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TYMON DOGG

Tymon Dogg & The Dacoits

The Granada Sessions

    Both Tymon Dogg and Richard Dudanski had musical roots playing in The 101'ers with future Clash singer/guitarist Joe Strummer. All three shared a deep love for southern Spain, due perhaps to the influence of the Romero sisters, Paloma (later "Palmolive" of The Slits) and the artist Esperanza, who were among the first Spanish punk refugees in London. Tymon's career began with beguiling interactions with Apple Records, The Moody Blues and future Led Zeppelin members John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page before he discovered his true musical self as a punk / folk experimentalist, opening shows for the likes of The Slits, Raincoats and Pop Group and becoming the longest-running musical foil in Strummer's career, continuing into The Clash and Mescaleros. Similarly, Richard played in Basement 5, Public Image Ltd, The Raincoats and others before following Esperanza back to Granada...which subsequently became second home to Tymon and Joe.

    Spain is not without its own punk heroes, and chief among them was Granada's Antonio Arias, another pal of Joe's and leader of Spain's musical heroes, Lagartija Nick, which also included Dacoits members Juan Codorniu and JJ Machuca. Antonio sings the albums two Spanish-language songs. while Tymon sings the other nine...and there's an instrumental, "Mongols", which the band considered too epic as a stand-alone instrumental to mess with! Tymon sings three songs from his past: "The Wheel Of Life And Death" has been heard before as a live bonus track on the expanded reissue of "Battle Of Wills", "Conscience Money" was heard in a very different version on the impossible-to-find "Made Of Light" album, and an embryonic take of "Something To Prove" turned up the even rarer 1989 solo album, "Relentless". If you imagine the playful elasticity of "Sandinista!" recast into a more straightforward record, with Tymon taking the lead on something more than that album's "Lose This Skin", you're halfway there. Guests include Killing Joke bassist / famed producer Youth and Dr Robert from The Blow Monkeys. 

    TRACK LISTING

    01 Wheel Of Life And Death
    02 Cruel Mind
    03 Casida Del Herido Por El Agua
    04 Something To Prove
    05 Brother Of Genghis Khan
    06 I Don't Wanna Be Poor
    07 Nadsat
    08 Chimney Sweep
    09 Conscience Money
    10 Give Us A Jesus
    11 Turning Of The World 

    Tymon Dogg

    Battle Of Wills - 2023 Reissue

      Before hitting twenty, Tymon Dogg had made a single with pre-Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, recorded with Paul McCartney for Apple Records (running off with the tapes when he sensed they were 'too saccharine'), made a second single for The Moody Blues' label Threshold and then seemingly lost all faith in normal music business machinations.

      So he wandered, busking at tube stations and encountering "Woody", who acted as Tymon's roadie and, when trade was slow, Tymon would teach him a few chords.

      After being assaulted by police, Tymon won a £500 settlement, with which he recorded an album, singing and playing every instrument himself. Dwelling somewhere between avant-garde folk, Weimar cabaret and with an eerie sense of punk's D-I-Y ethos, the 1975 album failed to sell in appreciable numbers.

      By then, "Woody" was known as Joe Strummer and had formed The 101'ers with Elgin Avenue friends and squat-mates. Tymon sporadically played songs with the band, including his "Dog Dirt On Your Shoe" (the only known recording of which is included here), a forerunner to punk expression if there ever were one.

      Finding himself in NYC years later, Tymon was ushered into the studio by Mick Jones to record the first song completed for Sandinista!, "Lose This Skin", possibly the most polarising song on the album. Tymon became a de facto studio member of The Clash through Combat Rock and later joined The Mescaleros.

      But in 1982, Tymon recorded Battle Of Wills, the last release on Dick O'Dell's Y Records, home to The Slits, Sun Ra, The Pop Group, Shriekback and others, reissued here with added studio rarities and a 1980 live set. The sole Tymon Dogg album released by an outside label, it got somewhat lost in the collapse of Y, yet it's a singular work: perfectly executed and fiercely unique. Tymon's vocals transcend the limits of 'rock' music, weaving their way through a seemingly disconnected array of parts - incongruous tabla, unsettlingly upfront violin parts, minimal folk drumming. It feels like an exemplar of some obscure, ages-old musical tradition rather than what it is - a conceptually original work by an artist of rare talent. Unavailable for forty years, the album has been expanded to include a seven-song 1980 live set and six rare studio tracks. With one exception, this extra material has never been available on vinyl, more than half of it was never released at all. Tymon's archives contain bountiful rare and unheard material, and this expanded edition of Battle Of Wills is the first of several planned archival releases.

      TRACK LISTING

      1-01 Firefishes
      1-02 Once You Know
      1-03 Safeway People
      1-04 Locks & Bolts & Hinges
      1-05 Battle Of Wills
      1-06 Sirens
      1-07 Brandy Love
      1-08 Too Far To Touch The Ground
      1-09 Low Down Dirty Weakness
      1-10 Get Your Hands Off Me
      1-11 Legal Thief
      1-12 Golden Rain

      2-01 Indestructible
      2-02 Cold Wind Blows
      2-03 Oil.
      2-04 Guantanamo.
      2-05 Lose This Skin (2009 Version)
      2-06 Travelling Man (Re-Visited)
      2-07 Get Your Hands Of Me (Live)
      2-08 Indestructible (Live)
      2-09 The Wheel Of Life And Death (Live)
      2-10 Johnny Is A Wanderer (Live)
      2-11 Safeway People (Live)
      2-12 Lose This Skin (Live)
      2-13 Dog Dirt On Your Shoe (Live)


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