Stand-Ins for Decibels-Tribute to the Db's

Tribute to the Db's (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 8, 2005)
• Original Release Date: November 8, 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Paisley Pop
• ASIN: B000BTJC6S
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #474,538 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Neverland - Bill Lloyd

2. Cycles Per Second - Lisa Mychols

3. If & When - Spike Priggen

4. Dynamite - Don Dixon

5. Storm Warning - The Mello Cads

6. Working for Somebody Else - Cockeyed Ghost & Evie Sands

7. White Train - Last Train Home

8. Moving in Your Sleep - Steve Almaas & Ali Smith

9. Lonely Is (As Lonely Does) - Jill Olson

10. Ask for Jill - The Swivel Chairs

11. Think Too Hard - The Hanging Chads

12. Death Garage - Noel Coward's Ghost

13. Nothing Is Wrong - Brown Mountain Lights

14. Big Brown Eyes - Aaron Spade & The Big Digs

15. Amplifier - Matt Keating

16. From A Window (To A Screen) - TANGERINE TROUSERS

17. I Feel Good (Today) - Bobby Sutliff

18. Molly Says - Tim Lee

19. I Lie - Ray Mason

20. On the Battlefront - Francine

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

North Carolina's gift to 80s rock, they were one of those smart, trendy, talented bands that critics love and the big record companies don't know how to sell. Songwriters Stamey & Holsapple were the Lennon/McCartney of their generation. The dB's stretched the boundaries of the three-minute pop song to their limits, while never abandoning the pure-pop ethic. The band's music was a quirky blend of smart pop and psychedelia crossed with the more experimental side of new wave. Though they never received widespread recognition outside of critical acclaim, they provided a key link between Big Star and '80s alternative guitar acts such as R.E.M. Now 22 Fab & Gear Indie Pop artists pay tribute to this groundbreaking band. For Fans Of: the dB’s, R.E.M., Big Star, The New Pornographers,Fountains of Wayne, Yo La Tengo, Chris Stamey, The Continental Drifters, 80’s college radio, The Beatles.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Must-have for dB's fans, and not bad for others..., December 28, 2005

By 

Mr. Chips (Columbia, MO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stand-Ins for Decibels-Tribute to the Db's (Audio CD)

As someone who was a young man when the dB's were hitting their stride, rock and roll left me behind about the time the Pixies broke up. Some of the musicians here -- Don Dixon, Steve Almaas, Bobby Sutliff, Tim Lee -- are of the same generation as the dB's, while the rest are likely young enough to be their/my kids.

To be honest, I've never even heard of most of the bands on here, but it's fascinating to hear the sonic and emotional slants they've given these classic power pop songs. Female renditions of songs like "Cycles per second" and "Moving in your sleep" are really refreshing. Especially evocative is Jill Olson's rendition of "Lonely is as lonely does." "Working for somebody else" is effective as a duet, and "Amplifier" as rendered by Matt Keating becomes ferociously desolate as an acoustic ballad about suicide. "Nothing is wrong" is redone as an uptempo bluegrassy mandolin-dominated number, while "She got soul" by The injured parties gets a garage treatment, like something by the Sonics or the Standells.

Other renditions can't help but display their affection for the Holsapple and Stamey originals. "If and when" by Spike Priggen reprises Stamey's great guitar break; "Storm warning" expands the samba treatment on the original, but exchanges a trumpet solo for the flute. Other cuts -- "Think too hard," "Big Brown eyes," Molly says," Love is for lovers" -- are boy-band approaches that can't seem to escape the mold of the originals, even while the vocals and instrumentation have a more modern sound. This is not a criticism -- rather, one gets the feeling that the young bands didn't want to try to improve upon the originals, that it didn't occur to them to do so, because the originals sounded so good to them. I would be interested to know how the bands were contacted to play on this album, why they chose the songs they did, and what the dB's legacy means to them.

This record will mostly be of interest to dB's fans, but it's a solid little album either way. I like to think that a new generation of young fans will be turned on to the dB's as they seek music by their favorite young bands on this album. It works the other way around too; I will definitely be checking out Jill Olson's stuff.