Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

Toyah live 29 July 2021 – The Factory Live

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.

Toyah: The Band.
Toyah Willcox (vocals), Chris Wong (guitar), Andy Doble (keyboards), Mike Nichols (bass) and John Humphrey (drums).

Toyah had only recently announced that she was to put on a concert back on the South Coast with her full live electric band. The venue was announced as The Factory Live, located at Unit 9A, Ivy Arch Road in Worthing. The date was set for Thursday 29th July 2021. Toyah last made a visit to Brighton in November 2019 when she played chalk to promote her 2019 charting album ‘In The Court Of The Crimson Queen‘.

• Continue reading at Scene Sussex.

Toyah – The Blue Meaning (Expanded Deluxe Edition): Album Review

Dark, intense and disturbingly graphic – an early masterpiece by Toyah revisited

Release Date: 28th May 2021
Label: Cherry Red Records
Formats: 2CD + 1DVD, Limited Edition Coloured Vinyl

Cherry Red Records have done it yet again! This week’s lucky recipient of their deluxe reissue treatment is Toyah and the band’s second album, 1980’s The Blue Meaning. In fact, Cherry Red are working their way through Toyah’s Safari Records catalogue – the band’s debut album, Sheep Farming In Barnet, has already received the deluxe repackaging and the rest of the bunch, Anthem (1981) The Changeling (1982) and Love Is The Law (1983) will be along soon – a veritable treasure trove from the happiest, most productive and most creative period of Toyah’s career. Oh – and for clarity – at this stage in the career of Toyah Willcox, Toyah was the collective name for the band in which she featured – Joel Bogen on guitar, Charlie Francis on bass, Steve Bray on drums, Peter Bush on keyboards and Toyah herself on vocals (or verbals and unusual sounds, as the album’s excellent sleeve notes put it.)

• Continue reading at At The Barrier.

Toyah – The Blue Meaning
Expanded Edition (Cherry Red)

With the context of the passing of time, this is all brilliantly boundary-pushing music, and The Blue Meaning is an album which could astound the unprepared. Pure gold

The Cherry Red Toyah reissue programme continues with the second album, 1980’s The Blue Meaning, following on from the excellent reissue of the Sheep Farming In Barnet debut. As with its predecessor, The Blue Meaning is a very different proposition to the impression casual listeners tend to have of the pop-punk singer with the wild hair taking It’s A Mystery and I Want To Be Free to the upper reaches of the singles charts. In truth, that image was always a false one when the albums were listened to in their entirety, but even more in the case of these earliest records. In fact, the next studio album following this would be Anthem, the first big hit album which contained those two singles, but you would never guess that from the music contained here, which is dark, edgy and often brilliantly experimental. The Sheep Farming In Barnet album had contained a great mix of post-punk attitude with a sort of ‘difficult prog’ edge to it, but on this follow-up things got even more serious and uncompromising, both in terms of lyrical matter and musical content, and this three-disc reissue rounds it up with some tremendous extra material from the time to produce a definitive edition if ever there was one.

• Continue reading at Velvet Thunder.

A review of The Blue Meaning by We Are Cult.

Toyah: ‘The Blue Meaning’

“Cherry Red’s second re-release of Toyah’s early output, The Blue Meaning is full of lyrics that reflect her interest in sci fi, occultism and Nostradamus… Self-admittedly pretentious in a good way, Toyah’s lyrics and singing style often also seem to be influenced by Broken English-era Marianne Faithful and Patti Smith.”

1980 was a busy year for Toyah. Working as both an actress and a musician she was only 22 but had already appeared in films such as Quadrophenia, Derek Jarman’s Jubilee and The Tempest and George Cukor’s remake of The Corn Is Green with Katherine Hepburn and Patricia Hayes. As well as television work in Shoestring, Second City Firsts and the TV remake of Quatermass, Toyah had also already acted in productions at the National Theatre.

