Leo Sayer’s 18CD Leothology: The Studio Albums 1973-Now brings together his studio catalogue from 1973 through to 2024, alongside a previously unreleased Melbourne live album and a collection of rarities.
by Paul Cashmere
Leo Sayer will release an 18CD career-spanning box set, Leothology: The Studio Albums 1973-Now, on August 14 through Edsel Records/Demon Music, assembling material recorded across more than five decades and adding two previously unreleased collections to his catalogue. The set includes 16 of Sayer’s original UK studio albums, presented in mini-vinyl replica wallets, together with the previously unreleased 2008 Melbourne concert recording Don’t Wait Until Tomorrow – Live and the 14-track rarities collection Return To Paradise.
The release provides a consolidated view of Sayer’s recording career from his 1973 debut Silverbird through to 1992, his most recent album of previously unreleased 1992 recordings. It also documents the Australian chapter of his career, although one album associated with that period, 2008’s Australia-only Don’t Wait Until Tomorrow, is not included in the box.
Sayer has been closely involved in compiling Leothology. A 28-page booklet includes a 3,000-word foreword and track-by-track notes for Return To Paradise written by the singer himself.
The newly issued live recording is particularly significant to Australian listeners. Don’t Wait Until Tomorrow – Live was recorded in Melbourne in 2008 and has not previously been released. It is separate from Sayer’s earlier Live In Melbourne album and contains 20 performances, including The Show Must Go On, Giving It All Away, Thunder In My Heart, You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, When I Need You and Long Tall Glasses.
Return To Paradise adds another layer of previously unavailable material. The 14 recordings span sessions dating from 1984 through to 2024, including Wrapped Up In Love from 1984, Return To Paradise from 1993, Evil Ways from 2011, The Law Of The Dance from 2023 and Learn To Love Yourself from 2024.
Sayer said the project was conceived as a way of bringing his catalogue together after his earlier box set, Just A Box, sold out.
“I released a very limited-edition box-set a few years ago called Just A Box,” Sayer said. “But that sold out really quickly and didn’t include the four studio albums I’d recorded since moving to Australia.”
The new collection does not, however, represent every recording issued during Sayer’s career. The 2008 Australia-only Don’t Wait Until Tomorrow is absent, while the 36-track Bonus Tracks two-CD set that accompanied the 2013 14CD Just A Box collection is also not incorporated. Bonus material from RPM’s 2002 reissue programme is likewise excluded.
Sayer’s recording history began in 1973 with Silverbird, following his work as a songwriter with David Courtney. Among the songs from that period was Giving It All Away, which became a solo hit for Roger Daltrey. Sayer’s own breakthrough came with The Show Must Go On, which reached number two in the UK and established the distinctive visual identity that accompanied his early career.
Just A Boy followed in 1974, producing One Man Band, Long Tall Glasses and Giving It All Away. Another Year arrived in 1975, followed by Endless Flight in 1976. The latter became a major international success and contained two of Sayer’s defining recordings, You Make Me Feel Like Dancing and When I Need You.
You Make Me Feel Like Dancing reached number one in the United States and earned Sayer a Grammy, while When I Need You topped the UK and US charts. His catalogue subsequently moved through Thunder In My Heart, Leo Sayer, Here, Living In A Fantasy, World Radio and Have You Ever Been In Love.
The recording pace slowed during the 1990s, but Sayer continued to release new material. Cool Touch appeared in 1990, followed by Voice In My Head in 2004. After moving to Australia, he released Don’t Wait Until Tomorrow in 2008, an album produced by Garth Porter that reworked songs from his catalogue with strings, acoustic instrumentation and jazz influences.
The later catalogue represented in Leothology includes Restless Years from 2015, Selfie from 2019, Northern Songs from 2022 and 1992 from 2024. Northern Songs consists of Sayer interpretations of Beatles compositions, while 1992 presents recordings made during that year that had remained unreleased until 2024.
Leothology also comes as Sayer prepares for a final full UK live tour in autumn 2026. The tour is scheduled to begin at De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea on October 9 and conclude at Usher Hall in Edinburgh on November 15, with dates also scheduled in Glasgow, Birmingham, London, York, Liverpool and other cities.
For a catalogue that has moved between singer-songwriter material, pop, disco, adult contemporary and later independent recordings, the box set provides a broad chronological record while leaving some previously issued bonus material outside the collection. Its principal new archival material is the Melbourne live album and the 14-track Return To Paradise compilation.
