Can’t Get Enough Of You Baby/Deserted/See How They Run/Hallelujah/I Got A Man/A Lover’s Concerto/What’s Wrong With Me Baby/Yesterday/Baby’s Gone/This Night/Back Street/Attack
The short lived The Toys were similar to The Supremes but with more high pitched voices. Their big hit A Lover’s Concerto was based on a Bach minuet and reached No. 2 in the US and No. 5 in the UK. The accompanying album also includes the US No. 18 follow up single Attack! (US:92)
“You know you've heard it. It starts 'How gentle is the rain…' to the tune of Bach's Minuet in G...every school kid's basic piano lesson.”
“I can see why The Supremes felt threatened when A Lover's Concerto hit the airwaves in the autumn of 1965, which to my ears melds together the falsetto and horns of The Four Seasons to a gospel sound. When the Toys released Attack! a few months later they launched one of the strangest and most incandescent pop records of all time.”
“The group sounds a little bit like The Four Seasons (with the high falsetto of Frankie Valli) on the chorus of Attack. I like the catchy words to the songs. This Night is another tune that represents the class and real talent of the writers and singers of the 'girl group' period in popular music. Can't Get Enough Of You Baby really should have been a hit, it sounds a little like something that Motown would have put out.”
“The Toys were a girl group that made only one album, but what an album it is. All the songs are written by Linzer and Randell, and it's as though they prepped for the project by ingesting all the great music of the era. There are hints of Motown, classic girl group, guitar pop, Frankie Valli and Ray Charles in the writing and arranging. The material is strong, and the group’s vocals are exquisite.”
“My favourite girl group album. It can get derivative: they have a penchant for shadowing The Supremes and Ray Charles, which isn't uncommon for the time.”
“Whoever composed these songs had no fear of complexity, and the effort shows both in the melodies and the ephemeral harmonies (which sound like birds singing). Even when the lyrics are cringingly corny, the girls sing them like their (love) lives depend on it.”
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