Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

Toyah’s 1987 studio album, the hugely underrated, Desire will be released on limited edition translucent red vinyl as a Record Store Day Exclusive on 21 April 2018 – Further info here. See Toyah, as QEI, with the vinyl here.

Jubilee celebrates its 40th with a DVD & Blu-ray Anniversary Edition of Derek Jarman’s cult classic. The 2-disc set will be released on 18th June 2018.

The mythological past and bleak future converge on the sparse, grey streets of London in this cult classic of the punk era.

Queen Elizabeth 1 and her occult aide Dr John Dee (brilliantly played by Jenny Runacre and Richard O’Brien, respectively) travel into the future, encountering the megalomania of big business as well as gangs of violent, marauding killers.  Director Derek Jarman doesn’t spare the shocks while electrifying punk rock numbers are delivered by Jayne County and Adam Ant

Newly available as a Dual Format Edition for the very first time, the film is a 2K remaster from the original camera negatives, and comes bolstered by an extensive array of extras.

Special Features:
• Presented in High Definition and Standard Definition
• A Message from the Temple (1981, 5 mins)
• Toyah Willcox: Being Mad (2014, 8 mins): The singer and actress looks back on her role in Jubilee
• Jordan remembers Jubilee (2018): Punk icon Jordan looks back on her friendship with Derek Jarman and the making of Jubilee
• Lee Drysdale remembers Jubilee (2018): Derek Jarman’s friend and, later collaborator Lee Drysdale recalls his unconventional involvement in the making of Jubilee
• Jubilee image gallery
• Fully illustrated booklet with writing on the film by Will Fowler, an original review and full film credits

1978 | colour | 106 minutes | 1 x BD50, Region B | 1 x DVD9, Region 2 | Cert 18

• Further info/Pre-order at Amazon.

The BFI have announced details of a long-awaited collection of the films of Derek Jarman, to be released on Blu-Ray this spring. Jarman Volume One: 1972-1986 will be a limited-edition, five disc box set, available from 26th March 2018 – more info/pre-order at Amazon.

Derek Jarman Volume One: 1972-1986
5-disc Limited Edition Blu-ray box set

Jarman’s multi-faceted work is inspirational in its fearlessness, yet remains touchingly personal. The dynamism of these features evokes comparison with the bold romanticism of directors like Ken Russell (an early champion) and Michael Powell, as well as artists Paul Nash and John Piper. But Jarman was also a subversive force in film. Beginning with his psychedelic debut feature, In the Shadow of the Sun (1972-1974), then came the provocative Jubilee (1978), the evocative Shakespeare adaptation The Tempest (1979) and The Angelic Conversation (1985), in which he invoked Elizabethan occultist Dr John Dee and explored alchemical imagery, a subject in which he was well versed. In Sebastiane (1976) and Caravaggio (1986) he revived key gay and homo-erotic figures from the past with edgy and unmistakable style.

Derek Jarman’s first six feature films have all been newly scanned at 2K from original film elements and are presented in this lavish box set alongside an exciting array of new and archival extras drawn from Jarman’s archive of workbooks and papers held in BFI Special Collections. Newly interviewed exclusively for this box set are some of the people who worked on these films; punk legend Jordan, producer and filmmaker Don Boyd, production designer Christopher Hobbs and artist filmmaker John Scarlett-Davis.

Special Features

• All films presented in High Definition for the first time in the UK
• Sebastiane: A Work in Progress (c.1975): newly remastered from 16mm film elements held by the BFI National Archive, this sadly incomplete early black and white work-print of Sebastiane differs significantly from the finished film. This previously unseen alternate edit assembled in a different order, featuring a different soundtrack was never subtitled or released
• The Making of Sebastiane (Derek Jarman & Hugh Smith, 1975): previously unseen Super 8 footage shot on location in Sardiniai
• Jazz Calendar (1968): a rarely screened documentary record of the 1968 ballet by Frederick Ashton, performed by The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, for which Jarman designed sets and costumes
• Message from the Temple (1981)
• TG: Psychic Rally in Heaven (1981)
• Pirate Tape (WS Burroughs Film) (1982)
• Toyah Willcox: Being Mad (2014); the singer and actress looks back on her role in Jubilee
• Jordan remembers Jubilee (2018): punk icon Jordan looks back on her friendship with Derek Jarman and the making of Jubilee
• Stormy Weather: The Magic Behind The Tempest (2016): Toyah Willcox and Stuart Hopps share their memories of working on Derek Jarman’s 1979 production of The Tempest
• Don Boyd remembers The Tempest (2018): Producer and filmmaker Don Boyd remembers the production, release and critical reception of The Tempest
• A Meeting of Minds: Christopher Hobbs on collaborating with Derek Jarman (2018): production designer Christopher Hobbs looks back on his long and fruitfully creative friendship with Derek Jarman
• Fully illustrated 80-page book with new writing on the film, contemporary reviews and full film credits
• …plus lots more

Lies We Tell, Mitu Misra’s gritty Britflick starring Gabriel Byrne, Harvey Keitel, Mark Addy, Nicholas Farrell, Gina McKee, Toyah Willcox, Emily Atack, Sibylla Deen and Jan Uddin will be released in UK cinemas on Friday 2nd February 2018.