Tour Dates
October 9, Bexhill-on-Sea, De La Warr Pavilion
November 13, Glasgow, Royal Concert Hall
November 15, Edinburgh, Usher Hall
Tracklisting
Leothology: The Studio Albums 1973-Now, 18CD Box
CD1: Silverbird
Innocent Bystander
Goodnight Old Friend
Drop Back
Silverbird
The Show Must Go On
The Dancer
Tomorrow
Don’t Say It’s Over
Slow Motion
Oh Wot A Life
Why Is Everybody Going Home
CD2: Just A Boy
Telepath
Train
The Bells Of St. Mary’s
One Man Band
In My Life
When I Came Home This Morning
Long Tall Glasses
Another Time
Solo
Giving It All Away
CD3: Another Year
Bedsitterland
Unlucky In Love
The Last Gig of Johnny B. Goode
On The Old Dirt Road
I Will Not Stop Fighting
Moonlighting
Streets Of Your Town
The Kid’s Grown Up
Only Dreaming
Another Year
CD4: Endless Flight
Hold On To My Love
You Make Me Feel Like Dancing
Reflections
When I Need You
No Business Like Love Business
I Hear The Laughter
Magdalena
How Much Love
I Think We Fell In Love Too Fast
Endless Flight
CD5: Thunder In My Heart
Thunder In My Heart
Easy To Love
Leave Well Enough Alone
I Want You Back
It’s Over
Fool For Your Love
World Keeps On Turning
There Isn’t Anything I Wouldn’t Do
Everything I’ve Got
We Can Start All Over Again
CD6: Leo Sayer
Stormy Weather
Dancing The Night Away
I Can’t Stop Loving You (Though I Try)
La Booga Rooga
Raining In My Heart
Something Fine
Running To My Freedom
Frankie Lee
Don’t Look Away
No Looking Back
CD7: Here
The World Has Changed
When The Money Runs Out
The End
Lost Control
An Englishman In The USA
Who Will The Next Fool Be
Work
Oh Girl
Ghosts
Takin’ The Easy Way Out
CD8: Living In A Fantasy
Time Ran Out On You
Where Did We Go Wrong
You Win – I Lose
More Than I Can Say
Millionaire
Once In A While
Living In A Fantasy
She’s Not Coming Back
Let Me Know
Only Foolin’
CD9: World Radio
Heart (Stop Beating In Time)
Paris Dies In The Morning
Have You Ever Been In Love
Rumours
Heroes
‘Til You Let Your Heart Win
The End Of The Game
Wondering Where The Lions Are
We’ve Got Ourselves In Love
World Radio
CD10: Have You Ever Been In Love
‘Til You Come Back To Me
Sea Of Heartbreak
More Than I Can Say
Darlin’
Don’t Wait Until Tomorrow
How Beautiful You Are
Orchard Road
Aviation
Heart (Stop Beating In Time)
Your Love Still Brings Me To My Knees
Have You Ever Been In Love
Wounded Heart
Love Games
Never Had A Dream Come True
CD11: Cool Touch
Cool Touch
Rely On Me
Young And In Love
Paperback Town
Going Home
My Favourite
I Can’t Stop
Heaven Knows
Agents Of The Heart
Suki’s Missing
CD12: Voice In My Head
Everyone
Pop Life
Saturday Girl
You Thrill Me
We Got Away With It
I Never Knew
Please Don’t Walk Away
Don’t Look Back
Voice In My Head
Candygram
Almost Blue
Running Man
There And Back Again
Becalmed
Maybe
CD13: Don’t Wait Until Tomorrow – Live
Don’t Wait Until Tomorrow
The Show Must Go On
Raining In My Heart
Giving It All Away
Thunder In My Heart
Moonlighting
You Make Me Feel Like Dancing
Have You Ever Been In Love
I Can’t Stop Loving You (Though I Try)
Orchard Road
Telepath
I Want You
Something In The Air
(Tell Me) Just One More Time
Sign Of The Times
How Much Love
Long Tall Glasses
When I Need You
One Man Band
Tom Traubert’s Blues
CD14: Restless Years
Beautiful Year
Competing With A DJ
How Did We Get So Old?
Revolution Of The Heart
Millennium Wheel
Restless Years
One Green World
The Wrong Man
Look Around
The Radio Song
Sometimes Things Go Wrong
To The River
Mister In Between
CD15: Selfie
Selfie
Build You A Rainbow
One Step At A Time
Occupy
Only Love
Soul Mining
The Sound Of The Surf
I Am Your Man
Save Your Tears
The Centre Of The Universe
Christmas In July
Refugees
Everybody Lies
Lovelight
Don’t Leave Me
CD16: Northern Songs
Eleanor Rigby
Strawberry Fields Forever
Revolution
Get Back
Across The Universe
A Day In The Life
Girl
A Hard Day’s Night
Magical Mystery Tour
Julia
Can’t Buy Me Love
Norwegian Wood
Here Comes The Sun
Only A Northern Song
Yesterday
I Feel Fine
Nowhere Man
Hey Jude
Eleanor Rigby
CD17: 1992
Was I Blue?
Wonderworld
Take A Walk With Me
Heaven
Start A Fire
Joanna
Rainbow’s End
On Stage
CD18: Return To Paradise
Wrapped Up In Love (Recorded in 1984)
Return To Paradise (Recorded in 1993)
Sally (Recorded in 1991)
Evil Ways (Recorded in 2011)
All I Need (Recorded in 1993)
Peace Of Mind (Recorded in 2011)
Indiana Blue (Recorded in 1986)
The Law Of The Dance (Recorded in 2023)
Find Your Heaven (Recorded in 2011)
Rocks ‘N’ Chains (Recorded in 1993)
Leave My World Alone (Recorded in 1990)
Missing You (Recorded in 2014)
Swing (Recorded in 1991)
Learn To Love Yourself (Recorded in 2024)
https://leosayer.lnk.to/leothology
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