In this short one-year period Toyah starred in a Royal Court production of the controversial Nigel Williams play Sugar and Spice, filmed over the course of three months for an hour-long ATV documentary, appeared in the TV series A Question of Guilt and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and guest-hosted the talk show Friday Night, Saturday Morning in which she interviewed (and played Space Invaders with!) Steve Strange, Derek Jarman and Vivian Stanshall. The year was also the prelude to her chart success of 1981, which occasioned hit singles It’s A Mystery, I Want To Be Free and Thunder in the mountains and numerous Smash Hits and Look-In covers.

• Continue reading at We Are Cult.

A great review of Give Them Wings:

Give Them Wings screens as part of the online London Independent Film Festival 2021.

Amidst the challenges of the recent pandemic, a shining light emerged in the form of centennial hero (and sadly recently departed) Captain Sir Tom Moore, whose mega-effort to raise millions through his walking laps around his garden made him the hero of the status quo and a legend of 2020.

Now, a new film from multi-hyphenate talent Sean Cronin celebrates the life of a disabled football fan called Paul Hodgson – and is pretty incredible on its’ own terms.

Adapted by Hodgson from his 2000 novel Flipper’s Side (with additional writing from Cronin, Ian Carter and Tony Waddington) Give Them Wings chronicles events starting in 1989, when Darlington fan Paul (Daniel Watson) , diagnosed with meningitis from ten months – and given two hopes – is using a wheelchair to move around. His mother, Alice (Toyah Willcox in a career-best appearance), is struggling to cope with struggling husband and Paul’s father, Norman (Bill Fellows) who has signed on again for the umpteenth time and prone to bouts of depressive laziness.

• Continue reading at Film And TV Now.

Toyah – Sheep Farming In Barnet
Expanded Edition (Cherry Red)

Any time is a good time to have Toyah’s often-overlooked early ’80s albums revisited, but in this case there seems to be no more expedient occasion to have this album back in the public eye, in its most impressive form yet. Toyah has come to prominence very much on social media during the Covid pandemic and associated lockdowns, appearing in a series of light-hearted and very amusing videos with her husband, Robert Fripp. Now, many of those in the ‘prog rock’ fraternity – who may have passed over Toyah’s output with little more than a cursory glance at the hit singles – have been fond of expressing their surprise at the union of the ultra-serious King Crimson frontman, with his almost ‘Prog Godfather’ reputation, and the woman often looked back on as a kind of ‘post-punk pixie’ with wild hair and a handful of hits. This album comes out just at the right time to remind people that, in truth, the relative musical outputs of both parties at the dawn of the 1980s really weren’t as far apart as you may think. This isn’t punk, and it certainly isn’t pop-punk. If you want to give it a name at all, art-punk is closer, as what is found among the 41 tracks here is a brilliantly adventurous mix of the post-punk approach of bands like Magazine or Wire, combined with an art-rock influence in the music itself, which is astonishingly mature considering these were 20 year olds at the time.

• Continue reading at Velvet Thunder.

Nerdly: Frightfest 2020: ‘Heckle’ Review: Shot in neon-lit hues, reminiscent of Italian giallo (in particular the work of Dario Argento); with a killer in a clown mask and red rain mac that looks and feel like a total homage to 1976’s proto-slasher Alice, Sweet Alice; Heckle is a superb diatribe on perils of fame, personality and neurosis, and a warning to never, ever, meet your heroes! – Continue reading…

• Starburst: Heckle [FrightFest October 2020]: While Heckle won’t win any awards, it’s a fun distraction if you can overlook the shortcomings – Continue reading…

• Movie Ramblings: Arrow Video FrightFest October 2020: ‘Heckle’ Review: Heckle is something of a strange brew – in essence it is a straight-up slasher movie (heck, we even get a mask-wearing killer), but it also has plenty to say about the cult of celebrity, even mental health. But Heckle is certainly worth a watch and is likely to keep most genre fans reasonably happy – Continue reading…

• Eye For Film: Heckle Review: Screening as pat of Frightfest’s October 2020 selection, this is a spirited little film which, despite its dark subject matter, has obviously been made with love. Though not exactly polished, it has an innate exuberance that will encourage viewers to tick with it. That said, for all its roughness, this is an enjoyable little romp which will no doubt win itself some fans – Continue reading…

