The story of the Dogs D’Amour, for the benefit of our younger readers, is probably one of the saddest cases of a band who were world-beaters in their day fading into being (undeservedly) practically unknown. At the end of the ’80s, the Dogs were up there with the Quireboys as the twin titans of Britrock releasing a string of killer albums hewn from roughly the same influences (the Stones, the Faces and Mott the Hoople) which had them earning well-deserved good reviews everywhere from Kerrang! to the NME. Unfortunately, the twin pitfalls of grunge and a self-destructive streak so wide it made the Wildhearts look like Bon Jovi by comparison conspired to derail their career in the early ’90s and while Spike and co, their one-time peers, had the discipline to hold on through the hard times and climb back up the mountain to their current position of respected Britrock veterans able to command a healthy following in the 21st century, the Dogs have spent most of the decade since their last proper album, 1999?s “Happy Ever After”, not speaking to each other. Recent years have seen frontman Tyla touring and releasing albums (often patchy but all with moments of the old brilliance still intact) under the Dogs name with various helpers to ever-decreasing returns.
Anyway, on to 2011 (or rather 2010 – this album was actually recorded last year hence the name) and the Wolverhampton wanderer has opted to re-record the Dogs’ finest moment, their 1988 major label debut “In The Dynamite Jet Saloon”. And, given that the original version of that album tends to cost an arm and a leg from record collector scum these days, it leaves this as probably as good a place as any for those looking for an introduction to the music of the Dogs. The truth is, it isn’t actually a bad little album either in spite of my general suspicion of bands from this era’s “re-recorded” efforts. Okay so the tracklisting has been resequenced a bit with a few of the old songs dropped (the absence of “The Kid From Kensington” and “Heartbreak” is a bit disappointing) and some others from the same era (most of which were previously on the equally as good “(Un)Official Bootleg Album”) replacing them such as the rollicking bar room blues of “Swingin’ The Bottle”.
The key thing is that Tyla and his latest gang of sidekicks have actually done a pretty good job here of recapturing the original songs – T’s voice may now be quite a bit gruffer than it was in 1988 but somehow it adds a good authentic edge to the dark laments of “How Come It Never Rains?” and “Heroine” while the bar-room stomp of “Billy Two Rivers” and the swaggering “Last Bandit” still sound great all these years later.
Overall diagnosis? Well, it still hasn’t altered my opinion that I really wish Tyla and his fellow original Dogs Jo, Steve and Bam would try and mend whatever bridges were burned between them all those years ago (let’s be honest, life is too short for people who make such great music together to hold grudges like this) but this is a poignant reminder of what a great band the Dogs were and what a great songwriter Tyla is and he and his current line-up deserve credit for pulling off a decent job on something that could have been well south of disastrous. Listen to it with a bottle of JD to hand and sigh as you wonder what might have been for this lot with a bit more luck and judgment…
Tracklist:
1. Last Bandit
2. Sometimes
3. I Don’t Want You To Go (Acoustic Intro)
4. I Don’t Want You To Go
5. How Come It Never Rains
6. Everything I Want
7. Heroine
8. Billy Two Rivers
9. How Do You Fall In Love Again
10. State I’m In
11. In The Dynamite Jet Saloon
12. Swingin’ The Bottle
13. Wait Until I’m Dead
Line-Up:
Tyla – Vocals, Guitar
Timo Kaltio – Guitar
Gary Pennick – Guitar
Dave Tregunna – Bass Guitar
Danny Fury – Drums
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