• Click on the promo poster below to view the trailer. Browse all of our Lies We Tell news here.

Toyah’s fantastic poptastic 1985 single Don’t Fall in Love (I Said) is included on, the just released, 100 Hits – The Best Eighties Album.

The collection is available on 5CD set or MP3 download.

CD3: Kim Wilde – Kids In America, Adam & The Ants – Stand And Deliver, Aneka – Japanese Boy, King – Love & Pride, Howard Jones – New Song, Altered Images – Happy Birthday, The Bangles – Walk Like an Egyptian, Men Without Hats – Safety Dance, Haircut 100 – Love Plus One, Bow Wow Wow – I Want Cand, Fiction Factory – (Feels Like) Heaven, The Lotus Eaters – The First Picture of You, Spandau Ballet – Fight for Ourselves, H2O – Dream to Sleep, The Psychedelic Furs – Pretty in Pink, Toyah – Don’t Fall in Love (I Said), Big Audio Dynamite – E=MC2, Haysi Fantayzee – John Wayne Is Big Leggy, Bill Wyman – (Si Si) Je Suis Un Rock Star, Matthew Wilder – Break My Stride.

Toyah’s iconic 1981 Top 10 hit I Want To Be Free is included on, the just released, The 80s Pop Annual double-vinyl compilation album.

Continuing the tributes to certain decades, this selection concludes with 80s POP ANNUAL. The definitive sound of the 80s, it collects together some of the greatest songs of the decade. Presented in a gatefold sleeve with original artwork and pressed on 2x 180g Heavyweight black vinyl, featuring huge hits: Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go (Wham!), Footloose (Kenny Loggins), Kids In America (Kim Wilde), Girls Just Want to Have Fun (Cyndi Lauper), Heaven Is A Place On Earth (Belinda Carlisle ), and many more.

The 80s Pop Annual is available exclusively on vinyl.

SIDE C: Adam & The Ants – Stand And Deliver, Bow Wow Wow – Go Wild In The Country, Haysi Fantayzee – John Wayne Is Big Leggy, Toyah – I Want To Be Free, Altered Images – Don’t Talk To Me About Love, Ultravox – Dancing With Tears In My Eyes, Howard Jones – What Is Love?, The Lotus Eaters – The First Picture of You.

The Look of Love: Photographer Brian Griffin on shooting Depeche Mode, the Bunnymen, Kim Wilde and the stars of 1980s Pop

There were so many nightmares,” Brian Griffin tells me. “People who cared about their hair too much. People who were totally uninterested in being photographed.

“There would have always been a member of the band who was a pain in the arse. There would have been a member of the band who looked awful, who was not very photogenic …” He thinks about that a moment and then adds, “It would generally be the drummer.”

Back in the day Griffin took pictures of pop stars. You will have seen them. You might even own some of them. His work appeared in music magazines (the Face, i-D, NME) and on single bags and album covers. If you were buying records at the end of the 1970s or at the start of the 80s it’s more than likely you will know Griffin’s images. Elvis Costello on a diving board (a picture that features in the inner sleeve of Armed Forces), Echo and the Bunnymen snowed in in Iceland (the cover of their album Porcupine) or on a beach in Porthcawl (Heaven Up Here), a topless Billy Idol (for the cover of his album Rebel Yell). All of them bear Griffin’s signature.

• Continue reading at Herald Scotland. ‘Pop’, by Brian Griffin and Terry Rawlings, is published on 31st October and is available to pre-order at Amazon – Click on the photo above. (Photo © Brian Griffin)

Released today by the Network label, Shoestring Complete Collection DVD. Toyah guests in the fantastic episode “Find The Lady” which originally aired in 1979.

Trevor Eve stars as radio “Private Ear” Eddie Shoestring in the massively successful BBC drama series.

Co-created by Robert Banks Stewart, Shoestring also stars Michael Medwin as Eddie’s long-suffering boss Don Satchley; Liz Crowther as station receptionist Sonia; and Doran Godwin as Eddie’s landlady, on-off lover and occasional assistant Erica. This complete-series set also features appearances from Diana Dors, Harry H. Corbett, Toyah Willcox, Geraldine James and Michael Elphick.

