XYZ
Forgotten Demos: 1985-1991
Fyco Records
You really have to feel sorry for Terry Ilous sometimes. This guy just has never been able to catch a break. His band's self-titled debut album was a near miss like so many bands in the mid-eighties, even though it had all the right elements to it (produced by the then red-hot Don Dokken, great songs, priority on their label). Their debut was just overlooked while bands that lacked 1/10 the sound, talent and skills soared (White Lion comes to mind) onto the charts. Their followup flopped, and they were tossed away. Ilous dropped out of the commercial music business for awhile, only to find personal tragedy in the loss of a child. This led him back to music as an outlet to express his rage and fury in the maker on the brilliant Letter To God. Outside of internet radio, not many heard this one either. Then came tours that fell apart over the last 2 years. Finally, XYZ's original guitarist before their label debut released a collection of demos without Ilous' permission. Yeah...it's been a bad run for Terry Ilous.
That being said, he has been able to turn tragedy into brilliance before. As earlier stated, Letter To God, which was spawned by the loss of his child, is about as good any melodic metal album that has come out in the last 15 years. And now, as a way to fight the unauthorized release of XYZ demos by ex-player Bob Pieper, Ilous has put together a strong effort called Forgotten Demos: 1985-1991. Full of live tracks, finished demos and alternate takes on some of their bigger hits, Forgotten Demos has to be added to the already solid collection of work Ilous and company has done with or without being noticed.
Most notable on this collection are two tracks - “Inside Out” and “After The Rain”. “Inside Out” should have been the song that broke this band big, but for whatever reason it didn't pick up steam back when it was originally released. On this take of it, a completely different set of lyrics are presented. While a bit less refined than what was presented on the final product, “Inside Out” in it's original form seemingly has the rawer edge to it that Ilous has always claimed that Dokken took out of the music when producing their debut. As for “After The Rain”, I've always thought this was the single best ballad of the 80s. It's too bad no one ever heard it. Basically an acoustic song anyway, this version of it has unique acoustic guitar riffs to it which give it the impression of a faster, more swinging song than the version that appeared on their debut album. It's a shame this song wasn't presented to the masses while trash like Poison's “I Won't Forget You” dominated radio. Another notable song on this collection is “Souvenirs”. This version of the song really captures the essence of Terry Ilous as a vocalist. With vocals pouring emotion into them, it stands as the best song in this long collection. While this song is basically unmemorable from their debut release, here it has a lot more punch to it and the gloss is removed. What is left is a raw, power ballad that is intense yet melodic and memorable.
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