Desire is great apart from two awful songs. Take them off and the rest is excellent. I have less time for Court Of The Crimson Queen which seems to be aiming at pop/nostalgia market I don't really feel I'm part of. The Humans were great and the best thing Toyah did post Changeling (imo). What a pity they are no more.
I’m not so keen on the first Humans album, I found the sparseness made the songs a bit samey but the next two albums are really great.
I have the original iTunes download of Crimson Queen from 2008, which I liked well enough. Debating if I should pick up the new version on Qobuz since it's only $8.99. I've never heard Desire, but get the impression that it's similar to Minx.
The new version’s much better because they added real drums to replace the programmed drums of the original. Also, you get 5 or 6 new songs which are well worth it, especially the single, Danced in a Hurricane. Desire and Minx are chalk and cheese. Minx is a spikey pop album whilst Desire is a much more frantic, “alternative” album produced by Mike Hedges. Stream the tracks Moonlight Dancing and The View and see what you think.
I recommend Desire. It's actually a really good album. You've just got to sit through Dear Diary and Love's Unkind but the rest is excellent stuff. I probably should pick up the new Crimson Queen but it seemed like a bit of a rip off as there's only one song I don't have. Maybe it will be cheap somewhere by now...
I don't have the other four songs on CD but I did buy the downloads of them when they called something like 'Four More From Toyah' so it's just the one song!
I liked "Desire" far more than "Minx." The latter an 80s shoulderpad album if there ever were one [see cover!]. There are a few cuts on "Minx" that made it a keeper while "Desire" was a huge step forward, apart from the pair of covers shoehorned into the record. "Echo Beach" would have been better as a non-LP single. "Moonlight Dancing" was stunning. But my favorite Toyah album was "Prostitute." gripping stuff for my ears. I've not heard anything past "Velvet Lined Shell" apart from The Humans' "Sugar Rush." I liked both of those.
I see that Sheep Farming Deluxe is available now for pre-order on Amazon US for $37.99 and ImportCDs for $22.79.
Looks like Sheep Farming is delayed by a week to December 11th. Toyah is going to present a special show covering the album on her facebook page, from 11am on Dec 5th: Toyah commentary on "Computers" from Sheep Farming In Barnet
I've had a copy of the set for a couple of weeks now, which I got in advance because I helped with a small portion of the set. It's pretty great. Very nice packaging and loads of bonus content. I'm sure fans will be pleased. There's a point where Toyah mentions they were originally into prog rock when they started, and you can definitely hear it in some of those early tracks.
Toyah was very much the chimera between Prog and Punk. An acquired taste for some; indigestible to others. I found her interesting since I came to New Wave following a brief dalliance with Prog.
I first heard Toyah with "It's A Mystery" and was mainly a singles buyer. I got the links to Punk but did not recognise the Prog aspects at the time at all. Toyah's music just seemed right for the time in '81 or so, she fit in well with other bands I liked, was a very visual performer and more interesting than a lot of the mainstream in her lyrics. Fair to say I liked some other artists more but I appreciate her talent and wider work more now in 2020. I can't underestimate how popular she was with school kids like I was in the early 80s. She wasn't having No1 records but was hugely influential to others that came a bit later on.
I think she damaged her standing and perception as a recording artist by doing so much random TV work in the 90s and constantly re-recording her hits (across 3 consecutive albums!), however, it’s great that she returned to original material with Velvet Lined Shell and then toured annually since the mid 2000s celebrating different albums on each tour. She dropped the 80s covers from her set and realised she has more than enough top 40 hits of her own to fill a show. I think the reissue series of her solo work on Demon and now the band discography on Cherry Red have done a lot of positive things to reposition her as a recording artist as opposed to a tv “talking heads” personality. Add to that the 3 Humans albums and the 2 new solo albums she’s working on it’s great to see her getting reappraised and taken more seriously.
Has anyone who ordered from Cherry Red received their Sheep Farmings yet? I ordered as soon as I saw it was available, but it's still showing as "processing" on their website.
Postage to here has been hit and miss recently probably volume of post coupled with Covid. I have always had my stuff from Cherry red arrive eventually usually when I am not expecting it.
This was my first time ordering from Cherry Red and it said something in the confirmation about them sending shipping notifications but I never got one, it just arrived yesterday.
No reply yet, maybe they don't work at the weekend. I'll be patient. Finally got the Toyah Solo box in the meantime - first time hearing "Prostitute" - amazing!
I realised on Thursday that I hadn’t had a dispatch notice so emailed them and on Friday they replied it had been dispatched Wednesday and shortly after it showed up. I expect you’ll get it on Monday or at least early week.
How is the dynamic range on the new Remastered Sheep CD set? Sadly no #’s posted as of yet at DrLoudness.
Both discs are DR 9, so not too bad at all. They sound good to me but I've never heard any of the original pressings to make a comparison.
