The dB's - Classic or Dud

I saw Stamey playing bass for Yo La Tengo in late 1985.

They're also at Southpaw in Dec. The show they did at Bowery Ballroom earlier this year was fun, but Holsapple has lost range in his voice. Or more charitably, was not having a great night vocally.

That's the Green that usta have Rudy Giuliani's ghostwriter playing bass in the '80s, right Sara?

I saw the dB's once in the '80s (post-Stamey) and once since (first reunion w/ Stamey?).

That's the Green that usta have Rudy Giuliani's ghostwriter playing bass in the '80s, right Sara?

The very same. Ken Kurson was the bassist/ghostwriter. He also had a brief career co-leading the Lilacs (2 singles and 1 LP).

i went to a Built to Spill show with Ken.

SEARCH: "I Thought You Wanted To Know."

Right up there with "Another Girl, Another Planet" if you ask me.

"Black and White" puts a shiver up my spine everytime I hear it. That guitar hook and the way Rigby pounds around it. Mindbending!

SEARCH: "I Thought You Wanted To Know."

The B side of this is a killer too...

more like Stands for Douchebags amirite

'moving in your sleep' is the most romantic song i know

heard "From A Window to a Screen" for the first time in a long time this morning. ah, the sound of being 26...

First two albums twofer is as classic as they come, merely good with some great moments thereafter.

years ago, i covered the entire "repercussion" album out of boredom. gotta go find that...

First two albums twofer is as classic as they come, merely good with some great moments thereafter.

xpost: this is a false opinion! (sorry,i'm kidding) But, Like This is bloody brilliant. "Spy in the house of Love" is one of the best songs from the 1980's that most people don't know, IMO

i have a bootleg somewhere with mainly holsapple demos recorded in the run-up to "like this". it was pretty good, much better than the finished product imho.

that sounds cool. why you no like like this, though? is it the 80's production values?

it's ok i guess, but i really like the stamey/holesapple combo. without stamey, it all sounds a bit..samey. see what i did there?

I take it back: Like This is fantastic really, just not quite on a par with the previous two. 'The Sound Of Music' is OK but pretty ordinary.

I just realised the drumming on stands for decibels is the best drumming ever.

it is pretty great, yeah

The version of "Spy in the House of Love" on Ride the Wild Tom Tom is worth seeking out, I think it's my favourite dB's song alongside "Moving in Your Sleep". Why didn't Holsapple write another twenty like those?

I just realised they put out a single for record store day ("Picture Sleeve") and that they've got an album in the works. the single is a Chris Stamey gem and the drummer does the b-side which is also nice.

I listened "A Spy in the House of Love" last night.

I hate being like, "whoah, that dude got old," because it will happen to me -- soon -- but whoah, Peter Holsapple is unrecognisable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqvZRw7XqZc

I never really listened to these guys outside of a few key tracks (always meant to check out their debut), but man, the new one is pretty ehhhhh.

I mean, its well played, but it really sounds pretty tame and AORish? Like there's no spark or anything, just competently played songs with pretty corny lyrics.

I dig it, it hits all the right spots in my head. They sound so happy playing together and they know how to craft a tune.

agree with both heated and boing - love me some db's - and while i like the new one in spots it is kinda ehhhh - pains me to type that too

weirdly, because them becoming a constantly-touring act isn't really a possibility I don't think, the songs on this one sound like they'd really open up & kick ass live - like the road would really get them into a great pocket. I like this album a lot, really enjoy the tunes, but -- well, when what you're playing is a sort of 60s-inflected melodic rock you've sort of agreed to table concerns about "vitality" or "spark" in favor of just showing your wares

Yeah, I mean, I totally recognize that they are really great musicians and know what they're doing, I'm just pretty sure what they are doing right now, in 2012, doesn't hold my interest.

I dunno, I think it's a surprisinly good album, certainly superior to The Sound Of Music. Stamey's songs are particularly good. I think it has quite a bit more edge than their solo careers have had of late. The only time it descends into cheese is 'She Won't Drive In The Rain Anymore' which suggests someone's been hanging out with too many Blowfish.

only great track on the new dB's is "Send Me Something Real." the old Television-Richard Lloyd heave-ho on guitars. the rest, some good, a few rather pallid. their subject is the same old middle-aged angst and I don't think they do it very interestingly, for the most part.

when what you're playing is a sort of 60s-inflected melodic rock you've sort of agreed to table concerns about "vitality" or "spark" in favor of just showing your wares

I don't see that there's any reason whatsoever why this has to be so.

