Toyah’s October 2018 blog is live at toyahwillcox.com. It’s a Toyah60 Tour edition with hints at the new setlist, new tour merchandise and details of a special guest appearance at the London date. Click below on our brand new Brave New World blog image to read…
Toyah’s debut Top 10 hit It’s A Mystery (from the 1981 Four From Toyah EP) is included on the forthcoming The 80s Pop Annual 2 double-vinyl compilation album.
The 80s Pop Annual 2 is the Latest Exclusive to Vinyl release on Demon Records. 4 Sides of Vinyl containing 30 Tracks of Essential Classic Pop of The Eighties. Housed in a Gatefold Sleeve with Original Artwork & Pressed on 2x 180G Heavyweight Vinyl. Hits from artists such as; Cyndi Lauper, Belinda Carlisle, The Bangles, The Jacksons, Adam & The Ants and many more.
Release information Label: Demon Records
Format: Vinyl • Date: 09/11/2018
Cat#: DEMRECOMP020 • Genre: Pop
• Further info on The 80s Pop Annual 2 here. Last year I Want To be Free was included on the first vinyl release – The 80s Pop Annual.
Toyah, via one of her 80s chart hits, makes yet another appearance on a 100 Hits compilation CD set – It’s A Mystery is included on 100 Hits: The Best 80s Album which is scheduled for release on 2nd November.
100 Hits – The Best 80s Album contains the best hits from the decade from artists including Bonnie Tyler, Belinda Carlisle, The Bangles, Adam Ant, Nena, Five Star, Kenny Loggins, Run-DMC, Bronski Beat, The Communards, Aretha Franklin and many more.
Release information Label: 100 Hits
Format: CD • Date: 02/11/2018
Cat#: DMGN100227 • Genre: Pop
• Further info on 100 Hits: The Best 80s Album here.
Dreamscape is marking the 35th Anniversary of the release of Toyah’s gorgeous 1983 album, Love Is The Law. Here is a double dose of Eighties rebellion… Rebel of Love and Rebel Run. Click on either to zoom.
October marks the 35th Anniversary of the release of Toyah’s final studio album on Safari Records and final album release as a band, Love Is The Law. A wonderful album released in October 1983 and packed full of Toyah’s most melodic music, great lyrics and soaring vocals – Time Is Ours is such an underrated classic – Broken Diamonds and Dreamscape similarly. Stay tuned to toyah.net over the next few weeks for LITL related content and posts…
• America For Beginners 2018: Toyah tweeted: “Just heard 1st mix for AMERICA FOR BEGINNERS for the soundtrack album of @1985thefilm ….WOW! It’s totally different and very 1985!” – Continue reading…
• BBC Scotland: Barmy Aunt Boomerang: Richard Madden is currently earning fulsome praise for his portrayal of Sergeant David Budd in BBC Oneʼs Bodyguard, but itʼs far from the first time heʼs been on our screens. Back in 1999, 13-year-old Richard starred in Barmy Aunt Boomerang as Sebastian, a boy whose life is thrown into chaos by the arrival of his ghostly aunt, played by Toyah Willcox – Continue reading at BBC Scotland…
• Live 2018: Toyah still has Acoustic, Up Close & Personal gigs in Huddersfield, Evesham and two nights at Trading Boundaries in Sheffield Green, an Electric gig in Bedford PLUS those four #Toyah60/40 Years of Music concerts – More info/Ticket links here…
• Outside Org: Thousands of party goers join Rewind Festival’s sold out 10th Birthday celebrations in Henley-On-Thames: The blissful weekend was compered by Toyah Willcox and The Doctor of Doctor & The Medics with DJ Massaoke keeping the tunes and sing-alongs going strong between the main stage performances, getting everyone hyped with some of the biggest 80s hits – Continue reading…
• God’s Jukebox: Brave New World: Can’t have #HairWeek without Toyah. This was the lead single from her 4th album, The Changeling. The video was directed by David Mallet, who directed the Ashes to Ashes video for Bowie – Continue reading/watching…
A reminder that the Video Killed The Radio Star Toyah Special premieres tonight on Sky Arts at 8.30pm. There’s also a repeat next Tuesday.
