Tyla J. Pallas - ‘Gilding the Lily’

Normally very prolific in output, which has at times almost reached “another week, another album” level, the latest solo album from Tyla has taken longer to see the light than planned due to a couple of factors.

Having started life as the ‘Blue Blood, Black Heart’ album, Tyla found himself abandoning much of what he had written, going in a different musical direction and renaming the album ‘Gilding the Lily’ after rummaging through his equipment in search of another piece of kit and finding an old brown leather bag which contained two effects pedals which he hadn’t used in years – a tremolo and an octavidor. This led to some re-acquainting and experimenting, his creating a very different sound and was the first factor. The second was bouncing some song ideas off his, also Edinburgh-based, producer, Jamie Turnbull who Tyla was aware played the guitar, but had no idea just how well until Jamie was encouraged to let loose and laid down some guitar on top of Tyla’s rough demos. Run these happy discoveries together and the result is what I think will become known as Tyla’s “guitar album”, what Tyla believes is his “best album” and one which he has been wanting to make for years … and in places very different to how you may have heard him before.  

The album opener, ‘Baptism By Fire’, starts with just a descending bass line and almost instantly launches into the full-band played raucous chorus. This has the effect of feeling like you’re walking through town on a dark, depressing, cold and wet winter’s night and suddenly a door opens basking you in light and sound … opening into the lock-in to end all lock-ins with the band in full swing playing some mean glam-tinged bar room boogie with guitar soaring above, punters of all ages dancing on the bar and tables, being warmly hauled in and handed the first of many very large drams. Gauntlet and statement of intent laid down, then.

The 70’s feel is ratcheted up to the max on ‘Cadillac Man’ which struts and blasts out of the speakers - again with that very prominent guitar working its magic above and throughout the song, as the satin-sounding female backing vocals weave and sprinkle their glittery magic over the song. Never mind their Weetabix, Tyla and his friends just might have been binge watching Sounds of the Seventies for weeks while mainlining double espresso before being let loose on recording this. Possibly not surprising given Tyla’s love of Be Bop Deluxe and Mott the Hoople when growing up.  

On the subject of his musical friends, Tyla is accompanied by his long-term partner in crime Simon Hanson (Squeeze) on drums, Tyla plays bass in addition to singing and guitar, and they’re joined by Jamie Turnbull on guitar, Mark Stanway (ex-Magnum) on keyboards, Rik Evans on strings and Mark’s wife Mo Birch on backing vocals (on Cadillac Man). The playing from all is top notch throughout, as is the mixing and production.

As a 17-track double album on vinyl or 18 tracks on CD, there is so much new music here to absorb and process that I’ll probably still be doing so in some months’ time. However, I’ll try to provide a flavour of what is contained within.

‘Glory Days’ starts with and is driven along by Tyla half-singing over a rhythmically strummed acoustic guitar which feels almost Dylan-esque before going off in more Spanish-influenced directions augmented by mournful violin and electric guitar dancing around the song, closely followed by the under-stated ‘Gilding the Lily’ and then the scuzzy and big guitar riffs of the brooding “Gunfight” … and, yep, I did just say “scuzzy” guitar which is not normally associated with Tyla, but is also wonderfully dirty sounding in places.

‘Killerstown’ does what Tyla does so well, subtly and effortlessly as a songwriter – and provides what sounds, at first, like a simple strum- and sing-along, with a memorable if a little melancholic melody and chorus, but scrape the surface, listen to the lyrics and you’ll find something darker beneath.

For those of his fans who love a Tyla ballad (all of us), ‘Don’t Ever Stop Lovin’ Me’ hits the spot. At 63, Tyla’s voice has changed over the years and he’s grown from having vocals which he didn’t rate himself into having a voice with which he is now comfortable and this shows. The vocals are as strong as I’ve heard them, both raw and tender and his vocals and lyrics are complemented by what has to be said is some fairly epic guitar-playing in which the touch and feel might draw a tear or at least a lump in the throat. Who needs over-produced power ballads and multi-octave histrionics when you’ve got this?

Or if you want to take this down to an even simpler level, ‘I Really Love You’ pulls off the lyrical feat of consisting of just one line, “I really love you’ repeated throughout the song (and occasionally a second if you want to be pedantic and include the shorter “I love you”) … maybe more of how you might develop the melody for a song while jamming and riffing a single repeat phrase, but very effective and different as a song in it’s own right.

Sandwiching ‘I Really Love You’ are ‘Mickey Roses’ and ‘Human After All’ which are two of the most atmospheric songs on the album, mainly as they don’t sound as though they were just written to simple and conventional songwriting structure of verse, chorus (repeat), bridge, verse with guitar riffs and solos to fit. Instead, the guitar work seems to play more off the vocals and create its own sound and emotions which weave around the song and really complement the vocal without over-shadowing them.

‘It’s a Shame’ also starts with a simple chorus with melancholic sing-along melody, which feels both familiar and new, and will strike a chord with anyone who has ever lost or is losing someone close. ‘In Plain Sight’, ‘Religion Kills’ and ‘Special Ones’ lyrically reflect the more serious and heavier nature of much of the songwriting on this album which has been written at a time when it feels like the world is going to hell in a hand basket and just when you thought things couldn’t get more extreme, they do.    

The slow, bluesy and again atmospheric ‘Do Anything’ (available on CD only) leads into ‘River of Death’ or what I admit, for me, was a case of “you had me at 16 seconds” … courtesy of a plucked bass intro for the first 15 seconds followed by a whistled melody and emotional guitar break then kicking in simultaneously. This is the type of moment that if it was on a crappy TV alleged musical talent show, the judges’ heads would explode with excitement. But, seriously, I swear my stomach drops each time I hear this – a masterclass in how to build a song.      

The big guitars return on ‘Written in Heavy Blood’ before we reach the end with Tyla and his acoustic guitar providing the short (1 minute +), but emotional musical outro of ‘Love Will Find You’.

As would be expected, the ‘Gilding the Lily’ artwork has also been created originally by Tyla.

Okay, this was a LONG review. I hadn’t planned to do a track-by-track review – never a good idea when faced with 18 songs. I mean, is anyone still reading this? But, the quality of material packed into this album is of such a level that it is hard to convey in a shorter review which would barely have scraped the surface.

Tyla’s upcoming book, ‘More Cocktails & Dog Tales’, devotes a whole chapter to ‘Gilding the Lily’ and it’s clear that Tyla believes this is his best album to date. While, as fans, we have our own favourite Dogs’ or solo albums and songs, having listened to this album on repeat it’s not hard to see why he believes this. Artists shouldn’t really be expected to make albums this good so late in their career, but, against any expectations, he has and it could surprise many.

As for his book, if you’ve seen Tyla playing solo (or even with Tyla’s Dogs D’amour) in recent years, you’ll be aware that the gigs are almost now as much about the banter and stories as they are the music. His latest book takes us from the Dogs’ early and chaotic days of “smoke, sniff, drink, swallow ‘n’ repeat”, while in the studio and on tour, through his solo career in music and as an artist to the present day and back again – all interwoven around his personal life and told in Tyla’s conversational style which is not unlike sitting down and having a pint with an old mate. As it says on the book, “fascinating, unfiltered, frank, moving and very, very funny”. As someone who reads more music memoirs than is healthy, I can only say buy this book … probably the most candid rock memoir you’ll ever read.

‘Gilding the Lily’ will be released on 14 March 2025 on King Outlaw records, and distributed via Cargo Records (or is available directly from www.tylasarttavern.com (where ‘More Cocktails & Dog Tales’ can also be pre-ordered).

Glass raised.

GMcA