Indie Mac User: Review: Heckle ‘A Slow Burn Turns Slasher’ (FrightFest 2020): Written by Airell Anthony Hayles and directed by Martyn Pick, this slow-burn thriller turned slasher is well penned and conducted. The atmosphere is well captured in each of the scenes throughout the movie. Where it really shines is the dreary, dark, and dreadful outside of the desolate house and how many of the characters in the film meet their fate within it. The kills are very well orchestrated, and the aftermath of the kills are quite unique – Continue reading…

• The Kim Newman Website: FrightFest review – Heckle: For a horror film with a comedy theme and a comic attack, Heckle goes into some dark places – The cast is gossip-column friendly – with bits for Dani Dyer, Toyah Willcox (who does a song) and Nicholas Burman-Vince – Continue reading…

As well as giving Toyah Solo a four star review, the latest issue (No. 62) of Classic Pop magazine also reviews Toyah’s gig at the Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton in January.

Before her co-headlining tour with Hazel O’Connor kicks off, Toyah runs through a brisk set that maps her career from punk icon to Crimson Queen.

Toyah Willcox is not an easy figure to pin down. From her early days as ‘Punk Princess’, she morphed into a multi-coloured pop star, before enjoying later success with presenting, musical theatre and, perhaps most unexpectedly, children’s television. Hard to imagine for those who recall her in Derek Jarman’s Jubilee or leaping about on TOTP, but there’s a generation of 20-somethings out there who only know Toyah from Teletubbies, Brum and as the lead character in Barmy Aunt Boomerang.

• Issue 62 of Classic Pop magazine is on sale now. (Thanks to Minna of The Toyah Willcox Interview Archive for the scan)

A review of Toyah Solo by We Are Cult.

Little Tears of Love: ‘Toyah: Solo’ reviewed

❉ This is a fine time to look back at the solo career of an underrated artist.

“I’m too qualified, to give up lie down and die. This is my unsentimental education.”

Toyah Willcox has been a household name since her eponymous band burst onto the UK pop charts in the early 1980s. Juggling her musical career with high profile work as an actress on stage and screen, and a string of television presenting work was both a blessing for her career longevity and a poisoned chalice when it came to her enduring legacy as an artist in her own right.

The release of Solo – the first ever Toyah boxset – is the first step for Willcox and her faithful master of the archives Craig Astley in a bid to right those wrongs.

Compiling most – but crucially not all – of Toyah’s solo albums released since the Toyah band broke up in 1984, alongside a collection of rare and unreleased material, plus a bonus DVD, the release starts a dedicated reissue campaign which continues with standalone coloured vinyl pressings of almost every studio album in the set in March, bringing most of them back into print for the first time in over a decade.

• Continue reading at We Are Cult.

Missed this great gig review, published in November by Scene Sussex. Here it is now:

Toyah holds court…
Tonight, Saturday 2 November 2019 saw Toyah visit Brighton to play in a new Brighton venue, Chalk. The weather had been awful all day with the Brighton Breeze racking up to 50 mph during the day. Toyah said she had been blown over as she got out of the car after a horrendous drive to Brighton. Those of us outside waiting for the doors to open watched the skies nervously as the rain today really meant business. Thankfully we got in still dry, others were not quite so lucky.

Toyah: The Set
Toyah took a leisurely stroll onto the stage, looking out into the fairly full venue. She was given an enthusiastically warm welcome from the Brighton crowd in this new Brighton venue. And with a huge smile on her face we were off. The first song was a new one and, all things considered, was pretty appropriate considering the weather outside, and couldn’t have been better chosen if you tried, Dancing In The Hurricane. Brilliant track from the new album In The Court Of The Crimson Queen, which is also the title of this tour. Toyahs band is made up of a guitarist, bass player, drums and keyboards. Dancing In The Hurricane had a great rock feel to it and gave the band a chance to warm it up.

• Continue reading at Scene Sussex.

A selection from the numerous Invasion Planet Earth press clips, interviews and reviews published over the last few days. Stay updated by following Simon Cox at Twitter.

