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Critic's Review
Ed Rivadavia, All Music Guide
1997's Skeletons: The Best of the Dogs d'Amour takes a crack at compiling the most memorable moments from the Dogs' terminally shambolic career: a heaping pile of sonic detritus rife with torn bandanas, spent lipstick containers, reused needles, and broken shards of glass speckled with blood. All this may sound like silly editorial window-dressing until you actually experience drunken, semicoherent laments like "Heroine," "Victims of Success," and "Trail of Tears" firsthand as they tumble out of the speakers. Having done so, it's impossible to ignore the unquestionably fractured but powerfully evocative songwriting style of the group's charismatic frontman, Tyla -- a man who always sounded his most brilliant and inspired when he was about to keel over. And if ramshackle rockers like "I Don't Want You to Go" and "Back on the Juice," or equally irresistible acoustic torch songs like "Empty World" and "I Think It's Love Again" are any indication, keeling over was something he did quite often. All of which makes this collection an ideal introduction to the Dogs d'Amour's back-alley charms. And it must be said that, all these years on, their stripped-down approach (imagine the Black Crowes at half-power) has aged far more gracefully than most of their cock-rocking glam brethren.
