Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A truely great singles collection, 6 May 2005
This album features the A sides and B sides of all of Toyah's first six singles, all of which made the independent chart top ten, including "It's A Mystery" which went to number #1 in the indie charts, and number #4 in the official charts in 1981. This album highlights the early part of Toyah's career, the late 1970s, when she was a renowned live punk act and a best selling independent-label-signed act. This album proves that Toyah's music is beyond the 80s new romantic rock/pop that she is renowned for, and much more raw and invigorated. Any fans of New Wave/punk will truely love this album and be suprised at Toyah's amazing brand of punk that's just one step away from what you might know her for. The tracks "Danced" and "Ieya" are true standouts on this CD.They really are the most amazing creations. You'll love this if you like Kate Bush/Hazel O'connor/Siouxsie Sioux/The Altered Images as it is a great example of late 70s/early 80s post punk at its best. A must for any disearning music fan, and totally worthy of your listening time. Dean
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Punky Evolution, 23 Oct 2006
This collection of tracks from the singles Toyah released on the Safari label up to her break-through with the 'Four From Toyah' EP proves just how diverse and experimental Toyah (artist and band) were at the start of their career. It's also one of the most concise and interesting collections to have been released, so congratulations to Cherry Red for putting this album together.
Here we have all A-sides and B-sides from the first half of the Safari years in order, exhibiting not only the already excessively catalogued singles, but the less well known tracks as well. Starting with the fantastic 'Victims Of The Riddle' and its weird and disturbing "vivisection", you immediately get an idea of the boundaries Toyah was trying to push. These are followed rapidly by all six tracks from the 'Sheep Farming In Barnet' AP, although here we have the full version of 'Danced' as opposed to the edited version seen on the original vinyl release. Whether this is to please fans (as 'Danced' is one of Toyah's more popular songs) or simply because the edit was unavailable is unstated, but it would have been nice to have had the original edit here as 'Danced' is already available on numerous other compilations. It's also nice to have 'Tribal Look' (the overlooked other A-side with the more popular 'Bird In Flight') here as the song usually gets ignored for its poppier twin. As with 'Danced' we also have the full version of 'Ieya' as featured on the 12", coupled with a strangely edited 'The Helium Song'. The original of this ticked itself to an abrupt stop, yet here it fades out in the final seconds for no apparent reason, a trick used on previous collections with songs like 'Brave New World' and 'The Vow'. Exactly why this tampering occurs I have no idea, and why on only certain tracks. Nevertheless, following the splendid live recordings that marked the release of 'Danced' as a proper single, the four tracks from what is probably Toyah's most commercially recognised release bring the collection to a close. Of these, obviously 'It's A Mystery' is a gem and shows how far the band had come from the slightly grungy punk sound that is prevalent for the majority of the disc. 'War Boys' is one of the best examples of Toyah in tribal mode, taking the aggression of 'Tribal Look' and adding copious layers of sound to great effect. Followed immediately by the almost 7 minute minimalistic splendour of 'Angels And Demons', this retrospective leaves you amazed by the sheer depth of styles the band incorporated in such a relatively short period.
Complete with extensive liner notes that include catalogue numbers, formats of release, images of each single cover and reproductions of merchandise such as badges, this is a pretty much flawless collection. The couple of gripes I stated earlier can be forgiven since this is one of the most faithful and carefully put together anthologies in Toyah's back catalogue.
If you want a hits collection, ignore all the other 'Best Of' albums there has been in the last 15 years. This (along with volume 2) is all you'll really need.
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