The Dogs D’Amour may have seemed like an overnight sensation when they appeared on the scene with In The Dynamite Jet Saloon in 1988 but nothing could have been further from the truth. Tyla (J. Pallas) and crew had been hunting for fame and fortune for five years at that point and had already recorded two unsuccessful attempts at a debut album. The first had been for Finish label Kumibeat Records, but Tyla was not happy with his vocal, stating “I was so disgusted with it. I took it down to Record and Tape Exchange and sold the lot for a fiver”. The second attempt faired little better when the band signed to Japanese label Watanabe Records, only for their label boss to pass away on his flight over to the UK. It was released but with no label backing it bombed. There has to be a movie here somewhere.
This latest eight CD set comes out of the traps with the recordings made for that second unsuccessful attempt, repackaged in 1988 as the (Un)Authorised Bootleg Album. In spite of being acquired from various sources the titles which make up the album establish the template for the Dogs sound which would develop over the next five years and includes the track which supplied the title for the bands debut proper, ‘Dynamite Jet Saloon’. This truly is a comprehensive collection and to critique each of its 102 tracks individually would be a task indeed, especially with the limited overlap of tracks (rightfully there are three versions of their most recognisable hit ‘How Come It Never Rains), but what you get to accompany the “Bootleg Album” are the bands four full studio albums (In The Dynamite Saloon, Errol Flynn, Straight??!! and More Unchartered Heights Of Disgrace), the game-changing 1989 acoustic EP A Graveyard Of Empty Bottles Vol. 1 as well as the obligatory two discs of Singles, B-Sides & Rarities. Throughout the entire set it is Tyla’s smokey (some would say husky, some would say gruff) vocal that tells the real life tales which are lyrically at odds with the Unskinny Bop, Dr. Feelgood, Cherry Pie world of the late 80’s/early 90’s. Even contemporaries like The Quireboys were having a ‘Sex Party’ at ‘7 O’ Clock’ with the very much glass half full attitude of A Little Bit Of What You Fancy while Tyla, Steve James (bass/harmonica),Jo Dog (guitar) and Bam (drums) were supplying the alternative view with ‘Debauchery’, ‘The State I’m In’, ‘Drunk Like Me’, ‘Goddess Of The Gutter’ and top 50 hit ‘How Come It Never Rains’. That isn’t to suggest that Dog D’Amour don’t possess a lighter side as provided on the very L.A. Gunnsy ‘Firework Girl’, ‘I Think It’s (Love Again)’, ‘The Kid From Kensington’, and ‘The Prettiest Girl In The World’. By the 90’s the band had set their sights squarely on America with Straight??!! splashing the cash to add gospel style backing vocals and keyboards, supplied by Ian McLagan from the very influential Faces. Still displaying the gritty truth on tracks like ‘Heroine’ and homeless anthem ‘Cardboard Town’ it also found time to poke fun at fellow rockers Guns ‘N Roses (“proceeds to say, we lean on each other, through this success bitch at each other and make a mess”) on ‘Victims Of Success’. Despite reaching #32 in the UK this still didn’t excite the ears of the US audience and prompted the band members to go their separate ways to pursue other musical interests (The Wildhearts, Last Bandits, Andy McCoy’s Shooting Gallery) with Tyla staying on in L.A. Two years later and with Jo Dog replaced by former UK Subs guitarist Darrell Bath the band returned with the more rounded …More Unchartered Heights Of Success which not only saw the group return to the singles chart with ‘Pretty, Pretty Once’ and a cover of the Small Faces ‘All Or Nothing’ but also included Tyla’s tribute to the late Johnny Thunders (‘Johnny Silvers’) who had passed away in 1991. Rounding out the collection are the two discs of extras, the pick of which are not only the live takes which put the band in their more natural environment and supply the ultimate versions of the studio tracks with the whole band sounding more edgy especially on ‘Baby Glass’, Last Bandit’, ‘I Don’t Want You To Go’ (x2) and to me one of the best takes of ‘How Come It Never Rains’ that you will hear, but also on the six acoustic versions including ”Never Had A Girl Who Would Die For Me’ with its cool slide guitar, which prove precisely why their previous acoustic outing, A Graveyard Of Empty Bottles had been so well received.