Well, I'm 45 and the lyrics on the new one speak to me, the sound is warm and invigorating and I'm drawn in. How much does ones distance from an albums themes factor into it's enjoyment?

I'd be totally willing to overlook the clunky lyrics if I was being drawn in by anything else, but it just felt so, almost, clinical, to me. But thats not really the word I want to use either, I'm really struggling to explain why I don't really enjoy this album. It has something to do with this smirking ex-coworker of mine that would totally have found this to be the most clever thing ever and would take great pride in pointing out to me how "smart" they are. Admittedly, a lot of this is my projection, but I'm not enticed by anything here, beyond a could of great hooks that are too good to fuck up.

I'm old enough to have bought the first 2 dB's albums on vinyl when they came out--1981--via mail order. So the middle-aged angst aspect of it is about someone my age. I think they are honest about it and I think they've earned the right to examine their plight, such as it is. I do love "Send Me Something" and enjoy the rest of the album, but it lacks the spark of the old dB's--even Like This had more bounce to it. I actually think Holsapple has gained as a singer, altho his yelping voice is still strangely callow. I saw Stamey and Holsapple a while back and thought they were great, and their last duo album was pretty good, and addressed the middle-aged angst thing pretty well. I respect these guys a lot, but their new record reminds me why I think rock 'n' roll is music that young people should do, if not necessarily music for young people...

Well, yeah, in my mind it's a step down from "Like This" and "Sound Of Music" (which I adore) but taken on it's own merits, it's a very satisfying listen. I guess I'm just a sucker for the Stamey/Holsapple team because I think their two collaboration albums are great too whereas their solo work is very missable.

Will Rigby's song with "when I replied to your reply to my reply to your reply to my reply to your letter" is one of my favorites.

Experience is limited to the debut...but it still sounds amazing to me!

http://devonrecordclub.com/2015/03/22/the-dbs-stands-for-decimals-round-79-toms-selection/

From another thread, The dB's Stands For Decibels/Repercussion--what's the cream of the crop?:

So this band-approved rarities site has posted a free .zip of Repercussiontracks performed live and otherwise; mp3s or wavs, your choice: http://dbs-repercussion.blogspot.com/

― dow, Wednesday, February 25, 2015 6:07 PM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Wowza, thx.

― EPMD Conference 2015 (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, February 25, 2015 10:09 PM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"Band-approved rarities site"? Well, that's kind of unofficially the case, I suppose. There are members of The dB's that cooperate with me, and others that hold their noses at the mention of the blog (I won't name specific names here...)!

In any event, I'm glad to have folks here know about the blog. Poke around. There's a ton of rare dB's, Let's Active, and related groups.

Cheers,

Rob-in-Brevard
http://dbs-repercussion.blogspot.com/

― Robinbrevard, Saturday, February 28, 2015 6:42 AM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

https://yeproc.11spot.com/media/catalog/product/cache/12/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/c/h/chris_stamey_-_euphoria_sm_2.jpg

from Yeproc:

"It’s called Euphoria because, to me, euphoria lives inside an electric guitar--that's the place I find freedom, passion, exhilaration: in the spaces between the notes, in the distance between the frets. I found this record inside the same dilapidated old Silvertone lipstick guitar that I'd written my first records on." - Chris Stamey

With Euphoria, Chris Stamey returns to the guitar-driven rock band dynamic to deliver 10 stellar songs rooted in his trademark sound: Strong hooks, expansive production, solid musicianship, wonderful harmonies and unexpected twists. Where his last album, Lovesick Blues, was built on slower tempo acoustic chamber pop, Euphoria, hums with upbeat songs, centered around the electric guitar. Focus tracks include, “Invisible,” “Where Does the Time Go,” and “Universe-sized Arms” a track Ryan Adams wrote and sent to Chris to record. Guests on the album include Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub), Pat Sansone (Wilco, The Autumn Defense), and long-time friend and collaborator Mitch Easter (Let’s Active)

01. Universe-sized Arms

02. Where Does the Time Go?

03. Invisible

04. Make Up Your Mind

05. Euphoria

06. Awake in the World

07. Dear Valentine

08. When the Fever Breaks

09. You Are Beautiful

10. Rocketship

Bonus Tracks (on CD and Digital Download included in LP package)

Draggin' The Line (Bonus Track)

Euphoria Cont'd (Bonus Track)

Where Does the time Go (Groovy Radio Mix) (Bonus Track)
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"It’s called Euphoria because, to me, euphoria lives inside an electric guitar--that's the place I find freedom, passion, exhilaration: in the spaces between the notes, in the distance between the frets. I found this record inside the same dilapidated old Silvertone lipstick guitar that I'd written my first records on." - Chris Stamey