Video Killed The Radio Star: Sky Arts: Friday 3rd August: 8.30pm
Video Killed The Radio Star: Sky Arts: Tuesday 7th August: 7.30pm
Toyah Willcox. (Series 7, Episode 6) A look back at the most memorable music videos of Toyah Willcox, who has had eight Top 40 singles over the last four decades.
The Vintage TV Sessions, with Toyah performing acoustic versions of Thunder In The Mountains and I Want To Be Free, which originally aired in March 2014, is repeated this week.
The Vintage TV Sessions: Vintage TV: Thursday 5th July: 4am
Five great acts sing two songs apiece at our Vintage TV Sessions: indie rockers The Struts, punk princess Toyah Willcox, singers Judie Tzuke and Josephine and Nik Kershaw.
Toyah’s legendary Ieya is included on the new compilation CD/Download Extend The 80s Alternative.
Essential 12″ and Extended Mixes of 80s Alternative Tracks.
The 30-track album is released by BMG tomorrow and also includes extended versions of:
Club Country, and Party Fears Two by The Associates, The More You Live The More You Love by A Flock Of Seagulls, No Mercy by The Stranglers, Can’t Get Used To Losing You by The Beat, She Blinded Me With Science by Thomas Dolby, Waiting For A Train by Flash & The Pan, Absolutely Immune by Act, Going Left Right by Department S, Amour Amour by The Mobiles, Duel by Propaganda, Terry by Kirsty MacColl and many more.
• Further info at Amazon.
Exclusively on vinyl next month comes eighties alternative. This offers 30 ‘alternative’ eighties songs from a variety of artists including Scritti Politti, Pixies, Propaganda, Bauhaus and John Foxx.
As is often the case with these kind of compilations the definition of ‘alternative’ is rather broad, so as well as the artists above, tracks from Howard Jones, Bronski Beat and Dead Or Alive also feature.
No CD release for this 2LP set, which is clearly designed to appeal to those who have re-embraced vinyl, and it’s pretty good value at under £17 in the UK. eighties alternative is released on 1 June 2018 on Demon Records.
• Continue reading at Super Deluxe Edition. More info on this here. (NB: I Want To Be Free by Toyah is included on LP2 of this double vinyl album).
Fantastic to see the Four From Toyah: Birthday Edition EP doing so well on its first day of release yesterday. Great new songs from Toyah and Simon Darlow, it’s always special to hear new music from Toyah. Click below to download. (Thanks to Official Toyah for the FFT flyer design)
What’s caused Robert to shake his money maker to Telepathic Lover by Toyah? The news that Four From Toyah (Birthday Edition) is No.1 In Amazon’s Rock Digital Charts pre-order and No.12 in Digital Albums charts as well.
Great news for Toyah on her birthday.
The Four From Toyah: Birthday Edition EP is doing brilliantly in Amazon’s Best Sellers lists.
As of 15 minutes ago the EP was number 2 in the Rock Albums chart, 4 in the Hot New Releases chart, and number 8 in the Album chart.
These lists are updated hourly.
The new EP includes four new and previously unreleased songs written by Toyah and Simon Darlow:
1. Telepathic Lover 2. Who Let The Beast Out 3. Fire Escape 4. Our Hearts Still Beat
• Four From Toyah: Birthday Edition was released today and is available to download from Amazon by clicking below. It’s also available to download from iTunes and to stream at Spotify.
Toyah’s new four-track EP is available to pre-order now from Amazon. It’s released on Friday.
Welcome to Toyah’s 60th Birthday week… The amazing Brave New World was released as a single 36 years ago today. Accompanied by the greatest visual imagery by ANY pop star EVER! Happy Birthday to a truly iconic 20th Century pop moment. View Official Toyah’s Instagram post on this by clicking below.
