''Take the Leap!'' is a studio album by the British singer

Toyah Willcox Toyah Ann Willcox (born 18 May 1958) is an English musician, actress, and TV presenter. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Willcox has had eight top 40 singles, released over 20 albums, written two books, appeared in over 40 stage plays an ...

, first released as ''Leap!'' in 1993 by

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affiliate ...

. It consists of new tracks as well as re-recordings of older songs from Toyah the band's repertoire.

Background

The album was recorded in 1993 in a deserted farmhouse in the outskirts of

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

, in collaboration with the British band Friday Forever whom Toyah had met earlier that year. It showed a change in style from Toyah's previous recordings, and has a much more "raw" feel than the polished albums which preceded it. Many of the six new compositions had been written and demoed much earlier, including "Invisible Love" in 1989 with Simon Darlow. A glutch of demos recorded with Phil Nicholas in 1992 were also re-worked from their ambient style into album tracks with a rockier feel, namely "God Ceases to Dream" and "Now I'm Running". Another demo from these sessions, "Tears for Elie" was included as a bonus track on the 2006 reissue CD, along with "Requite Me", a stray 1992 demo produced by Willcox and Darlow. "God Ceases to Dream" was written and recorded as an ambient electronic demo. It contains lyrics and melodies Willcox had originally written and performed with collaborative band side-projects, as the songs "Born Again" with Sunday All Over the World, and "Broken Special (The Island)" with Kiss of Reality. The latter was recorded and appeared on the Kiss of Reality's sophomore studio album, whilst "Born Again" was never recorded in studio. The chanting at the beginning of this album's version of " Ieya" are lyrics (which crib the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

) which also appeared on the Kiss of Reality album opening track "Harlequin (Holy Day)". "Lust for Love" had previously been written and performed live as a Strange Girls song, and later recorded as a demo by

Cris Bonacci Cristina "Cris" Bonacci (born 15 October 1964) is an Australian-born producer, songwriter, and musician. She was the lead guitarist in the British heavy metal band Girlschool (1984 to 1992, 2004) and has also provided session guitar work for ot ...

and Willcox. The version found on this album is subtly altered. "It's a Mystery" was due to appear on the album in a version recorded with Phil Nicholas and Friday Forever which was an African dance, tribal metal rock version. Complications at the time of original release meant this could not occur and a straightforward rock version was featured instead. The 2006 reissue of ''Take the Leap!'' includes this previously unreleased version. Tracks from 7 to 14 are completely re-recorded versions of songs taken mostly from Toyah's first three studio albums.

Release and promotion

The album was originally released in Japan as ''Leap!'' only on cassette, and was sold at concerts during Toyah's 1993 tour, while a CD version called ''Take the Leap!'' was released the following year. Toyah went on to tour the album extensively throughout 1994. In 2006, the album was finally released by Edsel Records in the UK with bonus tracks, and consequently original copies of the album have become much sought after. The album's first ever digital release came in December 2014 when it was made available to download at

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

and

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and to stream via

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. To mark the album's twentieth anniversary, and first ever digital release, two EPs of ''Take the Leap!''-era material, entitled ''

Winter in Wonderland ''Winter in Wonderland'' is an Extended play, EP by the British singer Toyah Willcox, released in 2013. Apart from the title track, which had originally appeared on her 1993 album ''Take the Leap!'', it included three demo tracks relevant to the p ...

'' and ''

Has God Ceased to Dream You ''Has God Ceased to Dream You'' is an EP by the British singer Toyah Willcox, released in 2014. It is a collection of alternative versions of tracks that appeared on her 1993 album ''Take the Leap!'' or were recorded during the album's recording ...

'', were released in December 2013 and December 2014, respectively. In addition, a free digital EP of bonus material, also pertaining to the ''Take the Leap!'' album period, entitled ''Whisper the Elixir'', was issued by Willcox's official website shortly after the release of ''Has God Ceased to Dream You''. Its tracks were "It's a Mystery" (Whispered Elixir Mix), "It's a Mystery" (Distant Sirens Mix), "It's a Mystery" (Acoustic Poolside) and "Waiting" (Alternate Mix). In early 2020, the album was included in the '' Toyah Solo'' box set and reissued on double transparent vinyl. The LP edition omits bonus tracks from the 2006 CD re-release, and instead adds a selection of re-recordings from '' Looking Back''.

Track listing

Original release

# "Now I'm Running" ''(Phil Nicholas,

)'' – 5:21 # "Lust for Love" ''(

, Willcox)'' – 3:59 # "Invisible Love" ''(Simon Darlow, Willcox)'' – 5:06 # "Name of Love" ''(

Nick Beggs Nicholas Beggs (born 15 December 1961Larkin, Colin (1997) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music'', Virgin Books, , p. 270-271) is an English musician, noted for playing the bass guitar and the Chapman Stick; he is a member of the Mute Go ...

