We’re now into the last few days of the build up to the launch of Toyah’s Love Is The Law & More Tour. A 30th anniversary tribute to the 1983 album which kicks off this coming Friday in Newcastle. Here are another two pictures, Rebel of Love and Time is Ours – Will they be on the set list? View larger versions by clicking here, and get your tour tickets by clicking below. (Original photos by Dean Stockings © Toyah Willcox Ltd)
Toyah’s second, and final single, from the Love Is The Law album was ‘The Vow’, the first time a ballad had been released as a single by Toyah. This was also the final single on Safari Records (though at the time there were still plans to release ‘Dreamscape’ as a single in early 1984). No official promo video was filmed for the single so ITV’s The Saturday Show and Toyah made one, and it’s a good clip. View at Dreamscape’s You Tube channel by clicking below. View larger versions of the screen caps here. (Thanks to Andy for the clip)
I’ve always loved the original Love Is The Law press advert published in Japanese magazines in 1983. The ad was only ever available in black and white so I’ve made an attempt at colourisation. It didn’t turn out quite as well as I hoped it would but I thought I’d share it anyway… View the original here.
• Love Is The Law & More: Tour Starts This Friday in Newcastle: Like and Share this image on Facebook and be entered into a draw to win this brand new 2013 tour t-shirt and both brand new posters – signed by Toyah. Tickets: www.toyahwillcox.com/gigs. Terms: www.toyahwillcox.com/tour – Visit Toyah’s Official Facebook…
• Live 2013: KAOS, Blackpool: The set list for Toyah’s PA on Thursday was: Echo Beach, Thunder In The Mountains, Rebel Yell, It’s A Mystery, I Love Rock ‘N Roll, I Want To Be Free. View a clip of Echo Beach at You Tube… (Thanks to Michael O’Brien)
• Naked Eye: Quadrophenia – The Reunion: Scroll down to the September 24 post to read a great report on last month’s Quadrophenia-fest in London – View here…
• Upton Festival 2013: Toyah’ full set was recently uploaded to ‘You Tube’. The set list includes Bird in Flight, Jungles of Jupiter, Rebel Run, Brave New World and Danced – View here…
• Record Collector: Newsletter: Derek Jarman’s Sketchbooks is published by Thames & Hudson in September and features contributions from Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant, and Toyah, who appears at the Classic Cinema: The Reunion Q&A/screening of Quadrophenia at London’s Institut Français Ciné Lumière, Queensberry Place, 23 September, and the Kensington Victoria & Albert Museum’s In Conversation, 8 November – View here…
Back in 2003 the marking of the 20th anniversary of Toyah’s Love Is The Law album was a far more subdued affair than what’s currently happening for the 30th. Maybe it was considered too soon to go down Nostalgia Avenue (!). One of the very few things that did happen was Dreamscape’s 20th Anniversary feature. I think this was my first attempt at something like this and compared to later features it is very amateurish but I knew I wanted to do something to remember one of my favourite albums. This was definitely before I had learned to use Photoshop properly :) One of the best things about it, though, was In The Fairground‘s Andrew York reminiscing about 1983. Go back 10 years, to when the internet was a little less frenetic, by clicking below.
A bumper update to In The Fairground: Andrew York’s Arternative Universe, with 12 new photos added. View Andrew’s latest wonderful Toyah creations by clicking below (full details on the Updates page)
The latest issue of Breaking Through, Toyah’s Official Newsletter, was mailed out to subscribers at the beginning of the week and, as always, it contained lots of news… I won’t spoil it too much in case you haven’t read yours yet, but here is Dreamscape’s usual brief summary of what is included:
• Love Is The Law & More: News on the upcoming tour (which is now just nine days from premiering in Newcastle), and related merchandise (see posters below). Get your tour tickets here.
• Dispatches: News briefs on Toyah’s Vintage Christmas 2013, Shakespuss (a new project by Melissa Mailer-Yates), Ramblings, Quadrophenia Reunited, The Official Website’s partial makeover, and plans for Toyah’s Advent for December 2013
• Live 2013: Info on Toyah’s other PAs and events for the remainder of this year, including the PA at KAOS in Blackpool tomorrow night.
• Next Newsletter: There will be a ‘Breaking Through’ mailed out in November too.
• Subscribe: For full info on all of the above, and to receive future issues of the newsletter, sign up to ‘Breaking Through: The Official Toyah Mailing List’ here. (Photo by Dean Stockings © Toyah Willcox Ltd)
The two new Toyah posters which will be on sale at all dates on the Love Is The Law & More UK Tour have been previewed in the latest ‘Breaking Through’ newsletter, mailed out at the beginning of the week. They are certainly eye-catching, and as Toyah tweeted, they are the first new posters to be available on a Toyah tour for 30 years! Click here to subscribe to ‘Breaking Through’. (Photos by Dean Stockings © Toyah Willcox Ltd)
Vote for your top albums of 1988 in Slicing Up Eyeballs poll. Toyah’s album ‘Prostitute’ is included as an option. Voting closes on 25th October and the results will be announced at the beginning of November. Click below to participate in the poll. View Dreamscape’s mini ‘Prostitute’ feature.
