(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)
The DB's revived the pop tradition of
Brian Wilson
and
Alex Chilton
with a vision that was half new wave and half philological. Their blend of pop, psychedelia, and folk-rock would become one of the most influential for subsequent generations, particularly for Southeast bands.
Chris Stamey and Peter Holsapple, singers and guitarists from North Carolina who had been involved in some of Mitch Easters small bands (Rittenhouse Square, Sneakers, H-Bombs) and a couple of collaborations with Alex Chilton, formed the DB's in 1978 in New York with Gene Holder on guitar and Will Rigby on drums.
Stand For Decibels (Albion, 1981) was one of the albums that revived the pop harmonies of the 1960s. While the garage-rock of Black And White (Holsapple), in a Pretenders style, made them famous, their strength lies in psychedelic little songs, a genre in which they crafted Cycles Per Second (Stamey) over a calypso rhythm, with piano dissonances and cabaret-like interludes, and Bad Reputation (Holsapple), a boogie distorted by all sorts of alien events. However, it is the Beatles who are mostly targeted: aside from countless nods to Rubber Soul and Revolver, the harmonic oddities of Dynamite would fit perfectly on Sgt Pepper's, and the operetta-style novelty of Fight (both by Holsapple) would be ideal for Abbey Road. For the arrangements, the careful work of the drummer and Stameys precious keyboard interjections are essential.
Repercussion (Albion, 1982), better arranged, adds more garage-style rhythm and blues numbers such as Happenstance (Stamey) and Neverland (Holsapple), but once again the duos genius is most evident in their unpredictability: the Blues Brothers-style rhythm and blues march of Living A Lie and a John Lennon-worthy novelty like Amplifier (both by Holsapple).
The two albums were later compiled on Stands For DeciBels / Repercussion (Collector's Choice, 2002).
After Stamey left, the group became dominated by Holsapples melodic genius. On Like This (Bearsville, 1984), the highlights are not so much the soul of Love Is For Lovers as the orchestral Lonely, the ballad White Train, the novelty Amplifier, and especially the quirky country-funk of A Spy In The House Of Love. Never Before Never Again and Any Old Thing are the gems of the fourth album, The Sound Of Music (IRS, 1987).
After the DB's dissolved, Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey recorded the mostly acoustic Maverick (1991).
After the breakup, Holder went on to play with the Wygals. Stamey had already begun an active solo career. Peter Holsapple would make his solo debut many years later with Get Out Of My Way (Monkey Hill, 1997), a mediocre album tinged with melancholy and nostalgia (I Been There).
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(Original English text by Piero Scaruffi)
(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)
After leaving the DB's and relocating to New Orleans, singer-songwriter and
keyboardist Peter Holsapple founded a loose musical commune with
his wife Susan Cowsill on vocals,
Vicki Peterson on vocals (a former Bangles),
Robert Mache on guitar
(formerly with Steve Wynn),
Mark Walton on bass and Carlo Nuccio on drums.
Continental Drifters (Monkey Hill, 1994 - Razor & Tie, 2001) introduced
their suave folk-rock with vocal harmonies that harks back to
the Mamas and Papas and the Jefferson Airplane and a rootsy backing influenced
by the Band and by cajun music.
While the core of the album is made of (touchingly delivered) covers,
Walton's Get Over It,
Cowsill's Desperate Love,
Nuccio's Mezzanine and
Peterson's Mixed Messages
compete with Peter Holsapple's Invisible Boyfriend
for most tuneful song of the year.
Cowsill's vocals often steal the show.
Meanwhile,
The Robust Beauty of Improper Linear Models in Decision Making, Vols. I & II (1995) contains prepared-guitar duets between Chris Stamey and Kirk Ross, with percussionist Ed Butler.
The magnificent, raunchy blues
Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway (Black Dog, 1997)
was the appetizer for
Vermilion (Blue Rose, 1998 - Razor & Tie, 1999), the album that
marked the debut of Russ Broussard on drums.
A bottomless reservoir of pop hooks and harmonies
(especially The Rain Song, but also Way of the World)
and a wealth of inspiration
(ranging from the raucous southern boogie of Holsapple's
Don't Do What I Did to the personal recollections of
Peterson's Watermark and Cowsill's Spring Day in Ohio)
make the album a melodic masterpiece.
But the band truly shines in the tender, elegiac moments
like Mache's Heart Home, or
Holsapple's I Want to Learn to Waltz with You, or
Holsapples' Daddy Just Wants it to Rain;
lovely, unassuming tunes
crowned by the Jefferson Airplane-esque, singalong anthem of love
Drifters.
Better Day (Razor & Tie, 2001) is another eclectic collection
that represents the best that roots-rock still has to offer
(Peterson's Na Na, Holsapples' Live On Love).
Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey reunited for Here and Now (2009), their
second collaboration,
and reformed the DB's after a quarter of a century for Falling Off the Sky (2012) that borders on baroque chamber pop.
