Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

Toyah: Live At Drury Lane. Album Review
Liverpool Sound and Vision 8.5/10

In one of the great mysteries of life, the fans of one of Birmingham’s finest musical ambassadors, the scintillating and unique Toyah Willcox, have always been left wondering why one of the most memorable performances of her early career was never given the aural treatment it deserved. Why it seemed to appear on every other format except the one it mattered on, the vinyl love it required to truly capture an icon at the height of her powers and majestic best.

Toyah: Live At Drury Lane has become an almost mythic like tale, one of a queen riding into battle to take on the scourge of beige mediocrity, the uniform of men in suits and the screaming banshees of dull complexity. That tale of mythic, even legendary proportions has been mostly lost, the format used at the time that framed the evening as lost as the mists that have enveloped our lives as our bodies have been eroded by tide and the fears of those who wish us to be servient to the commonplace.

• Continue reading Liverpool Sound and Vision.

Live at the Rainbow
(Cherry Red CD/DVD)

Originally released as a VHS video in 1981, capturing Toyah at the very peak of her early ’80s triumphs, fans have been calling out for a digital equivalent for years now… and finally it’s here.

Spread across two discs, with the full VHS performance on DVD, and the entire concert (four songs longer, plus three further bonus tracks) on CD, Live at the Rainbow is both a captivating performance and a curious time capsule – a reminder of a time, to begin with, when Toyah was considered a weird looking lady, and a weird sounding one as well. These days, you see more dramatic costumes working in banks, and hear stranger voices reading the news.

Shove such thoughts aside, however, and the DVD, in particular, illustrates just what a dynamic performer Toyah was, with a repertoire that danced closer to the edge than many far more feted left fielders, and a stage presence that pushed her leagues ahead, again, of the competition. Indeed, enjoyable though the audio disc is, it’s the DVD to which you will continually return, simply to bask in the sheer delight of the show.

• Continue reading at Goldmine. Browse our recent posts for Live At The Rainbow.

There are two helpings of Toyah in the latest issue (#79, January/February 2023) of Classic Pop magazine: A review of the forthcoming ‘Rhythm Deluxe Edition’ of studio album In The Court of The Crimson Queen, and Four From Toyah, in a Top 20 EPs feature, with the 1981 release included at #15.

• Click below to view larger versions of both articles. The latest issue of Classic Pop magazine is available to buy in store and online. (Thanks to Minna of The Toyah Willcox Interview Archive for both scans)

Toyah – Four More From Toyah – Expanded 12″ Neon Violet Vinyl Version: Album Review

The story continues – The latest triumphant installment in Cherry Red’s reissue series of Toyah’s Safari Records catalogue.

Release Date: 9th December 2022
Label: Cherry Red Records
Formats: Vinyl

And so the story continues. Back in early 2021, we were pleased to review the deluxe reissue of Toyah’s second album, The Blue Meaning and then, last May, we raved over the combined CD/DVD repackaging of her seminal 1980 live album, Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! Cherry Red has certainly been busy and, since we last paid a visit to Toyah-land a super-deluxe edition of her 1981 album, Anthem, has hit the racks, along with a CD version of her breakthrough February 1981 concert at London’s Rainbow Theatre – a recording that was previously only available in video formats. And now, Toyah’s back again, this time with a delightful, expanded, 12” neon violet vinyl version of her third EP, Four More From Toyah.

Originally released in November 1981, the EP continued Toyah’s run of chart success, thanks this time to the popularity of lead track, Good Morning Universe. The original EP climbed to No.14 in the UK singles chart; for 2022 viewers, it’s been expanded into a mini-album, with the addition of four further tracks, two of which receive a commercial release for the first time.

The original EP comprised the first material to be studio-recorded since drummer Nigel Glocker’s departure to join NWOBHM-ers, Saxon, and the line-up on display for the eight tracks in this package is: Toyah Willcox (vocals), Joel Bogen (guitar), Adrian Lee (keyboards), Phil Spalding (bass) and new drummer, Simon Phillips. And the band sound rock-solid! I was particularly impressed by the concrete foundation, often edging towards the funky side of things, that Phil and Simon laid down; and Toyah sings with a maturity that is only hinted at on her earlier recordings, without losing any of the sinister edge that could often make her vocal delivery such a chilling experience.

• Continue reading at At The Barrier. Buy Four More From Toyah at Cherry Red.

