Terry Ilous Rocks Out in Land of Gypsies
XYZ and Ex-Great White singer Terry Ilous pays homage to great 70s album rock with new release.
Thank you for spending part of your day with Michael’s Record Collection. It’s hard to believe I launched this newsletter a year ago, starting with my 15th-year retrospective look at Little Atlas’ Wanderlust album just over a year ago on Dec. 23, 2020. Since that day, it’s amazing to think that I’ve interviewed amazing artists like Dennis DeYoung from Styx, Night Ranger guitarist Brad Gillis, Gil Moore of Triumph, Billy Sherwood of Yes, Andy Scott from Sweet, Mike Connell of The Connells, Ray Shulman of Gentle Giant, Clive Nolan of Arena and Pendragon, and so many other favorites. I am so happy I got to bring you the stories behind their music.
And it’s been exciting to meet and interview artists who are new to me (and maybe to you), like Wildstreet, Chantel McGregor, Velvet Insane, Inglorious, Eternal Return, The Livesays, and others. It’s always fun to hear the amazing stories behind great music, whether from someone who’s been around for years like Walter Egan, Vinnie Moore, Mountain’s Corky Laing, or Renaissance’s Annie Haslam, or from artists who are just coming into their own like Laura Meade and Rachel Flowers.
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Now let’s get into this week’s issue, which features an artist you may not know, but you should.
Terry Ilous is a gypsy in both a musical and an itinerant sense. He doesn’t stay in one particular place — whether physically or musically — for very long. Although not a household name, Ilous has been able to carve out a good living with his music after moving from Lyon, France to California in the 1980s and launching his glam/hair metal band XYZ. He spent a nearly nine-year stint as Jack Russell’s successor as the front man for Great White, and has recorded vocals for artists all over the world. He’s also written and recorded excellent Flamenco and Latin music.
Ilous launched his latest project’s self-titled debut album on Dec. 10 and it’s worth your time if you enjoy the 1970s rock sounds of bands like Bad Company, Humble Pie, or early Foreigner and Whitesnake. Land of Gypsies is a terrific, 11-song serving of the kind of music many of us grew up with.
Joining Ilous in Land of Gypsies are bassist/producer Fabrizio Grossi, guitarist Serge Simic, and drummer Tony Morra, with Eric Ragno adding Hammond, Wurlitzer and Rhodes, and additional guitars by Jeff Northrup on the track “Somewhere Down the Line.”
Ilous, Grossi, and Simic did much of the heavy lifting on the songwriting duties — with Northrup writing lyrics — and the album was recorded in separate home studios due to the pandemic, with the exception of Ilous and Grossi, who met almost daily. The album took a long time to complete because Ilous said he and Grossi would spend much of the day talking about topics like coffee, food, and soccer, with brief bursts of writing and arranging thrown in.
“And then we did the song like, without even thinking,” Ilous said of those sudden periods of creative work among all the other conversations. “It was like a reflex, almost. So, from 11:30 to 2:30, we’d talk a lot and work for 10 minutes. And that was basically it.”
Land of Gypsies manages to sound fresh, paying homage to (rather than ripping off) the legendary bands from that era. The songs are full of memorable hooks and will sound more “comfortable” to 70s rock enthusiasts than “familiar.” The songs are all crisp and tight, running between three-and-a-half to four-and-a-half minutes long.
“I've always been a big fan of David Coverdale — the early days — early Rod Stewart, Humble Pie, all those bands…Paul Rogers, Bad Company,” Ilous said of the musical direction for Land of Gypsies. “I said, ‘What do I want to do? I want to please myself.’ Because when I do music, it’s really, basically masturbation, to be honest. It’s not about the media. It’s not about the fans — I have to apologize. It’s about myself.
“And I believe that if you like it, if you do it from the heart, the media and the fans will like it. If you try to be something according to what they want you to be, they will feel it and they will say, ‘This guy’s fake and he’s not real.’ If they don’t like it, it is what it is, but at least I was honest to myself. And I went back to those influences, to the people I really admire.”