• Flatpack Festival: Interview – Simon Cox: Two decades ago, Nuneaton based filmmaker Simon Cox had an idea for a science fiction film called Kaleidoscope Man. Filmed on a shoestring budget with limited resources at locations across the Midlands, what ultimately became Invasion Planet Earth finally screens to audiences this month. We talked to Simon about an epic twenty year journey to pay homage to the sci-fi films he loved as a child – Continue reading…

• Britflicks Reviews: BritFlicks Reviews Simon Cox’s Imaginative Sci-Fi Invasion Planet Earth: A true one off from a very wide imagination… Coming from the mind of writer/director, Simon Cox, Invasion Planet Earth, is one of those films that is a true original. It was also made over 17 years, which by anyone’s standards is a long production line! However, the film is set very much in the here and now, but of course, the question does arise, ‘how much’ of it dates from 17 years ago – Continue reading…

• Midlands Movies: Invasion Planet Earth: A number of children in the 1980s recreating their favourite TV show ‘Kaleidoscope Man’ (this film’s previous title in fact) opens new sci-fi feature Invasion Planet Earth from Midlands director Simon Cox. This clever parody is a fun way to start a feature that contains more than its fair share of disaster and peril – Continue reading…

• Nevermore: Invasion Planet Earth – Review: Reading the history of this film made me more apprehensive than it did excited – Continue reading…

• Film Stories: Invasion Planet Earth review: Invasion Planet Earth review is a sci-fi movie made in the UK over the course of a decade – and it’s worth seeking out too – Continue reading…

• Dark Eyes Of London: Invasion Planet Earth (UK 2019: Dir Simon Cox): Imagine. You’re a filmmaker, maybe not in the first flush of youth. You’ve had one not very well publicised feature made years ago, but you have a project within you so ambitious in scope that it becomes an all consuming passion. But you have little resources, financially or technically, at your disposal, to realise the vision. So what do you do – Continue reading…

• Filmuforia: Invasion Planet Earth (2019): Director Simon Cox (Driven) has spent seventeen bringing this labour of love to the big screen, and his perseverance has paid off – Continue reading…

A four star review for Invasion Planet Earth, the film which is showing in cinemas for one day only this Thursday.

Almost a decade from script to screen, the labour of love that is Invasion Planet Earth is bold, ambitious, with tongue in cheek humour that occasionally pops up in an otherwise solid science-fiction drama. It will appeal to fans of the science fiction genre from all eras, particularly. It may be pitched, by marketing people, as a British Independence Day (there’s a nod to that in the dialogue), but it’s far from that as Simon Cox, writer and director, flits between drama, science fiction and action with deft awareness of just how preposterous his story is. The story does deliver a tale that has depth and weight amongst its familiar “aliens attack earth” trope, especially as the truth is revealed.

• Continue reading at Vulture Hound. Browse our Invasion Planet Earth news.

We danced in the hurricane at Toyah’s Brighton concert.

TOYAH + THE LAST CRY – CHALK, BRIGHTON 02.11.19

There certainly was ‘Thunder in the Mountains’ in Brighton on this wet and windy Saturday night. The wind was strong on the seafront and almost blew the bristles clean off my head. Even Toyah said onstage, that upon arriving in her chariot (car) she got blown off her feet. However, the weather wasn’t going to keep her fans from watching her perform tonight at new Brighton venue ‘Chalk‘, that’s for sure.

Anyone that was around in the 80’s will need no Toyah introduction as she was permanently on our TV screens and fully ingrained in our pop culture. She’s enjoyed a career that spans over forty years and she’s still going strong. She’s been nominated for four Brit awards, been involved in over twenty albums, written books, acted in stage-plays and appeared in TV shows and films, including of course, the legendary ‘Quadrophenia’. For the younger readers benefit, she has also provided voices for Teletubbies characters. You could say that she’s been busy.

• Continue reading at Brighton and Hove News.

I was barely familiar with Toyah from seeing a review of “Anthem” in the pages of “Dogfood,” our local New Wave newspaper that was published by Record Mart chain in Orlando in the late 70s/early 80s. The positive review piqued by interest as it was written by Robin Shurtz; a guy I knew from teaching English at my junior high school. Robin had interesting music tastes.

Then, in 1981, I bought an issue of Flexipop that had an ad for Toyah’s “Thunder In The Mountains” single. The extreme styling and pose of the photo was sort of like a femme take on “Aladdin Sane” but the eerie calmness of the singer’s pose looked interesting.

