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Lots of love here for "Repercussion," certainly well deserved--"Ask for Jill" is one of my all-time favorites. But to my ears the first record is actually a bit more radical, pure, inventive--"Espionage," "The Fight" ()., "Tearjerkin'," "Dynamite": now that's inspired pop music. On the one hand self-conscious, referential, post-modern neo-pop; on the other hand, fresh and teemingly imaginative as could be. Anyway, two wonderful records.
"Ask for Jill" sounds like nothing I've ever heard before and makes me smile every time (especially in the recorded phone conversation). Two best albums of the 80's in my opinion. The song structures are original and surprising with every listen. The dB's manage to be extremely progressive and pop at the same time. They embody a strange neo-psychodelia in songs like "Espionage" and "Dynamite" recalling the drawled vocals of sixties classics like the Kink's "Lazy old sun." Amplifier sounds like a They Might Be Giants song with a darker twist. They never stuck to formula. Timeless.If you like this, check out the Feelies 1st two albums
This is the album that bridged the 1970s southern rock of Big Star and the southern Indy Rock of REM. It is full of enjoyable hook driven rock and roll
A girlfriend I had years back bought this album for me because she loved the song amplifier and figured I would as well. If I had a seven inch of the first three songs I'd give the DBs a four star rating. I don't find it interesting. and told her as much. Not worth the $10. We broke up a couple months later. I thought the song was stupid. This.
The first three songs on the collection are good. The first, Black and White, is an absolute gem. Sounds like an 80's movie background band. Maybe you disagree.
A lot has been said about The DBs classic Repercussion. But even quirkier- and my personal favorite of the two- is Stands for Decibels. It's arguably the very best album to emerge from the early 80s South/East (Chapel Hill/Athens) alternative scene. I'd go further and say its classic pop sound checks and superlative stories of relationships gone awry place it in the the top twenty rock albums of all time. It's a much more challenging soundscape, embodying the edgy music of the best New Wave and at the same time providing an exemplary blueprint for so much heartfelt thinking person's pop to come in the subsequent twenty years. Absolutely essential.
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