Album opener “Believe” has a bit of a “Juke Box Hero” vibe in the rhythm of the verses and a soaring “ah-ah” chorus. Ilous throws in some vocal flourishes a la Coverdale, there is some clever guitar work from Simic, and the whole thing coalesces as a new thing built on the foundations of the old. It’s a bangin’ way to kick off the record.
“Shattered” is the second track — and probably my favorite song on the album. The song was written in the wake of Ilous being let go by Great White, but it’s a positive song with lyrics about landing on your feet and being OK, despite experiencing a setback in life.
You did me wrong, I should be shattered
I’m stronger now, I am better than you, I should be shattered
“I wanted to tell those people that I'm fine,” Ilous said, and compared being knocked down in life to being knocked down in martial arts — a discipline he’s been training in since age 12. “There is a lesson to learn from that. When Great White let me go, it was a great thing. You know, at first I didn’t think so. I had a great time with them. I respect them very much. I love Mark (Kendall) and Scotty (Snyder) and Audie (Desbrow), and Bridget (Kendall). They’re great people. They have a good heart. They just wanted something different.”
Simic’s riffs drive “Trouble” through the verses with some subtle flourishes from Ragno. The song will be a fun one live if Land of Gypsies are able to get out on the road, providing an opportunity for fans to sing-shout “Trouble!” back at the band during the chorus.
“Give Me Love” has another catchy, sing-song chorus (“my-my-my”) and incendiary guitar work from Simic. Grossi and Morra lay down a solid foundation while Ilous shows off his wide range of vocal tricks.
The mid-tempo “Somewhere Down the Line” was written to be an XYZ song but the band never used it. It has a transition between verse and chorus that reminds me of the chorus from Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” but that’s where that similarity ends, as Grossi shows off his bass prowess and the guitar riffs and licks of Simic and Northrup meld perfectly with Ragno’s Hammond organ chords.
“Rescue Me” was a song originally intended for Great White. Ilous had the music for it but not the lyrics, but it never made it onto a Great White record. It ended up being Ilous’ favorite song on Land of Gypsies and is a bit of a classic power ballad with an intense, rocking middle instrumental section and a chorus that marries heavy Hammond chords and guitar.
“I wrote (‘Rescue Me’) because it’s the endless search for love,” he said. “Love is the most beautiful thing in the world, whether it's love for your parents or for your friends, for the world, for life, your kids. As far as this particular song, it’s the search for your soulmate. Some people get to find that person and they have a beautiful life and some people never get to that point where they find love.”
“Not an Ordinary Man” is a slice of 70s power rock and “Runaway” follows as a softer, more melodic number. For my money, “Long Summer Day” is equal parts Rod Stewart and Jon Bon Jovi, and it’s got one of the album’s catchiest choruses.
Power chords take center stage again on “Rambling Man,” one of the rockier numbers on the album, which borrows heavily from the Bad Company playbook. Simic again shines on guitar and he provides the album’s best solo on this song, while Grossi’s bass will have listeners nodding along.
The album closes with “Get It Right,” another song that smacks of Bad Company. Ilous turns up the soulfulness in his voice to 11 and Simic likewise cranks up the power chords. You can almost walk across water on the bass line that Grossi lays down.
Land of Gypsies is a nice surprise in a year that has been filled with great music. If I have a criticism, it’s one of personal taste. I’m not sure the drums are recorded crisply enough for my liking. Morra can play, but I’d like him to maybe be slightly louder in the mix on some songs. But he may be mixed intentionally this way to mimic a 70s aesthetic.
Ilous is a talented vocalist and songwriter who has flown under the radar for too long. He’s got several other worthwhile albums out there, with highlights that include the first (self-titled) XYZ album and the 2017 solo release Gypsy Dreams, which features a diverse range of acoustic covers of well-known pop and rock songs — done with a Latin flavor.
Physical media copies of Land of Gypsies are available for purchase on Amazon or at Frontiers Music, and the album can be downloaded from the usual digital services. Learn more about Terry’s music at TerryIlous.com.
You can check out the full interview with Terry below. He is a very energetic guy and at one point he even grabbed his guitar and started singing to illustrate the story he was telling me about the writing process. Enjoy the video and thanks for reading!
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