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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sounds Great 20 Years Later ..., December 14, 2002
This review is from: Stands for DeciBels/Repercussion (Audio CD)
The 2nd album has been one of my favorites since it was released in the early 80s. Great quirky pop music. The two primary songwriters are Chris Stamey and Peter Holsapple. They tend to compliment each other in a Lennon/McCartney or Difford/Tillbrook sort of way. If you like this, there are other CDs by the dB's and later work by Holsapple and Stamey that you should check out: 1. Like This - dB's after Stamey left - hard to find on CD. While I miss Stamey, this still pretty good. 2. Sound of Music - again, post-Stamey and again, hard to find on CD. I like it a little better than Like This - there is a little more richness in the songwrtiing. 3. Ride the Wild Tom Tom - full band, this is their earliest material. There are some throwaways, but most of it is very solid - great Stamey/Holsapple tunes you can't find elsewhere. 4. Fireworks and It's Alright - two post-dB's Stamey solo albums. I prefer the first one, which is a little more introspective, but both are excellent. 5. Sneakers - Racket - very hard to find, this is a pre-Wild Tom Tom CD with Stamey and Mitch Easter. Sounds like ... the dB's and Let's Active ... very cool. Includes an early dB's song or two. Similar in feel to the Tom Tom CD. 6. Mavericks - post-dB's reunion of Stamey and Holsapple. A little less poppy than the dB's, but great stuff. All this stuff is out-of-print, but you can find it over time on ebay, Gemm or your local used record store. Great band - enjoy!
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Insanely Catchy, Quirky Music, February 1, 2002
This review is from: Stands for DeciBels/Repercussion (Audio CD)
I'd heard great things about these records in my younger days, but never actually had the scratch to buy them until a week ago. I remembered their existence due to a name-check by The Loud Family, another great underrated band. The dB's were a tight rock group that based themselves around the songwriting talents of Chris Stamey and Peter Holsapple. Holsapple's songs were somewhat "straighter" and in something of a classic rock vein. They sometimes featured catchy choruses, ringing guitars, and subtle bridges that make all the difference. They were frequently about troubled romantic relationships, and tended to lend themselves to loud singing. He was on a path not dissimilar to Elvis Costello, albeit with lyrics that actually said something clearly. Best examples - "Black and White", "Big Brown Eyes", "We Were Happy There". Meanwhile, Stamey revelled in quirkiness, in a way not dissimilar to early David Byrne. His vocals sometimes sound like those of a snotty kid turned loose in a studio. He veers his songs towards sonic adventurism - seemingly aspiring towards a Beach Boys/Sgt. Peppers vibe, with twists in it. His songs are hit-or-miss, but when they hit they're quite a power-pop rush. Best examples - "Happenstance", "Tearjerkin'", "Espionage". Artistically, these two LPs seem to be the band's peak. The two writers complemented each other, in terms of the songs they brought in as well as their vocal harmonies, and the band played very sharply (the rhythm section was very active). Stamey left after these two LPs; the other three continued the band and had mild success playing Holsapple's songs, their peak being 1984's "Like This". I highly recommend this disk.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Winston-Salem Is Smokin', November 11, 2003
This review is from: Stands for DeciBels/Repercussion (Audio CD)
I agree with the below review by leeleedee. The dB's were marvelous in the studio and lousy live. Holsapple did sweat too much for a power-popper; the essence of the music is no sweat. Be that as it may, this ranks almost up there with the twofer of Big Star's "#1 Record" and "Radio City" as essential power-pop. The dB's were more abrasive and experimental than the Memphis group, and Holsapple and Stamey didn't sing as well as Chilton and Bell (although Chris Bell could sound a little shrill at times). The first LP gets the nod as truly essential, but "Repercussion," suffering as it does from a slightly fussy approach, is still a very solid record. Again, the essence of this music is a certain mannerism, so it's a question of how mannered you want to get, right? These two records originally appeared around '81 on the Albion label and have been reissued in various configurations since. In the '80s, the dB's put out a "six-pack" of singles featuring "Judy," "Soul Kiss," "pH Factor" and "Baby Talk," as well as a slightly different version of "Cycles Per Second." All good stuff. "Like This," the third dB's record, isn't bad but it's more standard-issue American power-pop, and Holsapple's voice doesn't match his songwriting. The B-side of "Love is for Lovers," "Darby Hall," is one of their best songs ever and as far as I know is unavailable on CD. Too bad. In my opinion, the dB's, Big Star and Marshall Crenshaw are the ultimate in power-pop; the Raspberries, the Flamin' Groovies, the Shoes, the Records, 20/20, Artful Dodger and the Scruffs all did nice stuff and any aficionado of the style probably owns some of their work. But in varying degrees their work, fine as it is, lacks both the meaningful idiosyncrasy of "Radio City" and "Stands for Decibels" and the warmth of Crenshaw's "Field Day."
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