Ducks Deluxe & Tyla Gang - All Too Much/ Blow You Out

Pub rock prime mover revisited

Releases like this twofer of Sean Tyla’s two Skydog albums help reveal the pub-rock scene’s overlaps. A central figure in Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera’s Islington-based Hope & Anchor situation, Tyla played in Duck’s Deluxe with future Motors Nick Garvey and Andy McMaster, and covered I Fought The Law before Strummer and co. He also hung out with Brinsley Schwartz, signed to Stiff and wound up The Damned on the ferry to the Mont De Marson festival. All Too Much, a collection of Tyla’s Ducks Deluxe work, has a real déjà vu feeling. These songs epitomise the spit’n’sawdust of R&B: Something’s Going On and Rock & Roll For Every Boy & Girl have the appealing swagger of a living-the-life attitude. After Ducks Deluxe split, Tyla formed the Tyla Gang and signed to the American Beserkely label. The humour vanished, and the music took on a more mid-Atlantic feel. It’s still worth cranking up the first half of the disc, though. Also included is Tyla’s Speedball Jive, previously available on Skydog’s Punks From The Underground compilation. Though it’s now something of a cliché, the 45rpm single-styling of this CD encapsulates these songs’ feel pretty damn well.

Jungle | FREUDC 088

Reviewed by Ian Abrahams
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