Four reviews for Billy Idol’s The Roadside Tour, one for London Wembley Arena, two for Glasgow Hydro and one for Leeds Arena:

• Metal Talk: The night opened with icon and punk pop princess Toyah, revelling in the career boost she’s seen as a result of her wonderfully unhinged Sunday Lunch videos with husband, Robert Fripp. Always an effervescent performer, she seemed to really embrace being back to playing arenas again, and her joy came like waves from the stage as she danced around it – Continue…

• Metal Planet Music: Support bands have changed numerous times before we even got to this point but opener Toyah did not let us down. Toyah, aaaaaah Toyah. Her and Miss Debbie Harry had a lot to answer for in the hormones levels of myself as a 13 year old back in 1980 – Continue…

• Moshville: Toyah had posted on Twitter that her set was to start a whopping 5 minutes early, but even with this warning the venue was still filling up as she started and played through her thirty minutes. This was an absolute shame as she was bloody brilliant. Riding the crest of a wave of public attention after her lockdown cover video sessions with husband Robert Fripp, her set was mainly made up of her own material with one cover (“Echo Beach” by Martha & The Muffins) – Continue…

• York Press: The show, the final one of the UK tour, was opened by Toyah, followed by Killing Joke, and headlined by Billy Idol offered something for everyone. Toyah got the proceedings off in fine style despite the early 7pm start. She gave us her hits – Thunder On The Mountains, I Want To Be Free and It’s A Mystery and a cover of Echo Beach. As anyone who has seen her Sunday Lunch videos which are filmed at home with her husband, King Crimson’s Robert Fripp, her engaging presence and sense of fun illuminated her set – Continue…

LIVE REVIEW: BILLY IDOL/KILLING JOKE/TOYAH – AO ARENA, MANCHESTER 13/10/22

Marking the first stop of the UK leg of The Roadside Tour 2022, tonight sees Billy Idol take to the stage in Manchester ably supported by Toyah and Killing Joke. This run of arena dates is the first time Billy Idol will have performed in the UK since 2018, with tickets for the remaining shows available here.

Opening the evenings proceedings was the four times Brit award nominated Toyah whose career has spanned more than 4 decades with ventures not only in music performance, but also in acting, songwriting and producing amongst many other accolades. It’s a short 30 minute set for Toyah but she delivers an upbeat pop performance, dancing throughout the set. Killing Joke were a relatively late addition to the tour, stepping in when previous support Television withdrew due to illness. With their industrial post-punk rock, the band almost do a complete 180 from the bubbly Toyah, creating a much heavier darker sound accompanied by moody lighting and whilst some fans may have whiplash from the change in sound, nevertheless they were well received.

• Continue reading at Backseat Mafia. NB. A selection of great live shots of Toyah at Manchester Arena are included in this article.

Cherry Red are releasing Toyah’s February 1981 concert recorded at London’s Rainbow Theatre as a CD/DVD and a coloured double vinyl LP on 25 November 2022.

Toyah – Live At The Rainbow is released for the first time on CD with seven additional songs, all previously unreleased and restored exclusively for this release.

Previously only available on VHS, the 53-min concert film has been remastered from the original Rolling Stones multitrack reels for the DVD release with improvements to both picture and sound.

The newly remixed and remastered audio has been integrated to the concert for an enhanced viewing experience. All audio remastering was approved by Joel Bogen.

Three of the seven unheard songs appear exclusively on the CD as mono-only (originally mixed by Nick Tauber) bonus tracks, where no existing multi-tracks were available to present new stereo remixes. These three tracks do not appear on the 16-song double vinyl LP edition. Toyah provides a brand-new introduction in the 24-page booklet which contains iconic live photography by Barry Plummer and new notes by Craig Astley, Toyah’s official archivist.

• Continue reading at Mr Kinski’s Music Shack. Pre-order Toyah Live At The Rainbow, and other recent Toyah reissues, at Cherry Red.

Toyah live Brighton, Support Currls
7 October 2022, Concorde 2.

Toyah brings Anthem to Brighton. Gig Report!

Toyah: Toyah Is a four times Brit Award nominated English musician, singer, songwriter, actress, producer and author. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Willcox has had 8 Top 40 singles, released over 20 albums, written two books, appeared in over 40 stage plays and 10 feature films, and voiced and presented numerous television shows.

As a singer, actress and TV presenter, Toyah is in a world beating class of her own, she is, in the words of ABBA, a super trouper. If you dont belive me, sit down with a coffee and have a run through her history on her Wikipedia page! Extraordinary.

