Song of the week, on Episode Ten of Toyah At Home, was Sensational, from the album, In The Court Of The Crimson Queen.
Click below to watch the episode, which ended with an archive performance of, the amazing, Broken Diamonds, from the album Love Is The Law.
Rebel Run was song of the week on the seventh episode of Toyah At Home, which aired at Toyah’s official You Tube channel on Saturday.
Toyah performed a rousing live performance of the 1983 hit and discussed the album, Love Is The Law, from which it is taken. She also talked about how much she loved 1983: starring in Trafford Tanzi, recording Love Is The Law and a role in The Ebony Tower alongside Laurence Olivier.
Toyah’s famous Melissa Caplan outfits made a cameo appearance (along with lots of handbags).
Toyah talked about the cover art for The Changeling and Toyah! Toyah! Toyah!, and the artist who painted the cover for that album, Dexter Brown. Episode Seven also saw Toyah discuss: the learning curve of dealing with outside forces which affect creativity; the albums she is most proud of; favourite outfits; Divine/John Waters; Kate Bush; the songs Street Creature and The Packt.
• Click below to watch/re-watch : Toyah At Home: Episode #7, which closes with an archive live performance of, the timeless, Martian Cowboy…
Some rare-ish footage of Toyah at the British Rock & Pop Awards 1983 has just been uploaded to You Tube. Toyah is presenting Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon with the award for Best Male Vocalist of 1982. This was the year Toyah starred in Trafford Tanzi at London’s Mermaid Theatre, filmed The Ebony Tower in France with Laurence Olivier for ITV, and released the sublime Love Is The Law album. The Rock & Pop Awards is now The BRITS! Click on the screenshots below to watch.
Happy 40th Anniversary to one of the great landmarks of Toyah’s music career – The Blue Meaning. The second long-player (as they were once called) and first full studio album, was released exactly 40 years ago today, in June 1980.
An amazing album and Toyah era, The Blue Meaning is significant for a number of reasons: It was the first Toyah release to enter the Official UK Chart (though earlier singles and the first album had all scaled the peak of the Indie Chart).
It also boasted incredible imagery, artwork and high design standard which would become synonymous with Toyah’s music career and future releases. The album also includes Toyah’s most legendary song, the perennial fan-favourite, Ieya! No Toyah gig is complete without it.
Over the past four decades the album has increased in significance, becoming a crucial part of Toyah’s discography. Everyone loves Anthem (who couldn’t?), The Changeling is a favourite of many fans, Love Is The Law saw Toyah’s vocals soar, Minx still divides opinion, Prostitute mindboggled us all, Ophelia’s Shadow as beautiful, intricate and unique as any album by Kate Bush or Tori Amos, In The Court Of The Crimson Queen introduced Toyah to a new audience while also delighting longtime fans, and yet The Blue Meaning came before all of the aforementioned and 40 years later still intrigues and entertains with each and every listen. Click below for our feature.
Dreamscape will be 20 years online soon and heading into our 21st year. I’ve been updating some of the sections and having a look back at some of the News Archives: May 2005 was an amazing month – It was Toyah’s birthday and we were also still basking in the release of Warrior Rock and Love Is The Law on CD, both for the very first time – and this month saw the release of The Safari Records Singles Collection – Volume 1. TARDIS your way back to May 2005 by clicking below.
Phil Marriott spoke to 80s punk pop icon Toyah Willcox to find out more about her new album ‘In The Court Of The Crimson Queen’: her collaboration with long-time co-wroter Simon Darlow, who worked on her albums ‘Love Is The Law’ and ‘Minx’. Watch below or at You Tube.
Edinburgh fans will be first to hear Toyah’s new songs live
It wouldn’t be wrong to introduce Toyah Willcox as an iconic 80’s pop star but such a tag tells a very small part of her story.
Actress, presenter, author, it was in the late-70s that the then ‘punk princess’ first exploded onto the music scene with the EP Sheep Farming In Barnet. The albums Blue Meaning, Anthem, The Changeling, Minx and Love Is The Law all followed, along with many more.
Her latest album, In The Court of the Crimson Queen, released on Friday 12 April, brings the singer/songwriter back to Edinburgh for her first headline gig in the Capital since selling out The Playhouse in 1982.
n the intervening years, of course, Toyah has been no stranger to the city, appearing in numerous ‘Best of the 80s’ tours as well as starring in the play Picasso’s Women at the Festival and in musicals such as Calamity Jane.
Consequently, it’s clear the diminutive powerhouse performer is looking forward to returning on 25 April to play The Liquid Room.
• Continue reading at the Edinburgh Evening News.
