Leo Sayer Unveils 18-CD Career-Spanning Box Set Leothology for August Release

On 14 August, Leo Sayer will drop an ambitious 18‑CD anthology, Leothology: The Studio Albums 1973‑Now, through Edsel Records/Demon Music. The collection stitches together 16 of the singer’s UK studio albums—from 1973’s debut Silverbird to 1992’s 1992—and adds two previously unreleased items: the 2008 Melbourne live recording Don’t Wait Until Tomorrow – Live and a 14‑track rarities compilation called Return To Paradise.

The release arrives as Sayer gears up for a farewell UK tour in autumn 2026. The dates open at De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill‑on‑Sea on 9 October and close at Usher Hall in Edinburgh on 15 November, with stops in Glasgow, Birmingham, London, York, Liverpool and other venues.

Each album is housed in a mini‑vinyl‑style wallet that mirrors the original packaging, preserving the original sequence of tracks. A 28‑page booklet accompanies the set, featuring a 3,000‑word foreword penned by Sayer himself and detailed track notes for the Return To Paradise collection.

The live album, recorded during a 2008 concert in Melbourne, contains 20 performances, including the iconic “The Show Must Go On,” “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing,” and “When I Need You.” The rarities compilation spans recordings from 1984 to 2024, offering songs such as “Wrapped Up In Love” (1984), “Evil Ways” (2011), and the brand‑new “Learn To Love Yourself” (2024).

Sayer was deeply involved in assembling the set. He explained that the idea grew out of the rapid sell‑out of his earlier box set, Just A Box, which omitted the four studio albums he recorded after relocating to Australia. Leothology thus fills that void, though it still does not encompass every release in his catalog. The Australia‑only 2008 album Don’t Wait Until Tomorrow is excluded, as are the bonus tracks that accompanied the 2013 Just A Box 14‑CD edition and the additional material from RPM’s 2002 reissue programme.

The anthology charts Sayer’s evolution from his 1973 debut, where the early single “Giving It All Away” first appeared, through his 1978 breakthrough with “The Show Must Go On.” The 1978 hit “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” topped the U.S. charts and earned him a Grammy Award, while “When I Need You” reached number one in both the U.K. and U.S. markets. Subsequent releases—Thunder In My Heart, Here, Living In A Fantasy, World Radio, and Have You Ever Been In Love—sustained his success through the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The 1990s saw a slowdown in output, yet Sayer continued to produce new material. Cool Touch (1990) and Voice In My Head (2004) preceded the 2008 Don’t Wait Until Tomorrow album, produced by Garth Porter and featuring reworked versions of earlier songs with strings, acoustic instrumentation and jazz influences. More recent releases include Restless Years (2015), Selfie (2019), Northern Songs (2022)—a collection of Beatles covers—and 1992 (2024), which presents recordings made in 1992 that had remained unreleased until now.

By combining his studio output with two new archival releases, Leothology offers a chronological portrait of a career that spans more than five decades. The inclusion of the Melbourne live album and the Return To Paradise rarities supplies material that had never been available before, while the extensive booklet provides context and insight directly from Sayer.

The box set will go on sale on 14 August, and the accompanying tour will give listeners a chance to experience Sayer’s music live as he concludes his UK touring career.