Peppermint Lounge, NYC 1981

The dB's

Peppermint Lounge

New York, NY

1981-10-11

Two weeks ago: a show from 1979

Last week: 1980

This week: 1981

Next week: ? (I know, the suspense could kill you...)

audience recording (sound quality VG+)
This show marked the US release of Repercussion
BIG THANKS to the taper and uploader!

Video capture from a dB's show at The Peppermint Lounge, NYC

1.  I Thought (You Wanted to Know)

2.  Bad Reputation

3.  Dynamite

4.  Soul Kiss

5.  Judy

6.  I Feel Good (Today)

7.  pH Balance

8.  Tomorrow Never Knows

9.  Ups and Downs

10. The Fight

11. Excitement

12. We Were Happy There

13. Happenstance

14. Black and White

15. Whipping Post > Neverland

16. (blank - 10 seconds of complete silence)

17. Part 3 of final jam session

MP3@320

Alt. Link

The dB’s:

Chris Stamey – guitar & vocals

Peter Holsapple – guitar, keyboard & vocals

Gene Holder – bass

Will Rigby – drums

ADDITIONAL NOTES APPEAR BELOW 

Peppermint Lounge, NYC — way back when

 

Uploader’s note: The Individuals opened. The Raybeats followed The dB's and played a very short 3-song set. The grand finale was, believe it or not, a jam session, with Peter joined onstage by various members of the Bush Tetras, Au Pairs, and Malaria. Included is Part 3 of the jam (first two parts are lost).

Rob says: I've added track 17, which came from a separate download. But since it includes Peter (and is from the same night, venue & show), I thought I'd include it for historical value. Some of you may want to leave it off if you burn the show or load it in your iPod.

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20,000 Blog Hits Celebration = Charlotte Times 2!

One day last week, 

The dB's Repercussion Blog

reached the 20,000 hits mark —
6 months after its debut.

Pretty Dang Cool, I think!

HOW TO CELEBRATE? 

Get double happy with a double helping of dB's shows from Charlotte, NC 

(where I've spent a lot of time since moving there when I was 12).

Both shows were supplied by friends of the blog, so special thanks go out this week to Batchain and to Scott.

ENJOY!

Milestone, Charlotte, NC 1980 + bonus

The dB's

The Milestone

Charlotte, NC

Oct. 8, 1980

aud. (sound quality VG; mix comes & goes in the first two songs, so I cut & faded in both; otherwise smooth sailing for the rest of the show, with a good clear mix.)

NOTE: last 3 tracks are from an early 1980s show in Atlanta, GA
 
Highlight: great high-energy show. You get the feeling the guys knew that punk bands also performed at The Milestone, and you can hear it in their playing. 

BIG THANKS to the taper and Batchain for the share!

A band you can really look up to...  

photo by Stephanie Chernikowski

DISC 1

01 (I Thought) You Wanted to Know (beginning cut; fades in)

02 Judy (beginning cut; fades in)

03 Dynamite        

04 Soul Kiss

05 pH Factor

06 Death Garage

07 You Can’t Take Her Away From Me

08 My Back Pages

09 (unknown instrumental)

10 Bad Reputation

11 What’s the Matter With Me?

12 You Got It Wrong

13 I Feel Good (Today)

14 Big Brown Eyes

15 The Summer Sun

DISC 2

16 Tearjerkin’

17 The Fight

18 If and When

19 Let’s Live for Today

20 Everlasting Love

21 What I Dig

22 Spitting In the Wind*

23 Black and White*

24 The Summer Sun*

     *last 3 tracks are from an early 1980s show in Atlanta, GA (#s 21-24 
      have sometimes circulated with The Ritz, NYC, Feb. 1982 recording)

Disc 1 (MP3@320)
Disc 2 (MP3@320)

Alt. Link (Disc 1)
Alt. Link (Disc 2)

The dB's:

Chris Stamey

Will Rigby

Gene Holder

Peter Holsapple

The dB's ponder the future  
S. Chernikowski photo

CBGBs NYC 1979 + Early Demos

The dB’s – CBGBs 1979-03-21 + Early Demos

 
With all the recent talk of the band’s history and “30 Years Ago...”, 

I thought a musical dose of The dB’s early days might be fun.