The Blue Meaning reissue was announced this week for 28 May • Cherry Red Records is delighted to announce the newly remastered and expanded release of Toyah’s 1980 album “The Blue Meaning”, the second in a reissue programme of Toyah’s entire Safari Records catalogue. • Produced by Steve James with arrangements by Steve James and ‘Toyah’ the band (Joel Bogen, Pete Bush, Toyah Willcox, Steve Bray and Charlie Francis), the album reached number 1 on the UK Independent Album Chart and charted in the main UK Top 40 album chart in June 1980. • Includes the early original version of ‘It’s A Mystery’ by Blood Donor feat Toyah Willcox that a ‘new’ line-up of Toyah ‘the band’ went on to record and enjoy their first hit single with in 1981. • The album features the ultimate fan favourite ‘Ieya’ considered a signature song by the band, which was also released as a single. • This album also includes ‘Blue Meanings’, ‘Mummies’ and the psychedelic ‘Spaced Walking’ for which Toyah’s vocals were recorded after inhaling helium. THIS PUNK/NEW WAVE CLASSIC ALBUM IS BEING RE-ISSUED IN TWO FORMATS AND THIS EXPANDED DELUXE SET FEATURES: • 2CD+1DVD digipak with a fully illustrated 24-page booklet containing a brand new introductory note from Toyah, plus rare and unseen imagery including album cover outtakes taken at Wykehurst Place, a gothic revival mansion in Bolney, Sussex. • This expanded edition features 27 remastered bonus tracks including single mixes, live tracks, rarities and unheard demos. Amongst the 20 previously unreleased tracks are the final recordings made by this band line-up including ‘Silence Won’t Do’ and ‘Jack & Jill’, as seen being recorded on the 1980 ITV documentary “Toyah” and have been long awaited by fans for forty years. The very first demo of ‘Angels & Demons’ recorded at Eel Pie Studios, an Alternate Vocal take of ‘Blue Meanings’ with the previously unheard original longer song outro and three tracks recorded live at the ICA London all make their release debuts. • A sleevenote by Toyah’s archivist Craig Astley with input from Toyah Willcox and Joel Bogen which for the first time chronicles the creation of the album and reveals the recording origins of the bonus material. • Includes a DVD (NTSC/Region Free) containing three brand new features with Toyah Willcox; an interview about the album/period, a track-by-track album commentary plus an exclusive acoustic three-song session of songs from the era – all filmed October 2020. • The DVD also includes rare archive BBC TV performances of ‘Mummies’ and ‘Danced’ from Friday Night, Saturday Morning (November 1980) available on DVD for the first time ever. • First 300 copies include an exclusive postcard SIGNED BY TOYAH featuring a previously unseen image from the album cover shoot (photo exclusive to the 2CD+1DVD package) Track Listing: DISC ONE: 1. IEYA 2. SPACED WALKING 3. GHOSTS 4. MUMMIES 5. BLUE MEANINGS 6. TIGER! TIGER! 7. VISION 8. INSECTS 9. LOVE ME 10. SHE BONUS TRACKS 11. SILENCE WON’T DO* 12. JACK & JILL* 13. COTTON VEST 14. THE MERCHANT & THE NUBILE 15. DANCED (SESSION VERSION) 16. LAST GOODBYE (SESSION VERSION)* 17. LOVE ME (SESSION VERSION)* 18. IEYA (SINGLE VERSION) 19. HELIUM SONG (SPACED WALKING)^ * Previously unreleased ^ Previously unreleased digitally DISC TWO: 1. LOVE ME (LIVE AT ICA LONDON)* 2. WAITING (LIVE AT ICA LONDON)* 3. IEYA (LIVE AT ICA LONDON)* 4. BLUE MEANINGS (ALTERNATE VOCAL)* 5. SHE (ALTERNATE VOCAL)* 6. SPACED WALKING (HELIUM ACAPELLA)* 7. GHOSTS (INSTRUMENTAL)* 8. MUMMIES (INSTRUMENTAL)* 9. VISION (INSTRUMENTAL)* 10. SILENCE WON’T DO (ALTERNATE VOCAL)* 11. JACK & JILL (ALTERNATE VOCAL)* 12. THE MERCHANT & THE NUBILE (ALTERNATE VOCAL)* 13. IT’S A MYSTERY (ORIGINAL VERSION) by BLOOD DONOR FEAT. TOYAH WILLCOX 14. ANGELS & DEMONS (DEMO)* 15. YOU’RE MY HERO (DEMO) 16. SPHINX (INSTRUMENTAL DEMO)* 17. WALKIE TALKIE (INSTRUMENTAL DEMO)* 18. ANTHEM (INSTRUMENTAL DEMO)* * Previously unreleased DISC THREE: 1. THE STORY BEHIND THE ALBUM: TOYAH INTERVIEW 2020 2. TRACK BY TRACK ALBUM COMMENTARY: TOYAH INTERVIEW 2020 3. GHOSTS: ACOUSTIC SESSION 2020 4. BLUE MEANINGS: ACOUSTIC SESSION 2020 5. IEYA: ACOUSTIC SESSION 2020 6. DANCED: FRIDAY NIGHT, SATURDAY MORNING 28/11/1980 7. MUMMIES: FRIDAY NIGHT, SATURDAY MORNING 28/11/1980 NTSC – REGION FREE
