Peter Holsapple & Chris Stamey - Philadelphia, PA 2024 (sbd-stage matrix)

The Loft at City Winery

Philadelphia, PA

March 17, 2024

sbd-stage matrix recording (sound quality: Excellent)

CD 1

1.  intro

2.  She Was the One

3.  Geometry

4.  Big Brown Eyes

5.  Here Without You

6.  From a Window to a Screen

7.  Molly Says

8.  After All This Time/

Lost Without You 

9.  Swanhilda

10  Early In the Morning

11. Close Your Eyes

12. Our Back Pages 

CD 2

1.  The Child In You

2.  The Lord of the Manor

3.  She's Not Worried

4.  Today Could Be the Day

5.  Nothing Is Wrong

6.  Black & White

7.  I Want to Break Your Heart

8.  Angel

9.  <encore applause, tuning>

10.  Lonely Is as Lonely Does

11.  Something Came Over Me

12.  Here and Now

ROB SEZ: We're getting back to the origins of the blog with this post. Lilpanda is the one to thank for this very impressive recording. He snagged a direct feed from the soundboard and added an ambient recording using onstage microphones, mixed to create a superb audio artifact. If you leave a comment (GIGANTIC hint) please thank the great Lilpanda.

FLAC (hi-res 24-96 files) 

MP3@320

HOLSAPPLE-STAMEY FANS! Don't forget to snag Peter's new album The Face of 68, out now on vinyl, CD and digital release. Chris's next album Anything Is Possible is due out in July on Label 51 Recordings. The first single is the Beach Boys-esque "I'd Be Lost Without You." You can hear the title track HERE, and "Dont Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)" is HERE. 

         

      

The dB's - New Year's Eve 1986, Raleigh, NC

*bumped for 2021 — 35th anniversary!*

The Brewery

Raleigh, NC

Dec. 31, 1986 into the wee hours of Jan. 1, 1987

   
audience recording (sound quality VG+; a well-balanced, solid-sounding recording).

  

Gene models the kind of hat all well-dressed  
New Year’s Eve revelers should wear
(a sideways Like This LP jacket!)

01 Any Old Thing

02 She Got Soul

03 Auld Lang Syne -- Never Say When

04 Rains Around Here

05 Lonely Is as Lonely Does

06 Not Cool

07 Never Before and Never Again

08 A Better Place

09 Today Could Be the Day

10 White Train

11 I Lie (end cut, fades out)

12 New Gun In Town

13 Change With the Changing Times

14 Amplifier

15 Love Is for Lovers

16 Witchi-Tai-To (Jim Pepper cover; Will sings lead)*

17 A Spy In the House of Love

18 Why Don't We Do It In the Road?
    

*16 is a traditional Native American peyote chant set to music (leave it to Will to find something that cool & include it in a dB’s show...)

TT: 78:25

ROB SEZ: A fired-up dB’s play a rowdy New Year’s Eve show — a perfect way to ring in any New Year. During the show, Peter announces (for the first time in public?) that I.R.S. Records has signed The dB’s and that a new album will be recorded and released in 1987. BIG THANKS to TG for recording the show and RIDICULOUS THANKS to dB’s Fan for the share.

FLAC
  
MP3@320

 
These photos were taken at a show in Boston at The Rat in the mid-1980s. But it probably looked a lot like this on New Year's Eve in 1986 at The Brewery in Raleigh.
  
  

The dB's:
Peter Holsapple: guitar, vocals

Gene Holder: lead guitar

Will Rigby: drums, backing vocals
Jeff Beninato: bass, backing vocals
   

Chris Stamey - 'Secret Communist Meeting' (2005 live concert)

House Concert
East Windsor, N.J.
Feb. 19, 2005

soundboard recording (sound quality: Ex-)

Two dozen songs, played solo by Chris, with excellent sound quality.

HUGE THANKS to lilpanda and Paul for sharing.

ROB SEZ: Years ago, I made a promise to Chris that I would not share any Chris Stamey solo material here, at least not without his permission. That said, I know there are lots of CS fans who would enjoy this solo show supplied by lilpanda and shared by Paul on his excellent Albums That Should Exist blog. Just pointing you to it isn't really sharing it, right?

GRAB IT HERE.