The Dogs D’Amour would resurface for the new millennium with Bam’s wife Share Ross (formerly Pedersen of Vixen) on bass to release two further albums Happy Ever After and Seconds before Tyla took firm hold of the dog lead with a stream of solo albums and Tyla’s Dogs D’Amour releases including re-imaginings of In The Dynamite Jet Saloon (MMX) and Graveyard Of Empty Bottles (MMXII) in 2011. He continues with his various projects and collaborations as we speak. As normal this set comes housed within Tyla’s distinctive artwork with extensive sleeve-notes supplied by journalist, poet and comedian, Rich Davenport. There may be little here for the diehard fan but if you’ve only dipped your toe in the dog dirt, then this extravagant collection will fill your doggy bag despite there being no dog doodoo in sight.
- Reviewed By Peter Brockwell.
- Dynamite China Years Complete Recordings 1988-1993 (8CD Set) is released via Cherry Red Records/HNE Recordings On 26th July 2024
Track List:
Disc One – (Un)Authorised Bootleg Album (1988)
1. Firework Girl
2. Chains
3. Gold
4. Pourin’ Out My Heart
5. Wait Until I’m Dead
6. How Do You Fall in Love Again?
7. Kiss This Joint
8. Heroine
9. Tales Of Destruction
10. Dynamite Jet Saloon
11. Swingin’ the Bottle
Disc Two – In The Dynamite Jet Saloon (1988)
1. Debauchery
2. I Don’t Want You To Go
3. How Come It Never Rains
4. Last Bandit
5. Medicine Man
6. Gonna Get It Right
7. Everything I Want
8. Heartbreak
9. Billy Two Rivers
10. Wait Until I’m Dead
11. Sometimes
12. The Kid from Kensington
13. The State I’m In
Disc Three – Errol Flynn (King Of The Thieves) (1989)
1. Drunk Like Me
2. Goddess From The Gutter
3. Hurricane
4. Satellite Kid
5. Errol Flynn
6. Planetary Pied Piper
7. Princess Valium
8. Dogs Hair
9. Trail Of Tears
10. Ballad Of Jack
11. The Prettiest Girl In The World
12. The Girl Behind The Glass
13. Things Seem to Go Wrong
14. Oooh! Baby Glass
Disc Four – A Graveyard Of Empty Bottles Vol. 1 (1989)
1. I Think It’s (Love Again)
2. So Once Was I
3. Comfort Of The Devil
4. Saviour
5. Errol Flynn
6. The Bullet Proof Poet
7. When The Dream Has Gone
8 Angel
Disc Five – …Straight??!! (1990)
1. Cardboard Town
2. Kiss My Heart Goodbye
3. Lie In This Land
4. You Can’t Burn The Devil
5. Gypsy Blood
6. Empty World
7. Back On The Juice
8. Evil
9. Victims Of Success
10. Flyin’ Solo
11. Heroine
12. Chiva
13. Lady Nicotine
Disc Six – …More Unchartered Heights Of Disgrace (1993)
1. What’s Happening Here?
2. What You Do
3. Pretty, Pretty Once
4. World’s Different Now (Ode To Drug Hill)
5. Mr Addiction
6. Johnny Silvers
7. Cath
8. More Unchartered Heights Of Disgrace
9. Scared Of Dying
10. Mr Barfly
11. Put It In Her Arms
Bonus Tracks:
12. All Or Nothing
13. English Outlaw
14. No Gypsy Blood ’93
15. Hard To Leave This World
16. When Nobody Loves You
Disc Seven – Singles, B-Sides & Rarities
1. King of The Thieves
2. Ugly
3. Billy Two Rivers (Live)
4. Victims of Success (Live)
5. I Don’t Want You to Go (Live)
6. Ballad of Jack (Live)
7. Last Bandit (Live)
8. How Come It Never Rains (Live)
9. Baby Glass (Live)
10. Kirsten Jet (Live)
11. Everything I Want (Live)
12. Heartbreak (Live)
13. Trail Of Tears (Live)
14. Medicine Man (Live)
15. Drunk Like Me (Live)
16. I Don’t Want You to Go (Live)
Disc Eight – Even More Singles, B-Sides & Rarities
1. I Don’t Want You to Go (12” Version)
2. Trail of Tears (7″ Version)
3. How Come It Never Rains (7″ Radio Edit)
4. Satellite Kid (Single Edit)
5. She Thinks Too Much of Me (Acoustic Version)
6. Drunk Like Me (Acoustic Version)
7. As the Poppies Fall (Acoustic Version)
8. Things He’d Do (Acoustic Version)
9. Never Had A Girl Who Would Die for Me (Acoustic Version)
10. What’s Happening Here? (Acoustic)
11. Heading for The Target of Insanity