• Continue reading at Post Punk Monk.

CONCERT REVIEW: TOYAH with support from THE MEDIA WHORES – The Church. Dundee – April, 2019

The Church in Dundee is not large in size but full of character and given the capacity is less than 400, this was always going to be an intimate gig and the chance to experience a Goddess of Rock at close quarters.

First up on stage were The Media Whores a 4 piece post-punk band from central Scotland.

… With only a short break and time to replenish one’s glasses it was time for Toyah. The soundsystem, hit the intro ‘Every girl born is the queen of her own domain’ so let’s Dance in the Hurricane, a new track included in Toyah’s repackaged album and 2CD package In The Court Of The Crimson Queen.

The track is quality and so was Toyah, elegantly dressed in a tight fitting shiny golden dress and loaded with neck and wrist jewellery. The heavy drumming on this track excites as Toyah twists and turns to the beat.

• Continue reading at Patchchord News.

In The Court Of The Crimson Queen is reviewed in the latest issue of Classic Pop magazine (Issue 51, April 2019)

Issue 51 of Classic Pop is on sale now!

Available from WHSmith, Tesco, independent newsagents, Tesco Ireland and Easons, the new issue of Classic Pop is on sale now!

This month, we have an exclusive interview with Bananarama‘s Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward as they return with their first new studio album in a decade. We also meet iconic duo Hall & Oates before their UK arena tour and talk to Gary Numan as part of our look into the superfan phenomenon.

Our packed new album reviews section includes Bananarama, Edwyn Collins, Toyah, Andy Bell and The Chemical Brothers. On the reissues front, we revisit New Order‘s debut Movement plus re-releases from Prince, Kate Bush, R.E.M, David Bowie and more.

Liam Rudden: Dancing in the hurricane with the Crimson Queen

When Toyah Willcox sings that she danced in the hurricane, drums driving a hypnotic rhythm in the background, you can just picture the scene.

So opens In The Court of The Crimson Queen, her new studio album, reimagined from an earlier release of the same name with five brand new tracks added, including the opener of Act I, Dance In The Hurricane. And what an opener it is. Raw, emotional and with an entrancing narrative, this old-school floor filler finds the singer still on the top of her game. With an irresistible beat and simple but effective hook, Toyah’s message remains as simple and clear as it has always been Be Loud, Be Heard, Be Proud.

Split into two acts – Act I has eight tracks, Act II another seven – In The Court of The Crimson Queen is the result of a collaboration with co-writer and producer Simon Darlow, he also plays all the instruments. The title, a nod to her husband, King Crimson’s Robert Fripp.

Willcox and Darlow first wrote together as far back as 1978 and influences of their previous hits Rebel Run and Don’t Fall In Love hover like ghosts throughout this release. The second track of Act I, Sensational, is a punchy uplifting bundle of joy that, like Dance In The Hurricane, is sure to become an anthem in its own right, if it hasn’t already.

• Continue reading at the Edinburgh Evening News.

Review: Toyah − the soundtrack to my life

The Birmingham-born star rarely tours but has just finished a sell-out four-gig run with full electric band to celebrate 40 years in the business after turning 60 earlier this year.

The agile singer-songwriter has always had boundless energy, her videos and lively performances on erstwhile TV music show Top Of The Pops will testify to this, and she shows no signs of slowing down at 60. She leapt around the stage, commanding it with her strong and quirky tribal dance moves and leaning out towards the audience astride stone pillars in the small, crammed venue.

Her voice is as powerful and moving as it always was, diving straight in with All In A Rage, she took us through the full back-catalogue including Danced, Good Morning Universe, Thunder In The Mountains, Be Proud Be Loud (Be Heard), Rebel Run, I Want To Be Free, Brave New World and ending with her best-known hit It’s A Mystery.

• Continue reading at the North Somerset Times. (Photos © Karen Richards/North Somerset Times)

Perhaps the first British singer to be known only by her first name, Toyah entertained the Corn Hall with a string of post punk hits from the early 80s, and while for those of us of a certain age it was a treat to revisit them, it was also a revelation to hear them reinvented for acoustic guitar and vocals.

