The dB's - Repercussion
January 1982
By Paul Zickler
The dB’s
Repercussion
Genre: Power Pop
Allen’s Rating: 2.75 out of 5
Paul’s Rating: 4.75 out of 5
Holsapple Highlights:
Amplifier
Neverland
Storm Warning
Living a Lie
Stamey Highlights:
Happenstance
Ask for Jill
I Feel Good (Today)
In Spain
20 things I should mention in this review:
1) Amplifier is possibly the best song about suicide ever recorded. Plus it’s got hooks from here to next Thursday and a perfect little ‘80’s guitar solo.
2) Peter Holsapple wrote and sang that song. He later re-recorded it when Chris Stamey left the band and it became a trio. In fact, the video doesn’t include Stamey at all, indicating maybe he quit before the video was made, or maybe he just didn’t want to be in it.
3) I first saw the video on Friday Night Videos when I was in high school and loved the song instantly, but I never actually bought Repercussion, until last week when I discovered it was almost impossible to find anywhere, had been out of print forever, and didn’t stream at all in the U.S. This was quite distressing. Luckily I found a used CD copy under 10 bucks on Discogs. The vinyl sells for $89.99 on Amazon. Yikes.
4) They Might Be Giants’ “Twistin’” contains the line “She doesn’t have to have her dB’s record back,” which is clearly a reference to Amplifier, or I thought so, since that was the only dB’s song I really knew at the time.
5) I tend to favor more of the Chris Stamey songs, probably because he writes complex pop, reminiscent of Squeeze or XTC, only from North Carolina instead of England.
6) On the other hand, my absolute favorite dB’s tracks are usually Peter Holsapple songs. He’s a much more conventional writer, kinda Alex Chilton meets Stephen Stills, but with more heartbreak, and when he nails it, he really nails it.
7) Scott Litt produced this and later produced all the hit R.E.M. records (Document through New Adventures in Hi-Fi). It’s hard to tell how good the production is because their label, Albion, apparently screwed up the mastering somehow and all the digitally released versions sound sorta squashed, like a Napster mp3. Peter Holsapple later toured with R.E.M. for a few years after the dB’s broke up. He was in the Ken Stringfellow rhythm guitar slot.
8) I actually saw Peter and Chris in 2009 at a tiny club in Nashville, where they mostly played songs from their two duo albums, including the absolute stunner “She Was the One,” Holsapple’s guaranteed-to-make-me-cry-if-I’m-drinking-and-sometimes-even-when-I’m-sober breakup song.
9) When they played that song, there was this contemplative silence at the end, which rarely happens at a show, then a middle aged, wizened looking cowboy at the next table said, “Shit,” which pretty much summed it up. It’s worth seeking it out if you’re a man who’s had his heart broken at any point in your life.
10) The only dB’s song they played that night was “Black and White,”, which is a great song, but not on this album.
11) I really don’t know why Stamey left the band in 1982, but he went on to work with Yo La Tengo and produce albums by Whiskeytown, Alejandro Escovedo, Le Tigre and The Butchies. If you don’t know who Le Tigre and The Butchies are, you obviously didn’t raise two queer daughters in the early 2000’s.
12) The dB’s reunited in 2012 and released Falling Off the Sky, which is another great album. It’s still weird to me that I bought that album but not this one. Until now, I mean.
13) This record definitely lends itself to multiple listens. The melodies alternate between ear worm catchy and wow cool complex, sometimes both, as in Stamey’s “Ask for Jill,” the story of a guy trying to talk to a girl who’s impossible to pin down. According to Wikipedia, it’s about trying to get an album mastered and getting the runaround. There are so many highlights, though. Each time through I find myself adding another song to the highlight list.
14) It feels strange reviewing this so highly and recommending it when it’s so hard to find. I mean, I guess you could order the cassette from Amazon (Really! It’s only $6.99!)
15) Or, you could just watch the video for Amplifier. Here’s the link: The dB's "Amplifier"
16) While you’re at it, you should watch the video for Neverland: "Neverland" by The dB's It’s not as cool as videos go, but it does feature Will Rigby playing with 4 drumsticks. Plus, Gene Holder looks like he could be in the Monkees. It’s pretty cute.
17) Drummer Will Rigby was married to Amy Rigby, who wrote the amazing album Diary of a Mod Housewife while their marriage was breaking up. No kidding, it’s an amazing album.
18) She later married Wreckless Eric, and I saw them play together at Bumbershoot. They were this middle aged couple who had both been punks 30 years earlier, gone through some stuff, and found each other. Their albums together aren’t as great as their solo stuff, but they were very cute live. Really any Amy Rigby album is worth listening to, and Wreckless Eric did the original version of “Go the Whole Wide World,” you know, from that Will Ferrell movie.
19) OK, maybe I could leave the bit about Eric and Amy off? Anyway, Repercussion is a great power pop album that I’m really glad I own now, almost 40 years after it was released.
20) If you simply can’t find it, I might know of a Google Drive folder where it could be obtained. The CD version has a bonus track called “Soul Kiss,” which wasn’t on the original LP. It’s a Stamey rave up, pretty decent actually.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XrZFn9Cpddm4prkKQKWEDsbnYSXfpNq4?usp=sharing
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