Naming your band Raped and debut EP Pretty Paedophiles was never the best career-starter, but that’s how peroxide Bowie-Bolan wannabe Sean Purcell made his entrance in 1977’s London punk scene. Despite changing their name to the polar opposite Cuddly Toys, the stigma was hard to shake. The band managed to build a live following, coming on with Purcell doing the Bowie box mime in a barrage of strobes; the group also released a couple of singles, including their version of Madman, one of the songs written by Bowie and Bolan before the latter’s death in 1977, as well as 1980’s Guillotine Theatre long-player. Various line-up changes preceded this swansong album, Trials & Crosses, in March 1982, complete with cheesy synths and Numan-Jobriath posturings.
Intriguingly, Cuddly Toys were managed by masked wrestler Kendo Nagasaki and recorded some tracks with Sid James’ son Steve. After signing to CBS and releasing one single, It’s A Shame, Purcell’s behaviour changed from arse-pain diva to arse-pain erratic and he broke up the band, though it was a brain tumour which killed the man in 1996. Cuddly Toys are the sort of ludicrous curio that gain a posthumous cult which will lap up this expanded grab-bag of demos and outtakes like diamond dogs.