, Willcox, Steven Askew)'' – 3:38 # "Winter in Wonderland" ''(Beggs, Willcox, Askew)'' – 5:03 # "God Ceases to Dream" ''(Nicholas, Willcox)'' – 5:23 # " Ieya" ''(Willcox,

Joel Bogen Joel Bogen (born 3 September 1958) is an English rock and punk guitarist. He worked with Toyah Willcox from the late 1970s to 1983 as the guitar player in her eponymous band and was the co-writer on nearly all of the material they recorded. B ...

, Pete Bush)'' – 4:48 # "Waiting" ''(Willcox, Steve Bray)'' – 2:56 # "Neon Womb" ''(Willcox, Bush, Bogen)'' – 3:37 # "Elusive Stranger" ''(Willcox, Bogen, Bush)'' – 4:02 # "Our Movie" ''(Willcox, Bogen, Bush)'' – 3:00 # "

Thunder in the Mountains "Thunder in the Mountains" is a song by the English new wave band Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox, released as a single in 1981 by Safari Records. It was one of Toyah's biggest hits, reaching number 4 in the UK chart. Background The song was wr ...

" ''(Willcox,

Adrian Lee Adrian Lee (born 9 September 1957, London, England) is an English musician, known especially for his brass instrumentation work with several well-known acts of the 1980s. Career Lee was first signed to Phonogram Records in the late 1970s as g ...

Nigel Glockler Nigel Glockler (born 24 January 1953) is an English musician, best known as the longtime drummer for the heavy metal band Saxon, which he first joined in 1981. Career Glockler began his musical career in 1980 as the drummer for the British band ...

)'' – 4:32 # " I Wanna Be Free" ''(Willcox, Bogen)'' – 3:26 # "

It's a Mystery ''It's a Mystery'' is the fifteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Seger, released in 1995 (see 1995 in music). As with his prior album, it is credited to the Silver Bullet Band, though many of the tracks feature a wide arra ...

" ''( Keith Hale; additional lyrics: Willcox)'' – 4:39 ;2006 CD bonus tracks #

"Requite Me" (Demo) ''(Willcox, Darlow)'' – 4:28 # "Tears for Elie" (Demo) ''(Willcox, Nicholas)'' – 6:34 # "Waiting" (Alternate Mix) ''(Willcox, Bray)'' – 3:00 # "It's a Mystery" (Weybridge Mix) ''(Hale)'' – 6:15

2020 LP edition

;Side A # "Now I'm Running" ''(Phil Nicholas,

)'' # "Lust for Love" ''(

, Willcox)'' # "Invisible Love" ''(Simon Darlow, Willcox)'' # "Name of Love" ''(

, Willcox, Steven Askew)'' ;Side B # "Winter in Wonderland" ''(Beggs, Willcox, Askew)'' # "God Ceases to Dream" ''(Nicholas, Willcox)'' # " Ieya" ''(Willcox,

, Pete Bush)'' # "Waiting" ''(Willcox, Steve Bray)'' # "Neon Womb" ''(Willcox, Bush, Bogen)'' ;Side C # "Elusive Stranger" ''(Willcox, Bogen, Bush)'' # "Our Movie" ''(Willcox, Bogen, Bush)'' # "

" ''(Willcox,

)'' # " I Wanna Be Free" ''(Willcox, Bogen)'' # "

" ''( Keith Hale; additional lyrics: Willcox)'' ;Side D # " Be Proud, Be Loud (Be Heard)" ''(Willcox, Bogen)'' # "Desire" ''(Willcox,

Robert Fripp Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session ...

)'' # "Obsolete" ''(Willcox, Bogen, Glockler)'' # "Angel and Me" ''(Willcox, Bogen)'' # "

Danced "Danced" is a song by the English new wave band Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox. It first appeared on the band's 1979 LP ''Sheep Farming in Barnet'', and a live version of the song was subsequently released as a single in 1980 by Safari Records ...

" ''(Willcox, Bogen, Bush)''

Personnel

– vocals * Paul Beavis – drums, percussion ;Friday Forever * Jolyon Dixon – rhythm and lead guitars, acoustic guitars * Paul Luther – rhythm and lead guitars * John Wakefield – bass * Stuart Ross – additional drums ;Production * Toyah Willcox – producer * Paul Nicholson, Chris Binns, Dave Kingsley – engineers, soundscapes * Mark Evans – mixing at Big Ocean Studios, Weybridge, Surrey * Paul Muggleton,

Mike Paxman Mike Paxman (born 19 December 1953) is an English multi-instrumentalist and record producer, best known for his work with Judie Tzuke, Nick Kamen, Uriah Heep and Status Quo and Asia. Paxman grew up in Wiltshire, England and went to Bishop W ...

– mixing assistants *

– sound advice

Charts

References

External links

Official audio stream
on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

The official Toyah website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Take The Leap! 1993 albums Toyah Willcox albums Pony Canyon albums