Poison phone-ins and threats to a disc jockey lead Radio West to hire private investigator Eddie Shoestring – who discovers it may be a longer-running job than he first thought!

This set also includes a brand-new book on the making of the series by archive television historian Andrew Pixley, with contributions from original cast and crew members.

Toyah & Peter’s 9 Hours is available now. Click below for links to buy the single.

The Official Toyah newsletter – Breaking Through – recently revealed details of a new digital single release entitled 9 Hours which is astonishingly Toyah’s first ever real duet…. if we discount the Cabaret musical song Money, Money recorded with Nigel Planer in 1996.

The single is a collaboration with Peter Coyle of New Wave band The Lotus Eaters who also wrote the track. It will being released under the name Toyah & Peter (at Peter’s request) and will be released in early August 2017.

There is an exclusive preview now on Toyah’s Official Soundcloud.

The extended version of Toyah’s debut solo single, released in 1985, Don’t Fall in Love (I Said), is included on the forthcoming 3CD Twelve Inch Eighties: Digging Your Scene box set.

The 30-song collection will also be available digitally via iTunes and other online music retailers.

Twelve Inch Eighties is the successful 3CD range by Crimson Productions, compiling extended alternate mixes of some of the biggest hit singles of the 80s. Each themed release is housed in a sleek 3CD digipak with abstract imagery representative of early dance label releases. These carefully selected titles across the range bring together the finest eighties pop, dance and disco, amongst other genres, in all their full 12” single glory.

Digging Your Scene is a collection of classic 12” remixes straight from the edge of the 80s. Other artists on the set include Japan, Fiction Factory, Thompson Twins, Adam Ant and Altered Images.

• In May of this year the original version of Don’t Fall in Love (I Said) was also included on “100 Hits” 5CD compilation Pure 80s. (Thanks to Michael Cooney for the Twelve Inch Eighties info)

Dodson & Fogg’s new album, White House On The Hill, is now available on iTunes. This includes the track featuring Toyah, Drinking From The Gun, which can be downloaded individually. Click below for iTunes. Toyah talks about the collaboration in her latest blog.

New Music, New Collaboration

Toyah features on guest vocals on the new track Drinking from the Gun by Dodson and Fogg. Singing alongside Dodson and Fogg’s Chris Wade, the track was co-written by Toyah and appears on the new album White House On The Hill.

The album White House On the Hill is now available to buy digitally now on bandcamp and a CD can also be pre-ordered online. An abstract video accompanies the track and can be viewed below. Dodson And Fogg is Chris Wade’s acclaimed folk rock music project, with Celia Humphris of Trees and other guest musicians. The folk rock/acoustic singer-songwriter’s material umbrellas acid folk and psychedelia thrown in for good measure.

• News Source/Further Info at toyahwillcox.com. Buy White House On The Hill, which was released yesterday, at Bandcamp.

Toyah’s 1985 single Don’t Fall in Love (I Said), from her debut solo album Minx, is included on the latest “100 Hits” 5CD compilation Pure 80s.

The much loved 100 Hits range is back in a brand new sleek slim digipak housing 5 discs of your favourite songs of the 80s to enjoy featuring incredible tracks from the finest pop artists such as Wham!, Cyndi Lauper, Adam Ant and many more in this timeless collection.

Don’t Fall in Love (I Said) is song 14 on CD5. The collection is also available digitally from iTunes, Amazon.

• Further info here. Win all five of the latest “100 Hits” CDs at Classic Pop.

“…one of the most unusual, blackly comic and ultimately disturbing British films in years.” Den of Geek

On DVD & Blu-ray from Monday 11th Jan, 2016.

Fast Sell:
Steve Oram, known for hit Brit thrillers SIGHTSEERS and KILL LIST stars in his long-awaited directorial debut feature with a host of famous names. Get ready for the most unusual celluloid primal scream – an anarchic, hilarious, disturbing and touching look at the human condition. Recently nominated for the Discovery Award at the British Independent Film Awards, Aaaaaaah! is a film that needs to be seen and heard.

Key Talent:
Toyah Willcox – Secret Diary of a Call Girl
Noel Fielding – The IT Crowd, The Mighty Boosh, Nathan Barley
Julian Rhind Tutt – The Hour, Green Wing, Lucy, Notting Hill
Tom Meeten – Paddington, Sightseers
Julian Barratt – The Mighty Boosh, Being Human, Nathan Barley

• Continue reading at Fetch. Click below to see the Aaaaaaaah! DVD cover.

British distributors Icon Home Entertainment have announced that they will release on Blu-ray Steve Oram’s thriller Aaaaaaaah! (2015), starring Julian Barratt, Holli Dempsey, Noel Fielding, and Lucy Honigman. The release will be available for purchase on January 11.

