Cherry Red Records is pleased to announce the release of Revelations, an expansive anthology of B-Sides, rarities and archive material from Toyah’s recording history for the Safari label. The 5CD box set includes 102 tracks in total, of which 50 are previously unreleased. Revelations is housed in a clamshell box with spot gloss detailing and features classic, rare and unseen images. Full colour CD wallets and a 40-page booklet make it an essential release for Toyah fans.
Comprising five themed discs, the collection brings together rarities, alternate versions, outtakes, new mixes and revelatory gems from the tape vaults and personal archives. Revelations has been curated by Toyah archivist Craig Astley in collaboration with Joel Bogen, co-founder, composer and guitarist with the band. Bogen has also mixed twelve tracks using the original multi-track tapes specifically for this release.
Limited quantities purchased from Cherry Red Records website come with a limited art postcard whilst stocks last. Buyers must add the postcard to their basket alongside the 5CD box set before they checkout
CD1 B-Sides, contains, for the first time ever, the band’s complete run of B-Sides and flexi-disc tracks plus three completed/mixed outtakes not included on LPs, EPs or singles. This marks the first time these 22 B-Sides & non-album tracks have appeared together on one single disc or release.
CD2 Instrumentals, offers an atmospheric and evocative journey through 20 Instrumental versions of the band’s music, featuring six tracks newly mixed from the multi-track mastertapes. The disc’s final track is a newly crafted alternate instrumental of Dreamscape by Joel Bogen from tapes of the song’s original purely synth-led production.
CD3 Alternate, brings together 20 alternate versions of hit singles, beloved B-Sides and album cuts including It’s A Mystery, Thunder In The Mountains, I Want To Be Free, War Boys, Angel & Me, Brave New World and Voodoo Doll. Notable inclusions are four new mixes by Joel Bogen utilising unearthed 1979 multi-track tapes from the Sheep Farming In Barnet sessions at Chappell Studios. This offers a rare chance to hear the band’s early arrangements of Waiting (entitled Watch Me Sane) and Computers, the outtake Problem Child plus an alternate unabridged version of Last Goodbye featuring an alternate vocal take.
CD3 closes with a fifth Bogen mix, a vocal version of Dreamscape, a song originally intended for single release in early 1984. Bogen’s new mix utilises the song’s original synth-led production and leans into its cinematic, sci-fi soundscape. 13 of the 20 tracks on CD3 are previously unreleased, with a further two tracks only previously available on vinyl.
CD4 Rare, compiles rarities and works in progress from early sessions for Sheep Farming In Barnet to studio outtakes and home demos. Backing tracks recorded in sessions for Anthem and Thunder In The Mountains appear in addition to preparatory home demos for The Changeling and Love Is The Law albums. The disc closes with the last two recordings Toyah Willcox and Joel Bogen made together; home demo covers of Alice Cooper’s School’s Out and Lou Reed’s Perfect Day. 13 of the disc’s tracks are previously unreleased.
CD5 Live, presents the band captured in concert with 18 previously unheard recordings. The disc leads with a newly discovered recording of the band’s sold out 20 May 1981 date of the Anthem Tour, performed in Willcox’s hometown of Birmingham. Recorded just five days after the Anthem album’s release, the set list includes rare performances of Marionette, Obsolete, Jungles Of Jupiter and We Are.
Four more concert rarities complete the CD, including Voodoo Doll, In The Fairground and the only performance of Life In The Trees in front of a public audience, recorded at a special pre-tour gig at Brixton Fairdeal. Revelations closes with an unheard live version of Be Proud Be Loud (Be Heard) recorded on the Christmas 1982 Warrior Rock Tour, featuring performances by the late Keith Hale and the late Phil Spalding.
The album has been mastered by Nick Watson at Fluid Mastering. New mixes by Joel Bogen from the original multi-tracks are CD2 track 20, CD3 tracks 1-4 and 20, CD4 tracks 1-6.
