Repercussion

Certain Songs #283: The dB’s – “Amplifier”

August 16, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Like This
Year: 1984

Of course, I realize that “Amplifier” was originally released on Repercussion in 1982, but I’m going to write about the re-recorded (or “re-recorded”) version that is on Like This for reasons that I hope become somewhat clear as I go on.

1984’s Like This is probably the first dB’s album that most people heard. While both Stands For DeciBels and Repercussion were released on the tiny Albion label, Like This was released on Todd Rundgren’s Bearsville records, which — while still not a major label — had a distribution deal with WB, meaning there was some major label clout behind it.

Certain Songs #282: The dB’s – “Nothing is Wrong”

August 15, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Repercussion
Year: 1982

I’ve mentioned The Who as a big influence on The dB’s, which might not seem intuitive to any of you, but I stand by it. The other big influence is, of course, Big Star. To the point where it only made sense that Chris Stamey has curated the Big Star’s Third live performances (the one in L.A. last year was fantastic) over the past few years.

That said, it was Peter Holsapple who wrote my favorite dB’s Big Star songs. Like “Nothing is Wrong,” a slow burner that comes across like a lost Chris Bell song.

Certain Songs #281: The dB’s – “Happenstance”

August 14, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Repercussion
Year: 1982

“Happenstance,” the lead track from the dB’s second album, the stellar Repercussion, doesn’t blast from the speakers in the same way that “Black and White” took off, but it’s the most early-Who-like song in their catalog.

But not the noisy early Who. More like the version found on A Quick One or even parts of Tommy, where the guitars clang but never ring and the drums build and build but never explode.