Flanked by two superb guitarists, and backed by video and still images, Toyah Ann Willcox proved to be a slick and accomplished performer. Opening on Good Morning Universe, she mixed lesser known gems with some cosy chit chat as well as big hitters like Thunder in the Mountains. These stripped down versions of her extensive back catalogue revealed not only how good these songs are, but what a fine voice she has.

• Continue reading at The Corn Hall.

• The Big NHS Singalong Live: Toyah is taking part in this celebration of 70 years of the NHS! – On Wednesday 4th July we will celebrate 70 years of the NHS as talented ​NHS staff, famous faces and people right across the country come together to sing a special version of The Beatles classic ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ live on ITV’s one off televised event – The Big NHS Singalong Live – Continue reading…

• Toyah @ Twitter: “Joining The Big NHS Singalong Live at Abbey Rd Studios tonight for ITV 9pm ….. let’s break that world record! Good Luck all” – Continue reading…

• Vulture Hound: ‘As long as the music’s loud enough..’ – Jubilee (Film Review): Punk rebellion combined with the juxtaposition of royal mystical ambience is what makes this film rather strange yet special at the same time. Derek Jarman depicts a rather fantastical manic portrayal which harmoniously emphasises the dramatic change of youth movement within the 1970’s era of Britain – Continue reading…

• Worcester News: One Week to go until Worcester Stands Tall Launch: Final preparations are under way for the launch of an art trail that will see 30 giraffes placed around Worcester – The large sculptures have been decorated by artists both from the local area and across the UK, while one is designed by singer and actress Toyah Willcox – Continue reading…

• Wild In Art: Celebrated singer designs giraffe for trail: Artwork designed by celebrated singer and actress Toyah Willcox has been used to decorate a giraffe sculpture for the Worcester Stands Tall trail. The prolific performer, whose career has spanned more than 40 years, themed her design around the idea of ‘making a wish’ – with the Giraffe covered in stars, animals and children – (Photo © Worcester Stands Tall) Continue reading…

• Beacon: Relive the Good Times – Jack Up The 80s: This year’s Jack Up The 80s takes place on August 11th and 12th at Smallbrook Stadium, Ryde. The stellar line up includes Grammy award-winning music legend Leo Sayer, soul sensations Shalamar, British pop rock group T’Pau, punk princess Toyah Willcox, Jaki Graham, an exclusive DJ set from Martin Kemp, the one and only Chesney Hawkes, Brother Beyond and many more – Continue reading…

It’s hard to believe that Punk is well over 40 years old, largely heralded by the release of the Sex Pistols ‘Anarchy in the UK’, in the Britain at any rate. Punk meant different thing to different people: to the Sex Pistols and The Clash it was a working-class reaction or counter-reaction, to Malcolm McLaren it was a marketing ploy and to the likes of Vivienne Westwood it was a fashion statement. For art film director Derek Jarman it became an anarchic artistic statement.

Of course Jarman himself was not a punk, but he certainly tapped into the spirit of the age and was even able to insert his own brand of camp into the punk scene with his film Jubilee (1978). The BFI release of Jubilee is released in addition to the BFI’s recent 6 film box-set release, ‘Derek Jarman Volume One: 1972 – 1986’ to observe the films 40 year anniversary.

The narrative of the film is sometimes hard to follow, but makes more statements than having any narrative or even making much in the way of sense. It opens with Queen Elizabeth I (Jenny Runacre) being transported to 1970s London by her occultish aide, Dr. John Dee (Richard O’Brien) and find a place riven with political and social unrest. We are then introduced to some of the key figures in the film: punk girls Mad (Toyah Willcox) and Amyl-Nitrate (Jordan), along with Kid (Adam Ant, real name Stuart Goddard), Crabs (Nell Campbell), Chaos (Hermine Demoriane) and Bod (Runacre again in a dual role). They get up to all sorts in the flat and include killing a one-night stand in a asphyxiation game. All sorts of adventures take place including starting a punk band called Scum while revolt and social unrest, including police brutality increases.

• Continue reading at Filmwerk.