The Dogs D’Amour are an English bluesey hard rock band formed in London in 1983. Over the years the band has had various line-ups, the only constant being vocalist Tyla. Their music has been described as a mixture of the Rolling Stones, the Faces and glam punk. Coming in July Dogs D’Amour – The Dynamite China Years – Complete Recordings 1988-1993. An 8CD boxset featuring the albums In The Dynamite Jet Saloon, Errol Flynn (King Of The Thieves), A Graveyard Of Empty Bottles Vol. 1, …Straight??!! and…More Unchartered Heights Of Disgrace, plus two discs of singles, B-sides and rarities.
Propelled by the albums’ three singles ‘The Kid from Kensington’, ‘I Don’t Want You to Go’ and ‘How Come It Never Rains’ edging their way up the charts, when The Dogs D’Amour’s genre-defining 1988 “debut” ‘In The Dynamite Jet Saloon’ (CD2) was released in 1988, it must have looked like the band was an overnight sensation. But this couldn’t have been further from the truth.
The Dogs D’Amour originally formed in 1983, and had already recorded two previous “debut” albums. First was 1984’s now highly collectable ‘The State We’re In’, for Finnish label Kumibeat. Further recordings were made in 1985 and 1986 for Watanabe Records in Japan, and it’s the latter where this collection kicks off. ‘The (Un)Authorised Bootleg Album’ (CD1) was the record originally intended for Japan a mostly acoustic grab-bag of the previous years’ sporadic sessions — became the band’s second album.
The second set in this collection is the aforementioned the critically acclaimed “In The Dynamite Jet Saloon’ (CD2), bursting with classics. A highly prolific band in their earliest days, ‘Errol Flynn’ (re-titled ‘King Of The Thieves’ in the States) (CD3) was released in 1989 as was the extended mini-album, The all-acoustic ‘A Graveyard Of Empty Bottles Vol. 1’ (CD4), a collection of acoustic songs that reached the UK Top 20.
Now officially England’s most notorious and decadent glam rock band, the Dogs d’Amour reeled off another solid, and adequately sleazy follow-up in 1990s ironically titled saw the release of ‘…Straight??!!’ (CD5) featuring the singles ‘Victims of Success’, ‘Empty World’ and ‘Back On The Juice’. Unfortunately, and in true rock ‘n’ roll tradition, the band split up on stage in Los Angeles in 1991.
Steve James started a new project called the Last Bandits, and Bam temporarily joined the Wildhearts.
Thankfully the band regrouped for the self-explanatory ‘…More Unchartered Heights Of Disgrace’ (CD6) in 1993. This eight CD collection is completed with no less than two discs of rarities, live tracks and B-sides with ’Singles, B-Sides & Rarities’ (CD7) and ‘Even More Singles, B-Sides & Rarities’ (CD8), making this the most complete and comprehensive collection of the band’s recordings for China Records.
Tyla embarking on a solo career with an album fittingly titled “The Life & Times of a Ballad Monger”.
The Dogs’ sound was firmly rooted in American blues music, and Jo Almeida’s unique and distinctive slide guitar was reminiscent of blues masters like Lightnin’ Hopkins and Charlie Patton.
An 8CD complete collection of recordings released by China Records.
• Featuring what most consider to be the classic line-up of The Dogs D’Amour; Jo ‘Dog’ Almeida on guitar, Steve James on bass, the onomatopoeic Bam on drums, and of course fronted by songwriter and singer, the inimitable Tyla.
Albums
- The State We’re In (Kumibeat – 1984)
- In The Dynamite Jet Saloon (China – 1988)
- Errol Flynn (China – 1989)
- Straight??!!’ (China – 1990)
- …More Unchartered Heights of Disgrace (China – 1993)
- Happy Ever After (Artful – 2000)
- Seconds (Basementboy – 2000)
- When Bastards Go To Hell (Rock Treasures – 2004)
- Let Sleeping Dogs… (King Outlaw – 2005)
- In the Dynamite Jet Saloon MMX ( King Outlaw 2011)
- Graveyard of Empty Bottles MMXII (King Outlaw 2011)
Tyla and The Dogs D’Amour will be on the road in 2024 and 2025 to support this release,
The Fat Angel Sings 