Toyah’s amazing Brave New World was released as a single 36 years ago today. Read our interview with Melissa Mailer-Yates, discussing her Brave New World inspired painting of Toyah, by clicking below.
Toyah Willcox and her band stop by Guildford’s Bonaparte Records shop
Take a trip back to the 1980s, when record shops were 10 a penny, and post-punk visited Guildford
Post-punk singer and actress Toyah Willcox and her band members paid a visit to the Bonaparte Records shop in Phoenix Court, Guildford, prior to playing a gig at the Civic Hall later that night, on May 29 1980.
Toyah, who was only 22 at the time, was signing copies of the band’s new single Ieya, from the album The Blue Meaning.
The shop was crowded with fans of post-punk, who who were pushing towards the counter, where Toyah and her band were signing albums and singles. Later, the band posed for photos outside, before heading off to sound check at the Civic Hall, where they were to play that night.
• Continue reading at Get Surrey.
Following its inclusion on last year’s The 80s Pop Annual, Toyah’s classic 1981 pop anthem I Want To Be Free is featured on another double-vinyl compilation set to be released this Summer.
Eighties Alternative is released on Demon Records – the label who are also releasing Desire on red vinyl tomorrow – on 1st June 2018.
Available exclusively on vinyl – 4 Sides of Defining Eighties Hits.
The album also includes songs by Scritti Politti, Propoganda, Pixies, Dead or Alive, The Lotus Eaters, The Primitives, Adam & The Ants, Bow Wow Wow, Altered Images, John Foxx and numerous others, so Toyah is in great company.
• Further info on/Pre-order this release at Amazon.
Less than one day to go until Desire is released on limited edition translucent red vinyl for RSD2018.
Here are another couple of Desire related posts to finish the countdown…
• Splash: Toyah guesting on ITV’s, short-lived teatime pop show, Splash from 1987 – around the time of the release of Desire. Not great quality but worth a watch to see Toyah having some fun while discussing the album, Cabaret, her earlier career and more – Watch at You Tube… (NB: Not to be confused with this Splash!)
• Echo Beach: Watch/Listen to Toyah’s 1987 single, with remastered audio, at The Official Toyah You Tube channel – Desire, the album from which the single was taken, is also available digitally.
Top Of The Pops: BBC4: Wednesday 2nd May: 1am
22.09.1983. Simon Bates and Mike Read present the pop chart programme, first broadcast in September 1983. Featuring Toyah Willcox, David Bowie, Nick Heyward, The Alarm, Howard Jones and Hot Chocolate.
• Visit the BBC Top Of The Pops website. Click below for Dreamscape’s Rebel Run (and other Love Is The Law) lyrics.
Over the past 40 years Toyah has provided the world with numerous “Iconic Images” (good name for a fanzine, that!) but has there ever been imagery as mesmerising as that which Toyah adopted for Thunder In The Mountains in 1981? The book ‘Pop Styles’ seemed to think so even back in 1984…
Pop Styles, by Ted Polhemus & Lynn Procter (1984) An A-Z Guide To The World Where Fashion Meets Rock’N’Roll
Crazy Colour: Perhaps the most important pendulum swing in the history of pop styles is that between nature and artifice. One of the best ways to join the against-nature school of thought is to dye your hair a bright colour or better still a whole collection of colours which nature never intended to appear on the head of a human being. Historical examples are few, however, as the technology has only been widely available a short time. Only impermanent vegetable dyes were available before the seventies and it was punks who first combined an anti-natural attitude with the new chemicals. Special credit therefore goes to Wee Willie Harris who caused a furore in the fifties when he dyed his hair so pink it dripped down his collar in the rain, Roy Wood who fronted Wizzard behind a mass of multicoloured locks and of course David Bowie. Ultimately, however, the first prize must go to post-punk Toyah Willcox who with dyes and hair spray has resculpted her head into a homage to artifice which even the most daring of science fiction films have failed to equal.
• Toyah’s Offical website/social media spaces will be counting down to Toyah’s Birthday with Forty From Toyah – 40 classic images spanning Toyah’s amazing career.