The Official Toyah 40th Music Anniversary feature on social media continues with entries for Love Is The Law, Toyah Toyah Toyah – All The Hits, Mayhem, Minx, The Lady Or The Tiger, Desire, Prostitute, Ophelia’s Shadow, Kneeling At The Shrine… with more still to come. See our first post about the countdown here. Click below to visit the Official Toyah Instagram.
Toyah’s 40th Year in Music/60th Birthday concerts launch this evening, with the first of four gigs, at Ruby Lounge in Manchester.
There’s an exciting new setlist to look forward to, and oodles of new official tour merchandise – Brave New World t-shirts, Brave New World mugs, Rebel Run/Love Is The Law tote bags, badges, stickers & more – will be on sale at the gig.
Toyah will also play The Fleece, Bristol (Thursday 1st November), Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton (Friday 2nd November) and O2 Academy Islington, London (Sunday 4rh November)
These special concerts – with Toyah’s full electric band – will be a celebratory retrospective including hit singles, album classics and fan favourites. Throughout October The Official Toyah Willcox website has counted down to the beginning of the four-date anniversary tour, via social media, with a series of special updates.
Exciting new tour merchandise is coming for Toyah’s Autumn gigs, including a faberoonie Brave New World t-shirt and Love Is The Law bag. See more at Instagram by clicking below.
Only a couple of hours until Toyah’s Birthday, just enough time to revisit a selection of Toyah’s fantastic tours from the Twenty Tens: From Sheep Farming To Anthem (2011); The Changeling Resurrection (Spring 2012); The Changeling Resurrection II (Autumn 2012); Love Is The Law & More (2013). Currently most of Dreamscape’s Gallery is offline, but all four of these tour galleries are available by clicking on each image below…
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.
More airdates for Top Of The Pops, featuring the Rebel Run video.
Top Of The Pops: BBC4
Saturday 22nd April: 0.00am/11.20pm
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.
Praying to the silent man…
‘Rebel Run’, released in September 1983, was Toyah’s 13th single in the UK.
This was one of only two singles to be released by Toyah in 1983 and was the debut from the album ‘Love Is The Law’. It was written by Toyah and Simon Darlow and reached number 24 in the UK Top 40.
Toyah made a memorable video for the single and promoted it with numerous appearances and interviews on shows including TVAM’s Summer Run, Hold Tight, The Saturday Show, Saturday Superstore, and German TV show Jugendabend. The video was also played on Top Of The Pops – being repeated later this month on BBC tv for the first time since the 1980’s.
Toyah said of the imagery: “This is the Rebel Run look. I was into armour. A friend, Simon, made a bronze headdress based on the skeletal structure of American football players.”
• Download ‘Rebel Run’ at iTunes, view the promo video, and the airing on Top Of The Pops. Watch Toyah perform the single on Hold Tight and Saturday Superstore. Listen to the song live at Hammersmith Odeon on the ‘Rebel Run’ Tour in December 1983. Andromeda Rising covered the song in 2005. Listen to their version here.
33 years ago this week The Vow was released. Taken from the album Love Is The Law, it was also Toyah’s final single on Safari Records. A rousing rock ballad with fantastic vocals from Toyah, incredible guitar from Joel Bogen, and moving lyrics. But in love and war I’ll never desert you…
Christmas 1983, Toyah was promoting ‘The Vow’, the final single for Safari Records, the ‘Love Is The Law’ album, and travelling the UK on the ‘Rebel Run’ Tour. Toyah, and the band, appeared on numerous TV shows in the UK and Europe through November and December, being interviewed as well as performing ‘The Vow’ and ‘Rebel Run’.
The TV shows included; Pebble Mill, Did You See?, Pop Watch, Saturday Superstore, Breakfast Time, Razzmatazz, The Saturday Show, Harty, Crackerjack and Judgendbund. Other shows included in ‘The Vow’ promotion were; TVAM: Good Morning Britain and 60 Minutes.
• Toyah Live 2015: As well as the Acoustic, Up Close & Personal and Telling Strange Tales (The Humans) tours in 2015, Toyah already has a number of other live dates in her gig diary – View the full schedule, so far, at toyahwillcox.com…
• Toyah TV: An update, from Toyah, on the awesome WillyFred – View here…
• Longridge & Ribble Valley News: ‘I said: ‘I want a record deal! How do you do it?’: Hazel O’Connor mentions Toyah in another new interview – Hazel was among those guesting for The Stranglers over two nights at London’s Rainbow Theatre, alongside her friend Toyah Willcox. “They asked a few of us to do a couple of Stranglers songs, and I did (Get a) Grip (On Yourself) and Hanging Around, while Toyah did Duchess and something else. Toyah and myself also did backing vocals for Ian Dury, and lots of singers and guitarists played” – Continue reading…
• Get Reading: Bracknell Memories: Christmas lights switch-ons past: 2007: 80s star Toyah Willcox performed to a bustling Charles Square. The highlight was her cover of the Guns N Roses classic ‘Sweet Child O Mine’. At one point, the crowd performed an impressive Mexican wave – Continue reading…
• Never Mind The Buzzcocks: An episode of the, once great, quiz from 1998 – with Toyah guesting – View at You Tube…
• Toyah Live 2012/2013: Watch The Changeling Resurrection at Bush Hall, London and Love Is The Law & More at Concorde 2, Brighton. (Thanks to Lärwi, of The Toyah Willcox Interview Archive, for taking the time to film, compile and upload these).
