This 7 CD + DVD box set (the first Toyah box set ever) features six albums (Minx, Desire, Prostitute, Ophelia’s Shadow, Take The Leap, Velvet Lined Shell) and 44 bonus tracks, including rarities, B-sides, collaborations, and several unreleased tracks, plus a DVD of promo videos and a brand new exclusive interview filmed in December 2019. In 1985, after five studio albums and two live albums with her band, Toyah decided to go solo, and signed to Sony’s Portrait label. The album “Minx” contained two hit singles in “Don’t Fall In Love (I Said)” and “Soul Passing Through Soul”, as well as covers of Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out” and Rare Bird’s “Sympathy”. 1987’s “Desire”, on EG Records, featured appearances from Robert Fripp and Ron Wood and Toyah’s cover of “Echo Beach”, and now contains the previously unreleased outtake “Mesmerised”. “Prostitute” (1988) was an arresting and fascinating departure from the pop formula, a trend continued by 1991’s “Ophelia’s Shadow”. In 1994, “Take The Leap” featured new songs and intriguing revisits of several of her earlier pop hits. 2003’s “Velvet Lined Shell” took Toyah back along a more commercial path. Amongst the bonus tracks are Toyah’s collaborations with Tony Banks, Trey Gunn, German band Kiss Of Reality, Family Of Noise and This Fragile Moment. The lavishly-illustrated 48 page booklet features annotation about each album written by Toyah herself. Also featured is an essay on the period covered by the box by Toyah’s official archivist and compiler of this box set, Craig Astley. As Craig says: “Eclectic is an often-overused word but is an accurate description of this intriguing and revelatory body of work. From unashamed pop and avant-garde to progressive rock and back to punk, the common factors throughout are Toyah’s voice and lyrics but moreover, a sense of forging and following her own creative solo path”. Toyah (together with fellow 80s star Hazel O’Connor) will be touring the UK throughout April 2020 under the banner “Electric Ladies of The 80s”.