With Euphoria, Chris Stamey returns to the guitar-driven rock band dynamic to deliver 10 stellar songs rooted in his trademark sound: Strong hooks, expansive production, solid musicianship, wonderful harmonies and unexpected twists. Where his last album, Lovesick Blues, was built on slower tempo acoustic chamber pop, Euphoria, hums with upbeat songs, centered around the electric guitar. Focus tracks include, “Invisible,” “Where Does the Time Go,” and “Universe-sized Arms” a track Ryan Adams wrote and sent to Chris to record. Guests on the album include Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub), Pat Sansone (Wilco, The Autumn Defense), and long-time friend and collaborator Mitch Easter (Let’s Active)

Also blurbs from No Dep and Blurt.

Sorry, didn't mean to include all that after the track list!

i find it so confusing that there are two musical norman blakes. the one from teenage fanclub, and this guy:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71j7RSNwFxL._SY355_.jpg

Listening to Stands for Decibels on youtube this morning, for the first time in forever. (My LP is pressed slightly off center so I never play it, and I've never replaced it.) I had forgotten how weird and arty it is for a "power pop" record. I've also never listened on headphones, the production is wonderfully creative.

Stamey is doing some touring now. I heard good reports on his gig near me, that I unfortunately missed.

The '06 expanded version of this dB's & friends Xmas album lit a Yule log under my seasonal sulk. & now with even more stocking stuffers:

http://d31hzlhk6di2h5.cloudfront.net/20150817/66/91/3e/88/7fda30ed4e6c92b8f80b6122_280x280.jpeg

(expanded Sneakers should be hot too, judging by the old Collector's Choice comp)

THE dB’S & FRIENDS’ CHRISTMAS TIME AGAIN!,
DUE OUT OCTOBER 16 ON OMNIVORE RECORDINGS,
FEATURES PIVOTAL INDIE POP BAND
WITH FRIENDS OLD AND NEW
Expanded Christmas volume features tracks from the dB’s, Chris Stamey, Alex Chilton, Marshall Crenshaw, Whiskeytown, Yo La Tengo & Jeff Tweedy, Don Dixon, Robyn Hitchcock, Big Star’s Third (featuring Mike Mills),
Thad Cockrell & Roman Candle,
and new faces Skylar Gudasz and Brett Harris.

Omnivore Recordings to reissue Sneakers original EP
(Chris Stamey, Mitch Easter, Will Rigby) on CD/digital September 25
RALEIGH, N.C. — In 1976, when American indie-rock was truly an underground phenomenon, a band called Sneakers emerged from Winston-Salem, N.C. with an EP of discordantly hooky songs with sly lyrics. Three of its members — Chris Stamey, Mitch Easter and Will Rigby — would help lay the groundwork for later bands like R.E.M. and Wilco.
Stamey and Rigby went on to form the dB’s with Peter Holsapple and Gene Holder, recording two iconic import albums, Stands for deciBels and RePercussion. Stamey left the band for two albums, while Holsapple kept the dB’s alive with Like This and The Sound of Music. (The core quartet later reunited for 2012’s acclaimed Falling Off the Sky.) The band’s Christmas album is an indie-rock perennial, and Omnivore presents a significantly updated version, Christmas Time Again!, just in time for the holidays, on October 16, 2015.
Meanwhile, the Sneakers clear vinyl 10 " EP that sold out on Record Store Day/Black Friday, re-emerges on CD/digital with two additional tracks on September 25.

The dB’s & Friends: Christmas Time Again!
The Christmas Time EP’s appearance in 1986 was a joyous occasion; it was first reissued in an expanded version in 1993 and again in 2006, and has endured ever since.
The dB’s & Friends’ Christmas Time Again! enters its third decade of holiday fun with an incredible mix of what’s been previously cherished and adds new tidings of comfort and joy.
Classic tracks by Stamey, The dB’s, Whiskeytown (with Ryan Adams), Marshall Crenshaw and Alex Chilton are joined by new performances from Yo La Tengo & Jeff Tweedy, Brett Harris, Robyn Hitchcock, and Big Star’s Third (featuring Mike Mills of R.E.M. taking lead vocals on Big Star’s “Jesus Christ”), among many others.
This is the now the ultimate collection of Yuletide fare from an unprecedented amount of alt-rock superstars. It’s not just Christmas time, it’s Christmas Time Again!
The dB’s: Christmas Time Again!
1. Christmas Time — The dB’s

