Here’s a link to the CD/DVD boxset, vinyl to follow. Toyah Solo 7CD+DVD box | superdeluxeedition There’s a general Toyah thread but thought it would be good to have one dedicated to the 2020 boxsets.
I’m particularly interested in the bonus material. For a long time, Desire on CD was a rare find and in high demand. When Toyah did a reissue issues of all her material on CD it was the only album that wasn’t released, apparently to do with an issue with obtaining the rights. Finally it got a digital only release but they couldn’t find the tapes with Plenty and I believe Re-entry into Dance, so they were given away as a free download EP along with a remix of Echo Beach. Hopefully for this release they found the tape with Plenty (as opposed to a needle drop) as it’s a great track. In the 90s she re-recorded a lot of her back catalogue for albums like Take the Leap, Looking Back and Acoustic but it’s interesting to see tracks like Rebel Run & Be Proud, Be Loud, Be Heard (revisited) on this boxset as they never made any of the aforementioned albums. Definitely a comprehensive boxset for any fans. It also seems likely that a vinyl set will follow in a couple months and more boxsets later this year.
Could the revisited tracks be the rerecordings from Looking Back? They weren't terribly inspiring versions. Minx and Take The Leap look very similar to the previous releases. I think I'm most interested in finally getting a remaster of Desire and the bonus tracks. I'm also looking forward to the original Portrait release of Minx dropping in price on ebay so I can pick one up!
That’s what I’m thinking, she remade a whole bunch of tracks and cherry picked them for Looking Back. Desire now has a new unreleased track too, Mesmerise, which I’m looking forward to hearing. What happened to Dreamchild though??
All I can say is that it's a huge relief that "not buying any more box sets" wasn't my New Year's Resolution for 2020.
Desire - assuming it's a genuine mastertape transfer and nothing from vinyl - is the real draw here for me. Worth the boxset for that. As well as the DVD. EG.
Looks like a nice box. I dropped an order on Amazon UK when Scott/Rubellan posted about this (thank you Scott!) and now the signed edition appears to be sold out.
I'll go for Minx through Ophelia. I don't think Leap is entirely essential and I didn't like Shell at all.
I posted this in the appreciation thread but if anyone misses it, here’s some exciting news: “Cherry Red are gearing up plans re-release the Safari Toyah albums and are being super helpful re-addressing a draconian contract written up in 1978, which did the artists no favours.”
The first unboxing video, by Toyah herself! Toyah Willcox on Instagram: “Toyah gives a first look at the first ever box set of her music available to pre-order now from Link in Bio @demonmusicgroup”
With disc handling like that, she could get a job at amazon (Boxset looks great though, very very tempted). EG.
I took advantage of the pre-order price on Zoom.co.uk, and because I'm a new customer I got an extra 10% discount. So it's worked out at just over £32. And there was I, kicking myself last week for missing the £42.99 pre-order price on Amazon when it jumped to £55. EG.
Amazon shipped out the CD set early. They're telling me I should get mine before the weekend. Huzzah!
Thanks for the tip off, I cancelled my Amazon pre-order of £43 and bought it yesterday from Zoom for £32 and it showed up today! Only on my 3rd disc so far but it sounds fantastic! Such a great boxset too, so much to dig into and plenty of new stuff to explore. I love the newly uncovered Desire outtake but still there’s a lot missing. Where is Because the Night? She recorded it and performed it on TV, and even mentions it in the boxset booklet but why is it not here? I’ve wanted that since I saw her sing it on TV 33yrs ago! Also, We Play Machines would have been great to finally get unearthed. Also, what about Dreamchild? I have a copy of the unreleased follow-up Madhatter and I understand she doesn’t want that out there but hopefully Dreamchild will see a special release along with Sunday All Over The World’s Kneeling at the Shrine (RSD anyone?). I also really rate her Acoustic album, that would have been a great addition too. There are still 3 more planned boxsets apparently so let’s see what they comprise of but for starters, this set is excellent!
For anyone not familiar with the 2 songs I mentioned previously as missing from the rarities boxset here are TV performances. What do you think, of We Play Machines, totally 80s sounding (more so than Minx) and definitely worthy of a reissue or best forgotten about like a Betamax video cassette?
And here’s her version of Because the Night, this should have been a single and included on Desire in place of Love’s Unkind surely?
I just got my shipping notice yesterday. No early treat for me. I remastered two of the songs on the box, although uncredited. First is the Lust For Love demo, which was sent to me a few years ago to work on. I almost forgot about it. That's how long all of this has been in progress. Then they used my Angel demo from the Good Morning Universe collection years ago, although they futzed with it and added compression. Angel was interesting, I was provided a transfer in which part of the song was recorded over. It was originally a longer instrumental intro before the vocals but I had to do some clever editing back in 2008 to save the song for use. I do like the song. I'll be very curious what becomes of the Safari years now that it appears the various snags are being ironed out.
Next boxset announced!! The Noise in Your Head - The Humans. All 3 studio albums, a live album and DVD, released on CD and standalone vinyl. Released 3 July!
