Toyah - The Changeling (Lp) (1982) - €7,99

The Changeling is a studio album by the English new wave band Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox, released in 1982 by Safari Records. 

The album peaked at number 6 in the UK and it included the Top 40 single "Brave New World". 

The album continued the new wave sound of the band's previous release, Anthem, taking it into a darker, almost gothic direction. 

Willcox wrote the song lyrics in isolation and the material was recorded at the Roundhouse Recording Studios in the Chalk Farm area of north London in early 1982. The album was produced by Steve Lillywhite using early digital studio recording equipment. 

Some overseas editions, such as the Dutch release, featured an additional 'Digital Recording' logo on the cover sleeve. Original vinyl issues of the album came complete with a lyric insert, the background of which featured drawings of circuit boards. Around the lyrics of each song were sections of poetry written by Toyah Willcox, which were not included on the album. The front cover features a photo by Bob Carlos Clarke.

Toyah Willcox reflected that The Changeling "wasn't easy to make, in fact it was the unhappiest of all the album experiences, but that doesn't mean it isn't a good album. Not everything has to come effortlessly for it to be right". "I was quite depressed at the time. (...) I was so angry and so anxious to get away from everything that The Changeling came out as quite a dark piece. (...) I was coming into the studio in very dark moods and incredibly emotional and I cried my way through that album, but in retrospect I think that it's quite a remarkable record". Similarly, Phil Spalding described it as "an album recorded with great challenges, difficulties and tensions, but a great album nonetheless and overall, my favourite Toyah band album".

"Street Creature" was written during Toyah's journey from London to Birmingham. The singer explained that it is "a song about being on a street and being real. (...) I'm going back to my roots and nothing is gonna stop me from achieving my goals, doing what I believe in". "The Druids" tells about the ancient druids. "What they used to do was strip off naked, they would paint themselves completely blue, (...) and they would have belts around their waists with the severed heads of their enemies on. And they would charge the Romans. (...) They were known as the shock troops. They deliberately shocked their enemy and terrified their enemy," Toyah explained.

"Angel & Me" was influenced by seeing Jacob Epstein's sculpture The Archangel Lucifer in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Referring to the line "Why do you always cry when you come to see me? I always die to see you smile", Toyah revealed that the person she is talking to is her mother: "I was in hospital and my mum visited me, she'd always start crying. I am now [close to my mother], I didn't use to be. I always loved her very much, but she had a weird way of loving me back. I can never remember kissing and cuddling mummy and daddy when I was small. But I love them both, my father is one of my heroes".

Toyah has described "The Packt" as "a very dark song and it came from a very dark place. (...) It's often said within the deep, old, medieval scriptures of Wicca and witchcraft that when the end of the world comes you will see twin suns. So, I wanted to write something about this woman meeting the Devil and I wanted her to be a match for the Devil, (...) about using man's most sinister creation to fight the Devil back and that is kind of using the atom bomb to destroy the Devil. (...) It's about the power of femininity, it's about the Devil destroying femininity, but also I think it's quite a winning song, even though in the middle eight the nuclear bomb goes off and skin melts from our bones. (...) We are not skin and bones, we are much more. And we go beyond the physical, we go beyond the body, and I believe we are eternal. And I think the Devil is fixated with the flesh. So, we can conquer the Devil eventually".

Discussing "Life in the Trees", Toyah said that she "wanted to write a song about the fact that nature is the all-seeing, all-controlling organism, (...) has the power to completely control and reinvent new species. (...) The pecking order within nature is exactly what we mirror within our interactive lives. (...) We had TV and we had huge corporates, such as EMI and Decca, and they were all running our lives. It's just as dog eat dog as our normal lives are".

"Run Wild, Run Free" is about "that 'break loose' moment when you realize if you don't cut ties you are never ever going to cope emotionally. (...) To survive and be the person you are you have to cut yourself free". The singer explained that the closing track "Brave New World" "is a sad love song, because I wrote most of it (...) after a tremendous row with my boyfriend. (...) I think everyone goes through the phase when they think no one in the world knows how hurt they are – experiencing a loneliness that no one knows, but everyone knows it".

Side A

A1.  Creepy Room - 3:16

A2.  Street Creature - 3:58

A3.  Castaways - 3:55

A4.  The Druids - 3:29

A5.  Angel & Me - 4:44

Side B

B1.  The Packt - 4:52

B2.  Life In The Trees - 3:16

B3.  Dawn Chorus - 3:53

B4.  Run Wild, Run Free - 4:01

B5.  Brave New World - 5:20

Band members

• Toyah Willcox – vocals and noises
• Joel Bogen – guitar, additional keyboards, vocals
• Andy Clark – keyboards
• Phil Spalding – bass, vocals
• Simon Phillips – drums and percussion

Additional musicians

• Simon Darlow – additional keyboards
• Nigel Bennett – backing vocals
• Phil Smith, Vince Sullavan, Dave Lord – brass

Production

• Steve Lillywhite – producer
• Mark Dearnley – engineer
• Ashley Howe – additional engineering
• Neil Hutchinson – assistant engineer, tape operator

Notes

Release:  1982

Format:  LP

Genre:  New Wave

Label:  Safari Records

Catalog#  VOOR 3623

Vinyl:  Goed

Cover:  Goed

Prijs: €7,99