Dreamscape is compiling Love Is The Law – The Complete Lyrics. We’ve reached the eighth song on the album – the rowsing and anthemic title track Love Is The Law, co-written by Toyah, Joel Bogen, Simon Darlow and Phil Spalding. Click below to visit the LITL – The Complete Lyrics page.
Great new photos have been added to The Official Toyah Willcox Website, featuring the new image created for the forthcoming ‘Love Is The Law & More’ UK Tour. Click below to visit the site and view the photos in full size (Photos by Dean Stockings © Toyah Willcox Ltd). Visit the Official Gigs page for info on the tour.
A striking new Toyah image has been unveiled today, on the new ‘Love Is The Law & More’ Tour t-shirt. Toyah tweeted: “So excited about new tour t-shirt. Just right balance of past/present imagery. Sleek n’ mean’ n fun“, View the t-shirt at Instagram.
Toyah’s October blog is now available to read at The Official Toyah Willcox Website. Click below to go there!
• A new Breaking Through newsletter will be mailed out tomorrow too.
Dreamscape’s Love Is The Law 30th Anniversary tribute. Dedicated to everyone who loves the album.
HiBROW: The Arts Online are currently airing a mini Quadrophenia documentary at their website, with footage from last month’s Time Out Live Quadrophenia Reunion and excerpts from interviews. They will be making the full Toyah interview available soon.
It’s 35 years since director Franc Roddam shot ‘Quadrophenia’ on the streets of London and Brighton – and along the way created a classic of British cinema adored by music and film fans alike. Inspired by the 1973 The Who album of the same name, the film tells of Jimmy (Phil Daniels), a troubled west London mod in 1965 who’s struggling in life and love and joins his mates for a dust-up with rockers one Bank Holiday weekend down in Brighton. Last month, HiBROW with Time Out and the London Film School brought Roddam and some of his key collaborators together …
• Watch at HiBROW. View larger versions of the screen caps here.
Welcome to October, there are only a couple of weeks until Toyah’s latest anniversary tour begins and here at Dreamscape it’s Love Is The Law Month. Over the next few weeks we’ll be bringing you regular updates connected to Toyah’s amazing 1983 album. Starting off with this great photo of Toyah, performing ‘Rebel Run’ on ITV’s Hold Tight. Click below to view a larger version. (Thanks to Andy)
Are you ready to share the ‘Love’? – Starting tomorrow Dreamscape is celebrating Toyah’s 1983 album ‘Love Is The Law’ (one of the songs on it inspired this website so it would be wrong not to). Every day throughout the month we will be bringing you at least one LITL-related post – So please do Come to the Dreamscape…
Dreamscape’s Love Is The Law Month doesn’t begin until Tuesday but I thought I’d add this today rather than wait, especially as it went on sale exactly 30 years ago. Toyah: Return Of The Rebel, there were more smaller articles, such as “Personal File” and the like over the next few years but this was Toyah’s final big double-page interview feature for ‘Smash Hits’. Click below to read at Dreamscape’s Press Archive.
• The full 29 September – 12 October 1983 issue has also just been uploaded to The Smash Hits Archive.
Toyah has recorded an episode of BBC Radio 4’s Ramblings as a Guest Presenter. The programme, usually presented by Clare Balding, will air on the station on Thursday 17th October.
Toyah was a guest on Ramblings earlier this year when Clare interviewed her at Croome Park in Worcestershire. The programme is still available to listen to at BBC iPlayer. It’s also downloadable as a podcast at iTunes. That edition is also included in Ramblings – Clare’s top 30, pretty special as there have been 25 series of the programme.
• Browse all of Dreamscape’s Ramblings news here. Visit the Ramblings website. There’s also a full transcript of the episode at The Toyah Willcox Interview Archive.
Just rediscovered in my collection, and uploaded to Dreamscape, an interview with Toyah from ‘BBC Radio London’ 10 years ago. This aired just before Toyah appeared on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! She discusses that, religion, ‘Velvet Lined Shell’ and much more. Click below to listen.
• The Big Fat Quiz Of The 80s: A few screen caps from Sunday night’s programme. It’s available to watch online at 4 on Demand, and is repeated a few times this coming weekend (days/times here). Click here or on the caps to view larger versions.
• Instagram #1: Last night Toyah shared a photo of Phil Davis, herself and Mark Wingett at the Quadrophenia screening/Q&A in London – View the photo…
• Behind The Sofa: The Doctor Who book from last year, which Toyah contributed to, has been revised and expanded with over 30 new entries: Over 150 celebrity memories of DOCTOR WHO, on behalf of Alzheimer’s Research UK, with a new foreword by Sir Terry Pratchett – View more info…
• Instagram #2: On Sunday Toyah shared a photo of a “Toyah Wilcox” Birmingham Rep Bar beer mat – View here…
• Head Crash: The 1986 radio drama, which was banned and didn’t air until July 1993 on ‘BBC Radio 3’, which included Toyah in the cast is currently available to listen to in full at ‘Soundcloud’ – Listen here…
• Talk The Talk: Recently uploaded to ‘You Tube’, a short clip of Toyah, talking about languages, on the ‘BBC Learning Zone’ from the early 2000s – View here…
• Ulster Hall 1981: Photos of Toyah from this gig, which was also televised, have been added recently to Buck Defect’s Facebook – View here… (Thanks to Seán)