2. Holiday Spirit — The dB’s
3. (It’s Going to Be a) Lonely Christmas — Marshall Crenshaw
4. The Sounds of Christmas — Skylar Gudasz
 #
5. Christmas Time Is Here — Thad Cockrell & Roman Candle
6. Home for the Holidays — The dB’s
7. Houses on the Hill — Whiskeytown
8. Christmas Is the Only Time — Wes Lachot
9. It’s Christmas — Lydia Kavanagh #
10. Eight Day Weekend (LIVE) — Yo La Tengo & Jeff Tweedy #
11. I Saw Three Ships (LIVE) — Don Dixon
12. The Only Law That Santa Claus Understood — Ted Lyons
13. In the Bleak Midwinter — Birds & Arrows #
14. The Christmas Song — Alex Chilton
15. Santa’s Moonlight Sleighride — Ted Lyons
16. Jesus Christ (LIVE) — Big Star’s Third (featuring Mike Mills) #
17. Christmas Light — Keegan DeWitt & The Sparrows
18. You’re What I Want (for Christmas) — Chris Stamey & Cathy Harrington
19. Feliz Navidad — The dB’s
20. The Day Before Boxing Day — Robyn Hitchcock #
21. It’s a Wonderful Life — Chris Stamey
22. Remember (Christmas) — Brett Harris #
# New tracks since 2006 edition
Sneakers EP:
Chris Stamey and Mitch Easter, icons of indie pop, first began to explore recording techniques in Winston-Salem, NC, during their youth. In 1976, Stamey and his band, Sneakers (including drummer Rigby, with appearances from Easter), put out an eponymous EP on Stamey’s own Carnivorous Records (later to morph into Car Records and release Chris Bell’s “I Am the Cosmos”). The sessions were engineered by Don Dixon, who would eventually produce bands such as R.E.M. (with Easter) and the Smithereens. Stamey and Rigby would go on to form the dB’s and Easter would reappear in Let’s Active. The Sneakers EP — one of just a handful of self-released records that created the template for the modern indie avalanche — remains vital in not only independent-record history, but for pop music in general.
Omnivore Recordings will reissue this seminal 7" EP on CD/digital expanding on the sold-out, clear vinyl Record Store Day/Black Friday 10" release of last year. This new, definitive edition will add two more bonus tracks, keeping those added last year, including the cover of the Grass Roots’ “Let’s Live for Today.”
Fans of the ’80s indie scene will be beyond happy to add this historic piece to their collection, and to experience the birth of the music they love. Whether to run to the record store or just to dance, everyone needs Sneakers.
Sneakers
1. Ruby

2. Condition Red
3. Driving

4. Love’s Like a Cuban Crisis
5. On the Brink 

6. Let’s Live for Today
7. Story of a Girl
8. Nonsequitur

9. S’il Vous Plaît
10. Be My Ambulance
11. Some Kinda Fool #
# new bonus tracks

http://d31hzlhk6di2h5.cloudfront.net/20150817/00/91/c0/61/0fef8f6eb397bdbc3ed41eee_280x280.jpg

I'm confused, didn't the Sneakers material get reissued in remixed and updated form at some point? Is this reissue the original recordings?

"Story Of A Girl" is absolutely gorgeous.

Here's the one I have (21 tracks, but no "Live For Today," for inst)
http://www.discogs.com/Sneakers-Nonsequitur-Of-Silence/release/3592547

from Yeproc:

http://www.yeproc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ChrisStamey_square-350x350.jpg

Chris Stamey Announces Upcoming Live Performances
.........................................................

Chris Stamey will be performing several shows in the Southeast in late August and September. For two of the shows he will be performing with a string trio, opening for the recently reunited Television. Also, his group Sneakers (featuring Mitch Easter, Robert Keely and Will Rigby) will make a special appearance at the Hopscotch Festival in Raleigh on September 8.

In addition, Chris will be premiering Occasional Shivers: A reimagining of the language of the Great American Songbook, on September 23 in the Kenan Music Building at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Singers include Skylar Gudasz, Django Haskins (The Old Ceremony), Kirsten Lambert, Millie McGuire, Mark Wells, Presyce Baez and more.