 

BIG THANKS to the taper and Batchain for the share!

In the live set, only 2 songs from the debut album appear, alongside several early tunes that later disappeared from the group’s repertoire. For extra fun, compare the punked-up live version of "If & When" to the demo!

Central Park Lake, NYC, 1980
photo by Laura Levine

CBGBs, NYC
March 21, 1979
(aud., sound quality VG to VG+)

01 The Summer Sun (first few secs. cut, fades in) 
02 Dynamite (sound quality dips for about 90 secs.) 
03 You're Gonna Want Me To*
04 She's Green, I'm Blue
05 Everytime, Anytime
06 Bad Reputation
07 Rendezvous (brief distortion at 0:46 & 2:19)
08 My Back Pages
09 If and When
10 We Were Happy There
11 Let's Live for Today
12 The World Keeps Goin' Round (slight buzzing on this & final track)
13 Hey Baby* 
  
      *titles are guesses, based on song lyrics

The dB’s and the NYC skyline, c. 1980

The dB’s

Early Demos (late 1970s)
(sbd., from multi-gen. cassette; sound quality Gd+ to VG-) 

01 (I Thought) You Wanted to Know (demo)

02 If and When (demo) + instrumental

03 We Should Be In Bed (demo)

04 What I Dig (demo)

05 Nonsequitur of Silence (demo)

A probable date for these demos would be 1978 (the first 3 at least). The sound quality is a bit less than the live set, and you can hear a dropout once in a while, but otherwise pretty darn listenable for the age & origins of the material. I checked to be sure there’s no overlap with the oldest tracks on The dB’s excellent Ride the Wild Tom-Tom comp or either of the Sneakers comps (look HERE or here). One or two may be the same take, but in any case, the mixes are different than the released versions. 

Check out the instrumental that Chris tacked onto the “If and When” demo — guitar feedback segueing into classical woodwinds; very weird & very cool!

MP3@320

Alt. Link

Chris Stamey & The dB’s

Gene Holder - bass

Will Rigby - drums

Chris Stamey – guitar, vocals

Peter Holsapple – guitar, vocals

Before the name was shortened, the band was

known in the early days as “Chris Stamey & The dB’s”

(flyer from March 1979 show, Hot Club, Philly)

The Golden Palominos - Toronto 1987 + bonus

The Golden Palominos

El Mocambo

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

April 1987 (from the "Blast of Silence" tour)

Repercussion: Lots of links between The dB's and The Golden Palominos: Peter H wrote "Diamond," one of the group's best songs (2 versions are featured here). Chris played bass on several of the group's albums and here, on the tracks from the Boston show. Longtime dB's friend Peter Blegvad wrote several GPs songs and sings some of them in these two shows. Another longtime dB's friend, Syd Straw, is the lead singer for many of these.

(Toronto show: audio rip from pro-shot video, sound quality VG+; Boston show: audience rec., sound quality VG-)

Syd Straw and cohorts in The Golden Palominos at the El Mocambo

SETLIST:

01 Intro + Diamond

02 Angels Voices

03 Work Was New

04 The Push and The Shove

05 Merry Go Round

06 Something Nothing

07 Buenos Aires

08 Quiet Her

09 Rockin' My Soul

10 (Kind of) True

11 Risk of Love

12 When You Love Somebody

13 The Ocean (Led Zeppelin cover)

 

14 The Last Man*

15 Something Else (Is Working Harder)*

16 Without a Trace*

17 Diamond*

*Last 4 are from March 17, 1987, Boston, MA show (audience rec.)

*Chris Stamey on bass & vocals in place of Matthew Sweet

MP3@320

Alt. Link

Drummer Anton Fier is the founder of The Golden Palominos

LINEUP:

Peter Blegvad: guitar & vocals

Anton Fier: drums

Jody Harris: guitar

Lisa Herman: keyboards & vocals

Syd Straw: vocals

Matthew Sweet: bass & vocals

Bernie Worrell: organ

 Learn more about The Golden Palominos at AllMusic