Toyah: The Band: The last time I was lucky to photograph Toyah was when she visited Worthing to warm up her album ‘Posh Pop’. This LP put Toyah back in the Top 30 for the first time since 1984. The time before that was Brighton in November 2019 when she played chalk to promote her 2019 charting album ‘In The Court Of The Crimson Queen‘. A new line up of new faces apart from Mike Nichols (bass). Two guitars, drums, bass and keys and Toyah, gave us a full on auditory explosion of sound. This is a classy five-piece band, working with Toyah they helped make the evening snappy and definitely uplifting.

• Continue reading at Scene Sussex.

TOYAH + CURRLS – CONCORDE 2, BRIGHTON 7.10.22

Toyah Entertains Brighton Crowd

It was a quick dash on Friday for me across the city from Resident Records (seeing Sorry’s instore album launch) to Concorde 2 and across four decades to see Toyah performing tracks from her album ‘Anthem’, courtesy of local promoters Black Rabbit Productions.

‘Anthem’ released in May 1981 was Toyah’s biggest selling album going gold shifting more than 100,000 copies in the UK and peaked in the charts at number 2. The iconic album cover showing Toyah as a fairy with wings was used as the backdrop to the stage set.

There was a good-sized crowd gathered for Toyah and her band to come on stage at 8.30pm. As is common with a lot of bands with such a key front person, the musicians came on stage first and the star of the show Toyah, then made her entrance.

For reference, Toyah’s trademark flaming red/orange hair of the album cover picture has been toned down to blond these days. But that was the only thing that she’s appeared to have toned down. There was a lively start to the 19-song set with two of her biggest hits ‘Thunder In The Mountains’ and ‘Good Morning Universe’. This set the tempo for the rest of the evening.

• Continue reading at Brighton and Hove News.

LIVE REVIEW: TOYAH + VANITY FAIRY AT THE FLEECE, BRISTOL

Here’s a review I’ve long dreamed of writing; namely my favourite live artist, in my favourite live music venue, in my favourite city. If that isn’t enough to make it an interesting night out, my wife is also joining me – her first live gig for forty years. Here, it has to be categorically stated that my wife has no musical passions for Toyah but, as I discovered the Birmingham singer/actress back in 1980 and my wife as recently as 1988, she’s always been (mostly) very patient and contented herself with eye-rolling while I relive my teenage years of enthusiastic pogo dancing. An added element here is that both my wife and I are disabled – this being a key issue for her not attending gigs for so long – so it would naturally be interesting to see how the venue catered for us less-mobile types. Here, knowing The Fleece well was a distinct advantage. To me, it’s the perfect music location, consisting of a single, long room with not a trace of evil staircases. However, we contacted The Fleece well in advance to ask about specific details concerning disabled patrons. The venue did not disappoint us, being courteous and helpful through every stage of the booking process. So, before we get to Toyah, a shout out to Holly Angus and the team in Bristol for their support.

• Continue reading at Joyzine.

Toyah – Anthem
Deluxe Reissue (Cherry Red)

This is, of all the Toyah reissues this far, also recommended to the casual fan. It contains just as much challenging ‘meat’ as the previous albums, but with the familiar hooks which will help less seasoned travellers navigate the truly fascinating outposts. Unreservedly recommended.

With this 2CD/DVD set, the deluxe Toyah reissue campaign from Cherry Red reaches 1981 – with an amazing four releases having spanned the previous two years from 1979. Anthem, the third studio album, was both the mainstream breakthrough and simultaneously an album which almost didn’t get made. Following the previous year’s live album Toyah! Toyah! Toyah!, the band (which we must remind ourselves, was itself named ‘Toyah’, in much the same way as ‘Alice Cooper’ was originally the band name as well as the frontman) fell apart, leaving just Toyah herself and creative lynchpin guitarist Joel Bogen. A short-lived band was assembled but quickly fell apart again after not really working out, and it seemed as if Toyah, the band, might be done. Toyah herself almost became the full-time vocalist with the band Blood Donor, who had the original version of It’s A Mystery in their repertoire, but after a few demo recordings that didn’t come to fruition. Nick Tauber, recruited as producer again after his work on the live album, pulled together a new crew along with Bogen, comprising bassist Phil Spalding, keyboardist Adrian Lee and future Saxon drummer Nigel Glockler. The new line-up recorded and released the four-track EP Four From Toyah early in 1981, with It’s A Mystery as its lead track, and the record’s unexpected massive success ensured they would not look back from that point on.