Here’s the full list of dates:

Aug. 27, Be Loud! Sophie Benefit Concert
Sept. 6, Washington, DC, 9:30 Club, w/ Television
Sept. 8, Raleigh, NC, Hopscotch Music Festival, with Sneakers (w/ Mitch Easter, Robert Keely, Will Rigby)
Sept. 10, Athens, Georgia, Georgia Theater, w/ Television
Sept. 23, Chapel Hill, NC, Chris Stamey Presents: Occasional Shivers

Sounds interesting. I've seen Stamey three times--once in the '80s around the time of It's a Wonderful Life, very good 'n intense as she squeezed out those guitar solos, and then more recently with Holsapple doing their duo stuff, and then with a small group in Nashville. It took me a while, but now I really like the last dB's, Falling Off the Sky--never was quite the songwriter Holsapple is, but his stuff cut Holsapple's warm-handshake humanism with something equally searching, if a bit cooler.

good lord the original 'Something Came Over Me' from the Instant Excitement ep that Willfully Obscure posted.
stunning.

I’ve always favored the first 2 dB’s albums over Like This. Pretty sure I bought them as a two-for sometime in the mid 80s.

xp it's possible it was an awkward situation where even he wasn't clear on every single detail of how it went down. Think about Lindsey Buckingham's recent departure from Fleetwood Mac - it was clearly one person's demand, but it's not like the others were all that communicative with Buckingham when it went down, even with their long history together. The best was a private "sorry it happened that way, I didn't want this to happen and wish I could do something" from Christine who was probably on the best terms with him. It happens in every profession, unfortunately, but at least Holsapple was able to restore his friendships with Mills and Buck (and maybe the other two) down the road, and not so late that there was barely any time to experience that renewed friendship again.

Re: the dB's albums, I love the debut the most, but I love the second and third albums too - I don't want to knock any of them to elevate the others. I'll have to revisit the fourth and fifth albums some day, I didn't think they were as good as the previous three, but I could find more to like about them now.

So---the dB's were a little older, prob setting an example (incl. what not to do, esp. biz snares to avoid), inspirational, even, in terms of artistic development in a direction of shared interest---plus they're from NC, not that far from Athens, there are connections vis Mitch Easter and so on: Holsapple, more than other sometyme R.E.M support players, was likely an imposing figure, without meaning to be pushy---earnest and articulate, so maybe the suggestion the more off-putting for its plausibility, the chords etc. voiced in a way unforeseen by writer(s)---some others of the inner four maybe saying, "hey that sounds..." maybe not wanting to quite say "better," or maybe insisting on it---
And maybe we get towards other musical insecurities, like Lou Reed in the face of Cale or Quine (also Fernando Saunders said that, after his "New Age" solo was mentioned in concert reviews, Lou took it away). David Lee Roth assembling one of the flashiest bands ever for his first solo album and tour, then acting all threatened----could to a whole thread about that kind of thing, maybe---

May have to put this on more than one thread, considering range of guests:

The Salt Collective, 'LIFE' produced by the dB's Chris Stamey

The Salt Collective releases the power pop supergroup's beautiful mystery LIFE on May 5, 2023

An immensely collaborative new album has miraculously brought together an international "supergroup” joining SALT and their guests Matthew Caws (Nada Surf), Matthew Sweet, Juliana Hatfield, Richard Lloyd (Television), Anton Barbeau, Susan Cowsill (Cowsills), Mitch Easter, Matt Douglas (Mountain Goats), Chris Stamey, Peter Holsapple, Gene Holder and Will Rigby (the dB's).

This new album is produced by Chris Stamey (the dB's) and recorded at Fidelitorium (Kernersville, NC), Ferber Studios (Paris), and Modern Recording (Chapel Hill, NC), as well as at artisan studios.

SALT is a Paris-based collaborative music project led by French guitarist and songwriter Stéphane Schück around a core group formed in the 80s with Benoit Lautridou (drums) and Fred Quentin (bass), SALT offers shivering songs based on transcendently melodic guitars and vocals.

NEW TODAY TO SHARE - Video of "Asylum" (featuring Matthew Caws of Nada Surf and Juliana Hatfield)

Of the immensely creative ambitious follow up, maverick maximum pop recording maven and artist Chris Stamey says, “In the midst of chaos, upheaval, and uncertainty, the impulse to make art remains strong. Matthew Caws sings of having “found asylum [on] this hillside,” and in many ways this recording project became a similar place of sanctuary for an extended musical family during a time when we didn’t know what new calamity the next day might bring. Life persists, hope remains. Always, it was helmed and inspired by the ceaseless optimism of Stéphane Schück, who shepherded and cheered each stage of its circuitous evolution.”

www.xopublicity.com

PORTLAND / DETROIT / SEATTLE / LOS ANGELES

@xopublicity (twitter, instagram, snapchat)

Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey are playing a show in March for Trouser Press's 50th anniversary:

https://www.ticketweb.com/event/peter-holsapple-and-chris-stamey-the-bowery-electric-tickets/13456803