Prostitute (Toyah album)



Prostitute is Toyah Willcox's 1988 album. It is a concept album and highly experimental in nature, marking a considerable divergence from previous works. It is uncompromising in its style, and is presented as a continuous piece of music, although the notes in the CD version indicate "...to enable the listener to access a particular title a time-code programme has been provided". To accommodate the two-sided format of the LP and cassette releases, side one--subtitled "Lie Down"--contains the first seven titles, and side two--subtitled "And Think of England"--contains the rest of the album. No singles were drawn from the album.

The album was reissued on Toyah's own record label, Vertical Species, in 2003, together with its follow up album, Ophelia's Shadow. In the extensive sleeve notes she provided for the reissue, Willcox explains the gestation of the album, particularly the scrutiny her recent marriage to Robert Fripp was under in the press, and the feeling that by the release of Desire, she had become, in her own words, "staid and predictable".

Track listing

 * 1) "Hello" (Willcox)
 * 2) "Prostitute" (Willcox, Sidelnyc)
 * 3) "Wife" (Willcox)
 * 4) "The Show" (Willcox)
 * 5) "Dream House" (Willcox, Sidelnyc)
 * 6) "Homecraft" (Willcox)
 * 7) "Obsession" (Willcox)
 * 8) "Let The Power Bleed" (Willcox, Sidelnyc)
 * 9) "Restless" (Willcox, Sidelnyc)
 * 10) "Falling To Earth" (Willcox)
 * 11) "Jazz Singers In The Trees" (Willcox, Sidelnyc)
 * 12) "Vale Of Evesham" (Willcox)
 * 13) "Ghosts In The Universe" (Willcox, Sidelnyc)

Personnel

 * Toyah – vocals, keyboards, guitar, Akai (sampler)
 * Steve Sidelnyc – drums, percussion, keyboards, Akai (sampler)
 * Robert Fripp – additional vocals on "Hello"

Production

 * Producer: Tony Arnold, Toyah Willcox