Steve Oram, known for hit Brit thrillers Sightseers and Kill List, stars in his long-awaited directorial debut feature with a host of famous names. Get ready for the most unusual celluloid primal scream – an anarchic, hilarious, disturbing and touching look at the human condition. The film was recently nominated for the Discovery Award at the British Independent Film Awards.

Special Features:
– Carolla Cooks – Carolla Cooks is a 10 min version of the cooking show you see at the beginning of the film with Shelley Longworth
– PUB! – Pub is the full 5 min version of the sitcom that the characters are watching at the end of the film. Stars Tony Way and Alice Lowe
– The Cast Speaks
– Audio commentary with Steve Oram

• Continue reading at Blu-ray.com.

Following the recent news that the 1979 series of Quatermass is to be reissued on DVD… It will also be available, for the first time, on Blu-ray too – With a Limited Edition first run to be available in four different coloured sleeves, based on the title colour scheme of each episode.

• Visit the Blu-ray info/product page at the Network DVD website. The Blu-ray is also available to pre-order at Amazon. (Thanks to Stephen Bennett Troake for the update, and thanks again to Giddy Gavin for the original info)

A new Region 2, two-disc, DVD of Quatermass has just been released by Network DVD. Retailing at approximately £12.

Toyah had a small role, in the production, as Sal. The series was made by Euston Films, filmed in 1978 and aired on ITV in October and November 1979

John Mills brings a stoic intensity to the role of Professor Bernard Quatermass in this key piece of British dystopian fiction from visionary writer Nigel Kneale. Unsettling in its vision of a crumbling society coming under alien attack, Quatermass is directed with characteristic style by BAFTA winner Piers Haggard and features the high production values associated with Euston Films. Shot on 35mm, the original negatives have been used for this stunning, brand-new restoration – a new 5.1 mix from original triple-track audio elements is also presented here alongside the original mono soundtrack.

Bernard Quatermass, former head of the British Rocket Group, lives in seclusion in western Scotland, watching in appalled silence as Britain slowly turns into a vision of violence, gang rule and governmental collapse. A desperate search for his missing granddaughter plunges him into a terrifying situation when he comes to realise that the mass disappearance of thousands of youths is nothing less than the culling of the human species by an unknown alien intelligence…

Special Features:
• Brand-new 5.1 mix for episodic version
• Brand-new HD restoration of The Quatermass Conclusion in its original theatrical aspect ratio
• Music-only tracks for all four episodes
• Episode recaps
• Textless titles
• Image Gallery
• Booklet by archive TV historian Andrew Pixley

Further Info: Catalogue Number: 7954328, Available Since: 22/06/2015, Classification: 15, Number of Discs: 2, Picture: 1.33:1 / Colour [Main Feature], Sound: Dolby 5.1 / Mono / English, Subtitles: English, Region 2 / PAL, Time: 200 mins approx [Main Feature]

• Visit the product page at the Network DVD website. (Thanks to Giddy Gavin)

Tony Banks will release a four CD restrospective box set, A Chord Too Far, on 31st July.

With a tracklist personally selected by Tony, the collection features 49 songs from his seven solo albums: A Curious Feeling (1979), The Fugitive (1983), The Wicked Lady (1983) (film score), Soundtracks (1986) (a combination of original scores Tony wrote for films Starship and Quicksilver), Bankstatement (1989), Still (1991), Strictly Inc (1995), and his orchestral albums Seven: A Suite for Orchestra (2004) and SIX Pieces for Orchestra (2012)

The great news is that the wonderful Lion Of Symmetry, Tony and Toyah’s collaboration from 1985, originally from his album Soundtracks, which also featured in the film Lorca & The Outlaws, will be included in the collection – The fourth song on CD1.

• Read further details on the release at Chipster. Click below to visit the Lion Of Symmetry page at the Official Toyah Discography.

The 2014 edition of The Acoustic Album and last year’s third album by The Humans, Strange Tales, are both now available to order/buy online on CD. Further info at toyahwillcox.com. Click below to go directly to the Burning Shed store.

As previously mentioned late last year, a physical CD version of The Humans’ third Album Strange Tales will be on sale at the forthcoming Telling Strange Tales UK Tour next month. The CD is currently in production.

Tracklist: 1. Slow Descent, 2. She’s Fast, 3. Get In Your Car, 4. Amnesia, 5. Bedhead, 6. Improbable Thing, 7. Sleep Tight

Recorded in Seattle, seven tracks make up the third album created by the transatlantic band comprising Toyah Willcox, Chris Wong and Bill Rieflin. Rieflin once again helmed production of the album. As previously stated, this third instalment in the musical adventures of The Humans adds more instrumentation into the mix with saxophone and violin featuring for the first time.

• View more info on this at toyahwillcox.com.