• Continue reading at Velvet Thunder. See more reviews of Anthem and other releases here.

Toyah’s ‘Anthem’ gets the super deluxe treatment, and never sounded so good!

It’s a mystery why Toyah was never eternally enormous. But the thunder in the mountains has never sounded so good.

Toyah / Anthem
Cherry Red (3-CD, 1 DVD, 2-LPs, 1-45rpm Box Set)

This is it – the big one, both in commercial terms and, compared to previous releases in Toyah’s reissue series, packaging, too.

Anthem was Ms Willcox’s fourth album, but it was home, too, to her greatest single hits yet – and if you only need one super deluxe early ’80s album, this might well be it.

Disc one here is the original album; disc three is a DVD stuffed with promos and TV appearances; discs two and four add in the outtakes, demos, remixes, backing tracks and live cuts. Including the nine bonus tracks appended to the album itself, and four more on tucked away elsewhere, there’s some 40 largely unreleased performances to get your teeth into. Plus the album on picture disc, a 12-inch mini album and a four track 7-inch EP. Which can, if you wish, be slimmed down to a simple 2CD + DVD package, or reduced even further to a gold colored LP of Anthem alone. In every guise, Anthem shines brightly.

The most confident sounding of Toyah’s early albums, if not the most unexpected (that remains her debut), Anthem was the sound of Toyah finally finding her direction. The songs are generally stronger than before, the band is definitely tighter, and her voice feels more controlled, without losing an iota of its original idiosyncrasy.

• Continue reading at Goldmine. Browse more reviews; of Anthem, Toyah! Toyah! Toyah!, Posh Pop, The Blue Meaning, Sheep Farming In Barnet, Posh Pop Tour, Give Them Wings, and much more, in Dreamscape’s Reviews News Archive.

This new article, published by The Reprobate Press, is more of an opinion piece on Toyah rather than just a review of Anthem, but an interesting read.

WITH CHARM AND CHANCE: TOYAH’S ANTHEM REVISITED

Looking back at Toyah’s magnificent 1981 breakthrough album and its dystopian, rebellious sci-fi concepts.

Back in the 1980s, when teenage musical tribalism was at its height, stepping out of your lane was simply not the done thing. Yet for many of us, the strict divisions that split punk from metal from pop and all points in between seemed increasingly ludicrous and arbitrary, as much based on what a band or performer looked like as on their musical output. I rather threw all that aside very early into my teenage musical fixation. After all, bands themselves – especially what we now call classic rock but what at the time was often dismissed as old farts* – were sneered at for chasing trends, sometimes with good reason but often unfairly in retrospect. There was nothing wrong with developing and experimenting with your sound, and those artists who managed to escape the sneering by remaining defiantly art rock – Peter Gabriel, say – were just as likely to be making albums that were nothing like their past work and, in retrospect, very much of their time.

This preamble leads us to your author’s curious fascination with Toyah, who was – depending on which period of her career in the 1980s you were talking about – seen as a punk or a pop star. I’ve already made the case that she was neither, at least musically at the start of her career – the ‘pop star’ dismissal by former punk admirers has a bit more credibility as her career shifted towards kid’s TV appearances, increasingly less arty record covers and more radio-friendly singles, but we could make that particular accusation against many performers. Once Toyah had a couple of hits – which we’ll come to shortly – then she was unavoidable, and as a teenager with a fascination for the terminally uncool worlds of prog, art rock and industrial music, there was something that drew me to her.

• Continue reading at The Reprobate Press.

A four star review of the Anthem Deluxe reissue, by Classic Pop magazine. The 2CD+DVD, colour vinyl and Super Deluxe box set is released on Friday 9th September, and can be pre-ordered here.

Absurdly kept from the top spot by Starsound’s Stars On 45, Toyah’s third album marked her transformation from cult punk to chart revolutionary. With co writer/guitarist Joel Bogen the only survivor from the band’s previous incarnation, the new line-up did a brilliant job of maintaining the ferocity of old while ditching the more outre excesses for facing radio playlists head on. You’ll know It’s A Mystery and I Want To Be Free, with the pointed Marionette and Pop Star similarly unstoppable bursts of fire.

As ever, archivist Craig Astley is exemplary in unearthing extras. The regular Anthem is back on vinyl, there’s a 2CD+DVD set or the boxset is a mighty 3CD, DVD, 2LP and a 7″ of the Flexipop single Sphinx on proper vinyl. The box’s second LP comprises everything from standalone single Thunder In The Mountains, though annoyingly the Anthem LP is a picture disc in the box. Bah.

