginning to make, and sensed a popular (and no doubt in their minds ‘trendy’) bit of youth programming. To that end, a special performance in Wolverhampton was tacked onto the end of the UK tour (the last she would do in club venues), recorded and filmed, and thus formed the material for this record. In fact, as revealed in the accompanying booklet, Toyah herself claims to have had no idea the gig was going to be filmed until she arrived to find a camera crew setting up on the stage.

• Continue reading at Velvet Thunder.

The third reissue from Toyah’s Safari Records back catalogue, Toyah! Toyah! Toyah!, is released today on deluxe CD+DVD and colour vinyl by Cherry Red Records.

Toyah’s third, and first live, album was originally released in late 1980. It was reissued on CD and colour vinyl in 1990, and reissued again on expanded CD in 2006.

Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! 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 17th June 1980 at the legendary Club Lafayette, Wolverhampton. 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.

• Browse Toyah’s social media spaces for a visual countdown to today’s release, with rare and archive photos and media over the last few weeks.

Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! on CD/DVD & Neon Yellow Vinyl. 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!. Watch the trailer below.

A four star review of the Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! reissue, by Classic Pop magazine. The CD+DVD and colour vinyl is released on Friday 13th May, and can be pre-ordered here.

One of the most tantalising of promised releases in the ongoing Toyah reissue campaign. Cherry Red have thankfully done what fans hoped in overhauling the band’s 1980 live album. A word-of-mouth phenomenon that eventually went silver, the concert from famed Wolverhampton 600-capacity Club Lafayette has added its three missing songs including the electrifying, She.

While Toyah Willcox was soon to brilliantly distil her energy into a poppier world, her band’s original chaos is captured fantastically in an anarchic performance, brought further to life on five tracks filmed on the accompanying bonus DVD, notably a feral Insects.

The DVD also includes the long overdue official release of the ITV documentary Toyah from the same year, which shadowed the singer. For someone who was yet to have a chart hit, it was a commendably prescient programme, though the young Toyah was so magnetic that she was gold dust for anyone curious enough to tune in.

The doc works as cultural history, too, with footage of Toyah’s Battersea home showing it was possible for struggling musicians to turn a London warehouse into a thriving artistic community on the cheap 40 years ago. What could have been dingy chaos crackles with magnetism, both on audio and visual.

• Classic Pop, Issue 75 May/June 2022, is on sale now! (Thanks to Minna)

Watch Toyah unbox the upcoming new colour vinyl and CD+DVD release of Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! by clicking below (to go to Toyah’s Official Facebook). Pre-order the album, which is released on 13th May, here. (Screen caps from a video that is © Toyah Willcox)

• Browse Dreamscape’s “Toyah Unboxes” archive. This includes Toyah unboxing Toyah Solo, The Blue Meaning, Posh Pop and more.

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.

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.

Toyah’s debut live release was the Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! album issued on Safari Records in November 1980.

Recorded at a concert on 17th June 1980 – on the Ieya UK Tour – at the Lafayette Club in Wolverhampton, the concert was also filmed by ATV as part of the documentary TOYAH, which aired in the UK in December of that year.

A single was also released from the album, Danced (Live), backed with Neon Womb (Live). This was Toyah’s sole live single release.

Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! was released on CD in 1990 by the Great Expectations label (along with coloured vinyl and cassette) and a new remastered reissue Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! (Special Edition) CD was released in October 2006 on Cherry Red Records.

• See further info on Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! at Toyah’s Official Instagram and the album’s Wikipedia page.

Bird in Flight, Ieya, The Blue Meaning, Sugar & Spice, The Old Grey Whistle Test, The Ieya Tour, Toyah! Toyah! Toyah!, ATV documentary… 1980 was a great Toyah year! Visit the 1980 Gallery by clicking below.

A great new Official Toyah 40th Music Anniversary feature on social media, with entries so far for Sheep Farming in Barnet, The Blue Meaning, Toyah! Toyah! Toyah!, Anthem, The Changeling, and Warrior Rock – Toyah On Tour… with lots more still to come!

On this week’s UK Indie album chart,

5. Stations Of The Crass – Crass
4. Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! – Toyah
3. Closer – Joy Division
2. Dirk Wears White Sox – Adam and the Ants
1. He Who Dares Wins – Theatre Of Hate

What an amazing top five. Every one of those albums still sound good in 2012. View the full and original ATV documentary TOYAH that includes music from ‘Toyah! Toyah! Toyah!’.

• Info Source: ‘The River 103.7’. View here.