Repercussion (album)

Repercussion
Studio album by The dB's
Released January 1982
Recorded 1981
Studio Power Station, New York and Ramport Studios, London; mixed at George Martin's Air Studios
Genre Power pop, alternative rock
Length 38:44
Label Albion (original release)
I.R.S. (1989 CD reissue)
Producer Scott Litt
The dB's chronology
Stands for Decibels
(1981)Stands for Decibels1981		 Repercussion
(1982)		 Like This
(1984)Like This1984
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Robert ChristgauB+[2]

Repercussion is the second album by the dB's. Like its predecessor, Stands for Decibels, the album was commercially unsuccessful but has since developed a cult following. It is now arguably regarded as just as much of a classic as Stands for Decibels by both fans of power pop and rock fans in general. This was the band's final album with the original lineup. Stamey left in early April 1982, but rejoined in 2005 to tour and record a new album.

The dB's began recording the album after a brief tour in May 1981. Chris Stamey and Peter Holsapple, the band's singers/guitarists, had enough material almost immediately to begin a new album. Stamey and Holsapple each ended up contributing six songs on the album. As was the case on the debut, Stamey's songs veered towards more experimental melodies and rhythms, while Holsapple's songs were more traditionally in a pop vein.

The album was, like its predecessor, very modestly produced, but there was some evidence of growth in the dBs' recorded sound. The first track, Holsapple's "Living a Lie", featured a horn section (the Rumour Brass) and sounded not unlike an old soul record (a surprise given that power pop was not normally thought to be a particularly soulful genre). The album was produced by Scott Litt (who would later become famous for his association with the band R.E.M. and for remixing Nirvana's album In Utero), who gave the album a slightly deeper sound, utilizing things like reverb on the drums that weren't present in their debut. Lyrically, the album was also a bit more unorthodox. Stamey's song "Ask for Jill", for instance, was apparently about the process of mastering an album.[3]

Holsapple's rockabilly-inflected composition "Amplifier" (about a suicidal man reflecting on how his significant other left him and took all his belongings, save for the titular object) became the band's lead single and also their first video. "Amplifier" would also show up on the dB's next album, Like This, as a result of the video. A video for the second single, "Neverland", was completed but went unreleased until the band uploaded it to their website in 2008.[4]

The track "Amplifier" was included on Rhino Records' box set Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the '80s Underground.

Track listing

Side one

  1. "Living a Lie"  – 3:26 (Peter Holsapple)
  2. "We Were Happy There"  – 2:39 (Holsapple)
  3. "Happenstance"  – 4:07 (Chris Stamey)
  4. "From a Window"  – 2:34 (Stamey)
  5. "Amplifier" - 3:08 (Holsapple)
  6. "Ask for Jill" - 2:33 (Stamey)

Side two

  1. "I Feel Good (Today)" - 4:28 (Stamey)
  2. "Storm Warning" – 2:32 (Holsapple)
  3. "Ups and Downs" – 3:03 (Stamey)
  4. "Nothing Is Wrong" - 4:16 (Holsapple)
  5. "In Spain" – 3:02 (Stamey)
  6. "Neverland" - 2:46 (Holsapple)

Different versions of the album have been reissued on CD with different bonus tracks, usually either Holsapple's instrumental B-side "PH Factor" or Stamey's "Soul Kiss".

Personnel

The dB's

Additional musicians

References

  1. ↑ AllMusic Review
  2. ↑ Robert Christgau review
  3. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/song/t4820001
  4. ↑ "The dB's "Neverland" Video by Phil Marino, Jake Gorst – The dB's Online". thedbs.com.
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