Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

The second great review of the day for Posh Pop, this from Liam Rudden in the Edinburgh Evening News.

Fabulous​,​ flawless, five star pop from Toyah

It’s a mystery how time has flown. I remember clearly the first time I heard the name Toyah Willcox.

I was 15, hanging around the square behind the family home in Leith when a purple-mohicaned punk called Pete appeared. He was visiting pals in the scheme and we got talking about music. He was a fan of a singer who, he claimed, could unite mods, rockers and punks. Some feat in those days.

“Everyone charges to the front when she comes on,” he said, adding, “They don’t even fight when Toyah’s singing.” The next day I headed to Ards Record Shop on Great Junction Street and found a copy of Sheep Farming In Barnet. One listen and I was hooked.

That was 42 years ago, it’s still a brilliant album as is Toyah’s latest, Posh Pop, released last weekend. Reunited with long term collaborator Simon Darlow and with husband Robert Fripp on guitar, Posh Pop is at once reflective and optimistically forward thinking.

…Barefoot On Mars, my highlight of the album, is an arrestingly emotional, uplifting​ and joyous tribute. A tear-inducing salute to Toyah’s mother, it ​will ​touch the soul of ​anyone who has ​​lost a ​truly ​loved one.​ ​A degree of lightness returns with Rhyth​​m ​I​n ​M​y ​H​ouse​, ​an easy listening ​number brought to life with ​unicorn​s​ and bubbles​, which is followed by ​Summer ​O​f ​Love and an unapologetic Sixties’ ‘love and peace’ vibe​.

• Continue reading at the Edinburgh Evening News. This review is also published in The Falkirk Herald and The Southern Reporter. See more Posh Pop reviews.

Another positive review of Posh Pop, this one from God Is In The TV.

Toyah – Posh Pop (Demon Records)

Even in her sixties and not far off her free bus pass, Toyah is still able to turn heads, as evidenced by the striking imagery on the artwork of Posh Pop, and also by the many highly entertaining videos she and her husband, King Crimson‘s Robert Fripp, have been unleashing on us throughout the lockdown period, providing some much-needed light relief along the way.

What I hadn’t expected though, was the diverse range of reference points you can hear on this, her first long-player since 2008. For example, recent single ‘Levitate‘ seems to take its lead from Roisin Murphy‘s recent splendid resurgence, all fidgety dance beats and breathy vocals, whereas the fantastic ‘Barefoot On Mars‘ recalls Bowie in its composition and is a heartfelt paean to her late mother (“Turned my back on all you valued, I held you when you died“) – it’s deep and poignant, and stopped me in my tracks – I hadn’t anticipated that Toyah was going to release one of the strongest songs in her canon this late in her career!

Elsewhere, ‘Zoom Zoom‘ is seventies rock, pop and glam all rolled up and smoked in one pipe, while ‘Monkeys‘ is pleasingly off-kilter in its delightful chorus.

• Continue reading at God Is In The TV. See more Posh Pop reviews.

As well as the Toyah interview feature in the latest issue of Classic Pop magazine, there is also a review of the Posh Pop album. This is an amazing review of Posh Pop, with the reviewer declaring the album…

“Magnificent. The most full-on and imperious pop album of her entire career.”

Now 40 years on from her commercial breakthrough, Toyah releases her most full-on and imperious pop album of her entire career

After years of copyright wrangling, the belated reissues of her early albums has finally allowed Toyah to be reassessed. So far, Sheep Farming In Barnet and The Blue Meaning have shown just how adventurous she was among punk peers. Next up will be 1981’s Anthem, the album which sent Toyah mainstream via its hits It’s A Mystery and I Want To Be Free.

It’s Anthem which Toyah’s 13th full album most closely resembles. It appears having her early work back out has enabled Toyah to be as at peace with her music as such an untenable spirit will ever be.

She’s made excellent questing albums since Anthem, but none have so completely reconciled her fearlessness with a simultaneous love of bloody great big pop songs.

• Read the interview and full review in Issue 71 of Classic Pop. On sale now. Click on the album cover above to buy Posh Pop, on CD, CD+DVD, colour vinyl or Digital Download.

Anthems, hope and escapism – it’s all there on the first Toyah album for 13 years!

Release Date: 27th August 2021
Label: Demon Music Group
Formats: CD / CD+DVD / Vinyl / Digital

“Thank you, Toyah, for a great album. And welcome back – we’ve missed you!”

The last time Toyah graced these pages was back in May, when we reviewed the reissue of her 1980 album The Blue Meaning. In that review, we gave a brief a resumé of what Toyah has been up to in recent years, including a mention of the hilarious You Tube postings, Toyah and Robert’s Sunday Lunch (and if you haven’t seen this yet, check it out – it’s unmissable!) and releasing her (until now) most recent album, 2008’s In The Court of the Crimson Queen.

Well… She’s back, and how!! Posh Pop is Toyah’s first album of new material for 13 years, and it’s a blast. Toyah herself is very proud of Posh Pop, considering the album “A career best,” and she could very well be right. It’s a joyful album that draws copiously on Toyah’s glam and punk roots and builds upwards from there; the 80’s synth sound is still around, tempered and enhanced by lots of stunning rock guitar from Toyah’s husband, “Bobby Willcox” and the lyrics are clear and excellent, covering topics as diverse as the lockdown “Zoom Boom,” space exploration, ageing, bereavement, the devastation of war, the fate of humanity and the Beirut explosion. And it all comes enclosed in a wrapper of addictive, anthemic rock and pop.

• Continue reading at At The Barrier. The album is released on Friday. Pre-order Posh Pop here.

The Posh Pop reviews are beginning…

Toyah – Posh Pop
Released: 27 August 2021

“A body of work that stands amongst the best of her career”.

Toyah embodies the essence of pop music on her latest LP ‘Posh Pop’

The collection was recorded with husband Robert Fripp and co-writer/producer Simon Darlow during lockdown – a theme that underpins each of the 10 tracks.

Opener and lead single Levitate deals with the forced confinement and sees the star rise beyond the realms of the pandemic and reacquaint herself with a world seemingly gone by.

It encompasses the overall theme of the album, which for listeners and as a creative pursuit for Toyah, is about escapism.

While songs like Space Dance and Rhythm In My House are through and through pop numbers, the genius of ‘Posh Pop’ is in the lyrics, which simultaneously reference the world today while remaining timeless.

• Continue reading at Retro Pop. The album is released on Friday. Pre-order Posh Pop here.