HAPPY BOXING DAY, Y'ALL

 

The dB's - Rahar's, Northampton, MA 1980 (aud)

LOSSLESS REPOST

The dB's

Rahar’s

Northampton, MA

1980 (month & date unknown; might be spring)

audience recording (sound quality VG+; transfer from copy of
master tape). There’s a bit of distortion and the sound guy got a little silly with the reverb at times, but otherwise a quite enjoyable early show, with surprisingly little crowd chatter.
    

Very likely one of the band’s first live shows in New England.

   

Highlights: Gene rocks the house with his killer fuzz-tone bass! This show also features the only known recording of a mega-rare Chris composition called “My Sire Wristwatch”. According to Chris, “Sire Records gave out promo wristwatches to promote some punk rock band, and it seemed like some kind of commentary at the time (1978?) about how the scene was changing.” OK now, everybody sing along: "My Sire wristwatch, my Sire wristwatch / Thanks a lot."
    

This is the site of the now-defunct Rahar’s Inn.

Whatever else you might say, at least it’s got character… 

 

BIG HUGE THANKS to the taper and dB’s Fan for the generous
share

01 (I Thought) You Wanted to Know

02 Spitting In the Wind

03 Black and White

04 I Feel Good (Today)

05 Judy

06 Dynamite

07 Soul Kiss

08 pH Factor

09 If and When

10 Can't Take Her Away from Me

11 Bad Reputation

12 My Sire Wristwatch - mega rare song composed by Chris

13 Big Brown Eyes

14 You Got It Wrong

15 The Summer Sun

16 Cycles Per Second

17 Tearjerkin'

18 Death Garage

The dB’s:

Gene Holder – bass

Will Rigby – drums

Chris Stamey – guitar & vocals

Peter Holsapple – guitar, keyboard & vocals

WAV lossless files (from the raw, unedited transfer)

MP3@320

           

The dB's - Peppermint Lounge, NYC 1982 - NEW FIND!

Peppermint Lounge 
New York, N.Y.
Jan. 22, 1982

audience recording (sound quality: VG+; from Gene Poole master recording)
      

FIRST SET

The other Fab Four: Peter, Will, Gene & Chris

photos by Julia Gorton except Will Rigby by (unidentified)

01  Black and White
02  We Were Happy There 
03  Ups and Downs
04  I Feel Good (Today) 
05  pH Factor
06  Amplifier
07  Ask for Jill
08  Living a Lie
09  Excitement
10  Bad Reputation
11  Happenstance
12  Neverland

SECOND SET
13  intro
14  Up Around the Bend 
       (CCR cover)
15  Soul Kiss
16  Big Time
17  Living a Lie
18  Molly Says
19  The Summer Sun
20  Judy

21  In Spain

The dB's by Julia Gorton, c. 1982

courtesy of The Winston-Salem Journal

    

22  Big Brown Eyes
23  Storm Warning
24  Excitement
25  I Thought (You Wanted to Know)
26  Tobacco Road (John D. Loudermilk song 
        via Spooky Tooth) 
27  The Fight

The dB's:
Chris Stamey – guitar, vocals
Peter Holsapple – guitar, vocals
Gene Holder – bass guitar
Will Rigby – drums

ROB SEZ: In case you ever wondered about the value of this new-fangled thing called the Internet, wonder no more. Through the magic of the web, here now is one of two recently-surfaced dB's audio artifacts. Both are courtesy of the tape archives of Gene Poole and the audio expertise of elegymart. The first one, offered here, is vintage dB's. It was captured during the brief period after the guys recorded Repercussion but before Chris left the constraints of the band to pursue other musical adventures. Mr. Poole managed to capture very good quality audio without undue, non-musical intrusions. Recently, elegymart lovingly transferred the raw audio and made it available to us (read his fine notes about the recording below). There was a speed problem I corrected before offering it to you here, so this is my take on GP's original recording. Next week: a 1987 dB's live recording, newly-unearthed, also courtesy of Gene Poole & elegymart.

FLAC
   
MP3@320 

THE GENE POOLE COLLECTION VOL. 170

We're bringing you two sets this time from the classic line-up of the dB's from the Peppermint Lounge. 

The band have just come back from playing Los Angeles, and this was their supposedly final show before embarking for an European tour (Robinbrevard's live gigology shows they continued playing some US east coast dates into February, so who knows). There's also an ad for this show that appears to be edited and has the old 128 West 45th Street address on it, but the Peppermint Lounge should have closed out of that location by 1978. By 1980, the club would have been firmly established at its downtown address.

