A (slightly early) happy birthday to Toyah Willcox, born 18th May 1958.
Prompted by listening to and watching Urgh! A Music War in the past week or so, and particularly enjoying Toyah's live version of Danced, I'd already started on today's selection when I realised the upcoming birthday.
I should have held it over until Monday, but I don't have any 'spare' posts good to go, so here it is, three days early!
When I was ten years old, I wanted to marry Toyah. I wasn't bothered by the 12 year age gap, or the fact that she was extremely busy with her recording, touring and TV commitments. I overlooked the fact that my only set of wheels was of the bicycle variety and that my only income was pocket money.
As i gazed at the poster-cum-fact-file of Toyah, ripped from the pages of Look-In, the clear and uncontested fact of our connection was right there. We were both 5' 1".
It maybe should have occurred to me that even that tenuous connection would be fleeting, as Toyah's height had presumably stabilised whilst my growth was still (literally) on an upward trajectory. It stalled at 5' 11", if you're wondering.
Next to Toyah was a poster of Adam Ant and they are forever linked in my formative music years. Perversely, whilst I actually shelled out my pocket money for Adam's albums, I didn't own any Toyah records until I found Ieya on 12", plus the Four From Toyah and Four More From Toyah 7" EPs in Plastic Wax Records later in the 1980s.
Instead, back in the day, my Uncle Mike, who lived in London at the time, borrowed Toyah's albums The Blue Meaning from his local library (along with Dirk Wears White Sox) and ripped them onto a C90 cassette. He didn't think much of either, but it opened up a whole world for me.
I saw a link to a reprint of a 1980 interview with Toyah in The Guardian that labelled her "The thinking man's punkette", a riff on an equally risible phrase. I was a bit late for punk, but I never made that connection. Mainly due to the visuals more than the music, I didn't see much difference between Toyah, Adam, Steve Strange, Kate Bush and the flamboyance of the New Romantic movement.
When I bought the secondhand vinyl years later, I was struck by the prog elements of Toyah's music. There were some early parallels with Kate Bush in that respect, though whilst Kate's music evolved, progressed and transcended any further categorisation, Toyah's pop music became, well, less popular with the music buying hordes.
I'd lost interest by 1982, drawn more to Annie Lennox/Eurythmics and Alison Moyet/Yazoo... ah, fickle childhood!
It's been a joy to see Toyah and hubby Robert Fripp find a whole new fanbase via their Sunday Lunch series on YouTube, and I still have a soft spot for her music rooted in my childhood.
So, it'll be no surprise that today's selection focuses squarely on recordings by Toyah the band, circa 1979 to 1983, rather than her considerable more expansive career as a recording artist.
Split into two sides, which should fit onto one side of a C90 (in tribute to Uncle Mike RIP), my picks lightly touch on the first two albums, one-off singles, B-sides and EP tracks. I will admit that the studio version of Danced isn't a patch on the live version that I featured last weekend, and Ieya remains my favourite Toyah song of all time, but I love 'em all.
Happy birthday, Toyah, have a good one!
Side One
1) Thunder In The Mountains (1981)
2) I Explode (Album Version) (1983)
3) Neon Womb (Album Version) (1979)
4) Angels And Demons (1981)
5) Be Proud Be Loud (Be Heard) (1982)
Side Two
1) Danced (Album Version) (1979)
2) Laughing With The Fools (1982)
3) Tribal Look (1980)
4) Baptised In Fire (1983)
5) Ieya (Album Version) (1980)
1979: Sheep Farming In Barnet: A3, B1
1980: Bird In Flight / Tribal Look EP: B3
1980: Ieya EP / The Blue Meaning: B5
1981: Four From Toyah EP: A4
1981: Thunder In The Mountains EP: A1
1982: Be Proud Be Loud (Be Heard) EP: A5, B2
1983: Rebel Run EP: B4
1983: The Vow EP / Love Is The Law: A2
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