Alongside a BBC six-song session, the highlight of the extras are a handful of unreleased instrumentals: why Toyah didn’t turn Dropped Earring into a hit is, well, a mystery. Throw in Toyah causing havoc on the DVD’s TV appearances and you get a fabulous document of an ex-punk rivalling Adam Ant for seizing the moment.

• The latest issue of Classic Pop is on sale now! (Thanks to Minna)

Give Them Wings review – down but not out in Darlington

Daniel Watson and Toyah Willcox shine as a disabled man and his doughty mam

Give Them Wings is the biopic of Paul Hodgson, who seven months after he was born in 1965 was diagnosed with meningococcal meningitis. If that wasn’t bad enough, he survived his precarious childhood to become a devout fan of Durham’s hapless Darlington FC – it’s criminal that this low-budget British indie wasn’t titled Give Them Wingers.

An ex-civil servant and now a screenwriter and producer, Hodgson has spent his life confined to a wheelchair and hampered by a speech impediment. Directed by onetime Bond heavy Sean Cronin (who cast himself as a football thug), the film version of Hodgson’s 2021 memoir isn’t a world-beater, but it is a crowd-pleasing underdog with guts, grit and an admirable streak of unsentimental humour.

Set in the late 1980s, Hodgson’s story of striving unfolds in the drab Northern terrain familiar from early ‘60s realist films, the so-called British New Wave.

• Continue reading at The Arts Desk.

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!

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.

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)

Sensational Toyah Brings Her ‘Posh Pop Tour’ to East Sussex

TOYAH + HOLLY DEANNA (CURRLS) – ST MARY IN THE CASTLE, HASTINGS 12.3.22

The music scene in Hastings has steadily been getting back on its feet this year and is starting to thrive once again. Tonight’s show at St Mary In The Castle is a sure sign of a return to normality though you could hardly describe Toyah as ‘normal’.

My first encounter with Toyah may have been as a 16 year old hearing ‘Sheep Farming In Barnet’ and being most intrigued by her, or it could have been watching her playing ‘Monkey’ in ‘Quadrophenia’ around the same time, but whichever I was hooked.

I got around to seeing her in the flesh for my one and only time at Drury Lane Theatre Royal on Christmas Eve, 1981, which was actually broadcast on BBC2 as an ‘Old Grey Whistle Test’ special. I say seeing her in the flesh but my main recollection of that night is being stuck in the balcony about as far away as you could get. I then lost my return tube ticket home, but luckily the train inspector was full of Christmas cheer and allowed me through the barrier.

Tonight was my opportunity to reconnect having lost touch with her career and was surprised to find out that she has released 16 albums, of which 11 are as a solo artist. Throw in a few compilation albums and a box set, and you have quite an accomplished music career. Of course that isn’t the end of her talents as she has appeared in over 20 films, presented on television, appeared in numerous shows, and done a fair bit of charity fundraising.

• Continue reading at Brighton News. Browse Dreamscape’s Posh Pop Tour News Archive.

A great, and comprehensive, review of Toyah’s Posh Pop Tour gig on Thursday, at Haslemere Hall in Surrey, from Retro Man Blog.

Toyah at Haslemere Hall, Thursday February 10th 2022

Toyah treated us to a superb career-spanning show last night at Haslemere Hall in deepest rural Surrey, surely one of the poshest places that I’ve ever seen a gig and definitely a very apt venue to host a date on the “Posh Pop” album tour. Even Toyah remarked on how posh the area was, which, given the size and grandeur of Toyah & Robert Fripp’s home was really saying something.

Actually, joking aside, it was refreshing to see a show in a real community theatre, staffed by lovely friendly locals with no over-the-top security or regulations and everyone was extremely helpful. Certainly a bit different from when I saw Toyah for the very first time back in 1981 at the Hammersmith Odeon. So, it was great to see Toyah perform in such an intimate environment and it really suited the Electro-Acoustic line-up which featured Nat Martin on guitars, Chloe Dupree on keyboards, Mike Nichols on bass and Jamie Dupree on guitars and all were superb musicians, really doing justice to the songs.

I loved the new arrangements, they all worked really well and in my opinion “Brave New World” even beat the original. It was nice to hear something different for a change rather than note by note reproductions of songs that we pretty much know by heart anyway.

• Continue reading at Retro Man Blog. Browse all of Toyah’s upcoming Posh Pop Tour, live gigs and festival appearances at toyahwillcox.com.