The dB's play what they consider a tight set at 11:30 PM, followed by their much later and looser set at 2:00 AM. Admission was half price before 10:00PM, which seems to have encouraged Gene to be there on time. Consider these other following elements: Gene continues to be an avid follower of the dB's to this day, plus his recordings of 1982 vintage were not plagued with mic problems as they were in later years, and he was usually able to situate himself in the sweet spot at the Pep. Yeah, this one's a keeper.

The dB's only repeat two songs in each set, "Living a Lie" and the heretofore still unreleased "Excitement." There's enough variety between the two sets, and their early catalog was chock full of power pop goodness, so you're bulletproofed against disappointment here. The quirkiness of the late show turns up covers from Creedence and the Nashville Teens (there is a mid-cut due to a tape flip on the latter, however). The Pep DJ sounds thrilled enough by the CCR that "Sweet Hitchhiker" is cued up to play after the band concluded the evening.

Enjoy,
elegymart

        

The dB's - New York, N.Y. April 1982 (sbd)

LOSSLESS REPOST

The dB's

(venue unknown; possibly The Ritz)

New York, N.Y.

April 1982 (exact date unknown)

   

probably Chris Stamey’s last live show with The dB’s, mk. 1 

   
soundboard (sound quality VG++; sounds like it’s from a 1st-generation tape; the rhythm guitar is/was kinda loud compared to other instruments, so I reduced its volume; on a few songs, there's some distortion in the vocals)
   

You can hypnotize yourself if you stare
into their eyes for at least 3 minutes…

photo illustration by Magnet magazine

01 (I Thought) You Wanted to Know

The dB's, with Chris on his way out

Winston-Salem Journal photo

02 Living a Lie

03 Happenstance

04 Storm Warning

05 Dynamite

06 Tomorrow Never Knows 

07 Amplifier

08 pH Factor

09 I Feel Good (Today)

10 Excitement

11 Walking the Ceiling
     (It's Good to Be Alive)

12 Bad Reputation

13 Neverland

ROB SEZ: First, let me thank the taper and especially Scott R for sharing this rare recording with me. Obviously, this is not the usual length for a dB’s headlining set. It's just 13 songs because the guys were playing on a multi-act bill. At the end of the last song, Peter says, “Pylon’s up next.” It’s possible this was a show on April 22 at The Ritz for which The Teardrop Explodes was scheduled to headline, but never performed due to an intra-band blowup backstage. The dB's set features what may be the briefest version of “Tomorrow Never Knows” the band ever played onstage. Performance-wise, there's a chaotic energy that gives the recording an edginess I find appealing. Is this because Chris had already told the band he was leaving to focus on his own music? We may never know. I'm pretty sure this is the last known live performance before Chris departed The dB's. The whole thing is very enjoyable, but the last half of the show really cooks. TURN IT UP!

    

The dB’s:

Chris Stamey – guitar, vocals
Peter Holsapple – guitar, keyboard, vocals

Will Rigby – drums & vocals

Gene Holder – bass

FLAC
  
MP3@320

The dB's - Viceroy Park, Charlotte, N.C. 1982

LOSSLESS REPOST

The dB's
Viceroy Park

Charlotte, NC

Jan. 7, 1982

audience recording (sound quality range: VG to VG+). A few anomalies to note: brief cut repaired in “Ask for Jill” at 2:11, crowd noise comes & goes during the show, and I converted tracks 03 and 04 from stereo to mono to reduce excessive & loud crowd chatter near the taper.

   

Here's a GROOVY photo from a 1982 in-store appearance. In addition to the amazing early '80s hairstyles, check out the dB's poster & 45's on the counter, with Repercussion LP's (featuring the original cover art) in the bin below — next to the Yes, Journey and Cheap Trick albums (!). 
Peter, is that a headband you're wearing?!?

All hail dB's Fan for providing such a cool piece of memorabilia

ROB SEZ: This is another previously unknown Repercussion-era live show, and the performance affirms my conviction that this tour marked the peak of the band in concert (at least for The dB's Mach I.) This might be the only known live recording that features both “PH” instrumentals: “pH Factor” as well as “Purple Hose”. Very large thanks to TC for the recording and big thanks to dB's Fan for sharing.

