XYZ – Forbidden Demos 1985/1991

XYZ
FORBIDDEN DEMOS 1985/1991
Released in 2005 (Fyco)

Track List:
01. Can’t Get Over You (1990)
02. Inside Out (1988)
03. High Life (1988 Marc Diglio)
04. Follow The Night (1987)
05. Got Me Wrong (live 1988)
06. After The Rain (1987)
07. Souvenirs (1987 Marc Diglio)
08. Made For Love (1986)
09. It Could Be You (1986)
10. Seventeen (1986)
11. Just A Friend (1985)
12. Lonely Without You (Marc Diglio)
13. Missin You (Marc Diglio)
14. Rainy Days (Bobby Pieper)
15. Lonely Without You (Bobby Pieper)
16. Never Too Late
17. Souvenirs (Bobby Pieper)
18. High Life (Bobby Pieper)

Band Members:
Terry Ilous – vocals
Marc Diglio – guitars
Bobby Pieper – guitars
Pat Fontaine – bass
Paul Monroe – drums
Jo Pafumi – drums
Jamie Lewis – keyboards

Production:
Produced by XYZ and George Tutko.

Review:
This is the second set of demos to surface from XYZ this year, and the better of the two. Forbidden Demos 1985/1991 contains five of the songs from the original line-up (all 12 songs from these recordings can be found on Rainy Days) and unreleased or slightly different recordings.

Many of the popular tunes from the self-titled debut are here like “Inside Out”, “Follow The Night”, “After The Rain” and “Souvenirs”, and most of them stay pretty true to the songs we all know. “Inside Out” however has a noticeably different chorus on this demo (it’s a good thing they changed for the debut) and the Bobby Pieper version of “Souvenirs” is rougher around the edges then the slick power ballad that came later.

The best part of this album is some of the previously unreleased tracks, tracks so good that it boggles the mind why they wouldn’t have been recorded for either XYZ or Hungry. “High Life”, which ended up being a Japanese Hungry bonus track, is an aggressive rocker with a powerful chorus and the live “You Got Me Wrong” is one of XYZ‘s heavier numbers with its galloping guitar riff. “Made For Love” is a catchy number but is overrun with corny 80’s keyboards, I’d like to see this tune updated.

Actually several of the demos from the original band have an abundance of keyboards/piano which makes for some emotional sounding music, like that on “Rainy Days” and “Never Too Late”. Overall this is a great collection that takes you through XYZ‘s formative years, and who knew they had so many cool songs in the vaults. Buy your copy at www.xyzmusic.com, you won’t be disappointed with this slab of melodic rock.

Reviewed by Skid for Sleaze Roxx, November 2005.

Buy The CD:
Purchase at eBay.com