• Record Collector Mag @ Twitter: “RC starting the day with Toyah’s Anthem. Now there was a band!” – Visit the magazine’s Twitter feed…
This evening Toyah’s new UK tour begins. Revisit a selection of Toyah’s recent tours: From Sheep Farming To Anthem (2011); The Changeling Resurrection (Spring 2012); The Changeling Resurrection II (Autumn 2012); Love Is The Law & More (2013) – Click on each image below to view photographs from the tours…
A great venue, one that Toyah played at during the Love Is The Law & More tour last year, The Fleece in Bristol is under threat of closure. Please click below to view further info, from Chris Sharp, owner of The Fleece, and consider signing their petition (at change.org).
Dazzling photos of Toyah from last year’s Love Is The Law & More UK Tour, taken on the first date, 18th October 2013, at Legends, Newcastle. View these, and more, at Dreamscape’s LITL & More Gallery. (Thanks to Jo | All photos © Jo Oliver)
• Browse Dreamscape’s full Love Is The Law & More news and tour coverage here. Listen to Jo Oliver’s interview with Toyah at Soundcloud.
• Toyah by Simon Harrison: A fantastic polaroid of Toyah from 1983 was shared by Toyah’s Official Facebook on Friday, as the Crimson Queen/Greatest Hits… Live! Tour got underway. The jewellery Toyah is wearing in the photo is also designed by Simon who was responsible for the Love Is The Law armour and original headpiece – View a larger version of the photo here… (Photo © Simon Harrison)
• Official Instagram: Toyah has shared some great photos over the last week, from on top of the Pennines, to her dressing room in Nuneaton – View at Instagram here…
• Acoustic, Up Close & Personal: ‘Jungles of Jupiter’ live at Lowther Pavilion on Thursday. Listen/watch here… (Thanks to Glyn Whelan)
• ITV Player: Splash! 2014: Public vote winners and losers revealed: If there hadn’t have been a “spalsh off” Toyah would have been in the semi finals – View here…
• The Hollywood News: Celebrate Derek Jarman With A Series Of UK Screenings: What do you get if you cross Shakespeare, ’70s punk, a liberal dose of theatrics and um, gardening? It’s Derek Jarman of course, perhaps one of the most subversive and visionary British film-makers of the last forty years – Continue reading…
• Pointless Celebrities: This repeat aired again last night on BBC1 and is now available to watch at BBC iPlayer…
• The Lee Mack Show: This re-aired last night on BBC Radio 4 Extra and is now available to listen to at BBC iPlayer…
• This is it Philly: Film Screening: Jubilee at Galleries at Moore – This has already taken place (on Thursday evening) but thought I’d give it a mention anyway – View here…
Toyah’s first Acoustic, Up Close & Personal date takes place tonight; there’s been news of the digital reissue of The Acoustic Album; a great collection of acoustic rarities has just been gifted to fans by Toyah; and there’s even an acoustic Live Track Of The Month… So there’s definitely a nice acoustic feeling in the air (I’ve been playing The Acoustic Album and the rarities collection while readying Issue Two of my fanzine for the printers).
Toyah tweeted yesterday: “Photoshoot for Mail then I head up north. Running set for Acoustic show….it sounds fresh and exciting. Guitar arrangements r so clever“. She also mentioned recently that ‘Obsolete’ was sounding “great unplugged”.
Here’s some interesting details on Acoustic, Up Close & Personal from the latest Breaking Through newsletter: Without giving the full set list away the show will feature unplugged versions for the first time ever of… Bird In Flight, Be Proud Be Loud (Be Heard), Broken Diamonds, Love Is The Law, Dawn Chorus, Latex Messiah (Viva La Rebel In You) and Sensational, amongst others.
The show is acoustic but is intentionally very lively and uptempo! The set list for this show is likely to also alternate throughout the year. It’s a show not to be missed so do try and make it along to hear these unique versions of classics from Sheep Farming, Love Is The Law, Anthem, Crimson Queen, The Changeling and more.
• News Source: Breaking Through: The Official Toyah Newsletter. (Image by Dreamscape, inspired by the recent acoustic artworks by toyahwillcox.com – View a larger version here)