01 Living a Lie (beginning cut, fades in)

02 We Were Happy There        

03 Ups and Downs*        

This is not The dB’s. It's Iggy Pop.
But it’s Iggy Pop at Viceroy Park in Charlotte, 
which is where The dB’s played this here show!

Thank you, Rusty Moore, for such a great photo…

04 I Feel Good (Today)*        

05 Bad Reputation        

06 Molly Says

07 (I Thought) You Wanted to Know        

08 Judy        

09 Excitement        

10 The Fight        

11 Happenstance        

12 Black and White        

13 Amplifier        

14 Ask for Jill (brief cut repaired at 2:11)

15 Soul Kiss        

16 Dynamite        

17 Purple Hose        

18 Storm Warning        

19 In Spain        

20 Big Brown Eyes        

21 The Summer Sun        

22 Neverland        

23 pH Factor        

24 If and When        

25 Hey Baby (Alex Chilton cover – see comment below)        

26 Let's Live for Today

*Tracks 3 & 4 converted to mono to reduce crowd chatter near the taper; all other tracks in stereo

The dB’s:
Gene Holder – bass
Chris Stamey – guitar & vocals
Peter Holsapple – guitar, vocals & keyboards
Will Rigby – drums & vocals

FLAC

MP3@320

ABOUT TRACK 25, ‘HEY BABY’:  Zach noticed when The dB’s played this song at CBGB, NYC on March 21, 1979, it had the very same tune as Alex Chilton’s song “Like Flies On Sherbert” — yet with different lyrics. [SEE THIS BLOG POST.] Since it also shows up in this show as an encore, I decided to investigate. Turns out there’s a good reason this sounds like the Alex Chilton tune. Chris Stamey explains: “These were the original lyrics, before he rewrote it as ‘Sherbert.’ It was about Lux Interior (lead singer of the Cramps), at least to some degree. When I was a sideman for Chilton in NYC, I played it regularly with him, or as regularly as we played most things anyway, near the end of the band. Ronnie Spector sang this with me and Fran Kowalski after Alex died, at City Winery in NYC for this ‘Channeling Chilton’ event.” Thanks, Chris, for solving the mystery for us (with a special shout out to your amazing memory for detail). I suppose I shoulda known this already, since there’s THIS 1977 LX CHILTON SHOW at the blog that includes Alex singing a shambolic version of the song...

              

The dB's - Greensboro, N.C. 1981 (aud)

LOSSLESS REPOST

Friday's
Greensboro, NC
Oct. 20, 1981
   
audience recording (sound quality: VG+)
   

One of my all-time favorite dB's photos. 
I'm guessing 1981 or '82.

About this recording: while working on the original post — featuring a great write-up from fantom, I noticed the recording was a bit chipmunked. I'm guessing the speed problem was due to 1980s-era cassette dubbing. When I obtained dB's Fan's treasure trove of tapes, I discovered a low-gen. copy of this show in his collection. I digitized the tape, slowed it down to the proper speed, and gave it a few other tweaks to improve the sound. BIG THANKS to the taper and ALL PRAISE to dB's Fan for the upgrade.

Outside Friday's one night, long ago
Rusty Moore / LoudFastPhoto

DISC 1
01 banter + (I Thought) 
     You Wanted to Know
02 Bad Reputation
03 Dynamite (cuts out mid-song)

A GROOVY flyer from Friday's

04 Big Brown Eyes (cuts in)
05 I Feel Good Today
06 pH Factor
07 Ups and Downs
08 Nothing Is Wrong
09 The Fight
10 If and When

DISC 2
01 Black and White
02 Big Time
03 Judy
04 Tomorrow Never Knows
05 The Summer Sun
06 Storm Warning
07 Excitement
08 Time Has Come Today
09 We Were Happy There
10 Happenstance
11 Neverland
12 Louie Louie*
13 Death Garage*
14 Let's Live For Today*
    
*Last 3 songs with Mitch Easter on guitar
   
The dB’s:
Chris Stamey – guitar & vocals
Peter Holsapple – guitar, keyboard & vocals
Gene Holder – bass
Will Rigby – drums & backing vocals
  
*Mitch Easter, guitar (as noted above)

FLAC
  
MP3@320