TOYAH
IN THE COURT OF
THE CRIMSON QUEEN
EDSEL
★★
BONNIE TYLER
BETWEEN THE EARTH
AND THE STARS
EARMUSIC
★★
ANDY BELL
TORSTEN IN QUEERETERIA
CHERRY REDIOANNA GIKA
THALASSA
SARGEANT HOUSE★★★
It’s unclear what Toyah
Willcox’s achieved by
re-recording this 2008 album
beyond the addition of fi ve new
songs, one already part of a
2013 reissue after its inclusion
in The Power Of Three, a fi lm
so obscure it’s still unrated
on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s also
unclear why it’s a double
CD when, even with such
expansion, it’s only an hour
long. Still, re-record it she has
- in conjunction with original
co-writer, producer and multi-
instrumentalist Simon Barlow,
who’s also worked with
Dollar, Grace Jones and The
Buggles – and one can only
hope her fans are completists,
because much of this sounds
much the same.
Whatever its incarnation,
...Crimson Queen is an
exercise in rock fantasy, from
its spoken word introduction- a possibly Devonian accent
announcing that “Every girl
born is a queen of her domain” - to the guitar heroics of the
camply titled Latex Messiah
(Viva La Rebel In You) and Who
Let The Beast Out. Willcox’s
voice lacks the quirks of her
youth, arguably benefi tting
quieter tracks like Heal
Ourselves, but even Transvision
Vamp had their tongues in
their cheeks when they made
cartoon trash-pop like this. As
the New Wave-y Love Crazy
has it: “same plot, same cast”.
It’s a mystery indeed... WW
As opening lines go, especially
when ushered in by a tired,
pub band riff, “There’s a
storm coming/ I can see it in
your eyes” aren’t promising.
Of course, they provide fair
indication of what lies in wait
on Bonnie Tyler’s 17th album
(her fi rst since 2013’s Rocks
And Honey), but you don’t
need a blustery wind of clichés
blowing your way to fi gure
that out. You just need to clock
Cliff Richard and Rod Stewart
among her guests, as though
she decided, following her
ignominious crack at Eurovision
in 2013, that there has to be
another way to earn an MBE.
If this seems snide, it’s
because she makes it easy.
When, on Battle Of The Sexes,
a befuddled Rod Stewart
declares “Man versus woman/
It’s always been around,” Tyler’s
typically guttural response
appears to be to gurgle “Baaa”
like a sheep, and that the song
sounds like Status Quo playing
Robert Palmer’s Addicted
To Love merely foreshadows
Francis Rossi’s phoned-in
appearance on the predictable
Someone’s Rockin’ Your Heart.
Cliff Richard, meanwhile,
sounds oddly debilitated amidst
Taking Control’s polite AOR,
but at least Bee Gee Barry
Gibb’s Seven Waves Away
exploits the poignancy of Tyler’s
cracked voice well. Older just
wishes that Tom Waits was
singing it. WWWere he not the singing half of
one of Classic Pop’s favourite
synth-pop bands, would Andy
Bell really have been able
to release three conceptual
albums about “a semi-immortal
polysexual sensualist” – not
to mention two collections of
remixes – on one of Britain’s
most enduring indie labels? It’s
hard to say, but all power to
the man for his bravado and
commitment when he could
instead be lounging around a
pool somewhere exotic in a
pair of skin-coloured Speedos,and even more so for putting his
day job’s arena venues to one
side in favour of performing
these albums in an 80-capacity
London theatre for a month at
a time.
Of course, he does it all with
fl air, embracing Christopher
Frost’s cabaret musical
arrangements and Barney
Ashton’s candid lyrics, whether
on the shanty waltz of I Am
The Sea, or the lo-fi synth-pop
of Thou Shalt Be My Vibe.
The shortcomings of his voice
may occasionally grate, but
this adds a certain appealing
vulnerability, especially on
If We Want To Drink A
Little, where he’s joined by
Hazel O’Connor.
There’s also countless
distractions to be found on
the pretty Cabaret Awayday,
in which, without missing a
beat, he sings of “Your pubic
stubble all mascaraed up/
In your diamanté crotchless
panties”. WWGiven Thalassa’s sometimes
glacial electronics, frosty
production and icy vocals, you
might identify Ioanna Gika as
another Nordic pop goddess.
Wrong: she lives in America –
she was formerly frontwoman
for LA darkwave band IO
Echo – and spends much of her
debut solo album exploring her
Greek roots, if ostensibly only
lyrically. Thus something else
must have chilled her soul: most
likely the simultaneous loss of
her romantic relationship, and
the death of family members,events which provoked the trip
to her homeland which, in turn,
inspired Thalassa. Such trials
leave most people numb.
This frigid nature, however,
is fortunately somewhat
superfi cial. Roseate’s mood
becomes increasingly urgent,
but begins sweet and airy,
her vocal almost folky, and
Out Of Focus offers glitchy
Radiohead electronica at its
start – In Rainbows’ engineer
Hugo Nicholson in fact
contributes – before Gika’s
Beth Gibbons-like delivery
thaws surroundings. Swan,
too, delivers a touch of
Soap&Skin’s Gothic tendencies,
yet still fl ies, while No Matter
What allows her to rise above
a scant backing of drums
and minimal guitar lines, and
Weathervane is even more
muted, Gika’s voice ascending
quietly out of the dark. There’s
still plenty of warmth here
to encourage dives beneath
Thalassa’s frozen surfaces. WWNEW RELEASES