Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

Toyah Willcox first made the cover of Smash Hits on 27 November 1980, the day before her band Toyah released a ‘live’ album. It had been recorded at Wolverhampton’s Lafayette Club on 17 June 1980; the gig was also filmed for inclusion in a television documentary about Willcox and her band. Of the documentary (a ‘fly-on-the-wall’ in which she was followed around over a period of months), she spoke about her unhappiness at being under the control of ATV, the station producing it: “The director wouldn’t give me all the shots I suggested. For example, when we were playing Blue Meaning on top of Battersea Power Station he wouldn’t take a camera up in a helicopter. A lot of it is quite personal though, down to fights with the band in the dressing room.”

One of the tracks performed at the Wolverhampton show, Danced, was issued as Toyah’s fourth single: “A live album – Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! – contains further tracks recorded at this concert but Ghosts and Neon Womb [the B-side songs] are available only on this single,” the sleeve notes ran.

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Released today (2nd July) in 1982: Nine To Five

Shameless cash-in of the month for July comes courtesy of this 1982 single from EG records. Nine To Five was recorded in 1977 for the soundtrack album of the following year’s Derek Jarman movie ‘Jubilee’, which featured among its cast members a number of British punk rock artists. The track itself was credited to Maneaters, but was performed by Adam Ant and Toyah Willcox, both of whom had yet to have a hit at the time. Then, after years of trying, they both had their breakthrough hits within months of each other: Adam & The Ants had their first Top 10 hit at the end of 1980 and Toyah had theirs in March 1981, and both acts had several more in the twelve months that followed. Two of Adam’s former labels had already plundered his catalogue recordings for reissues, and now it was EG’s turn.

For the single, EG billed the song as being by ‘Adam and Toyah’ and advertised it as being available in a “special picture bag”. Both artists objected to the release and the way in which it was marketed.

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