The dB's - CMJ Music Awards 1984 (sbd)

Studio 54
New York, N.Y.
Nov. 9, 1984

soundboard recording (quality: VG+, video source) 

The dB's - newly-posted pro-shot video from 1984

01 Neverland (fades in)

02 Love Is for Lovers

03 She Got Soul

04 Amplifier

05 Big Brown Eyes

06 White Train

07 Suspicious Minds

08 New Gun In Town

09 Black & White

The dB’s:

Peter Holsapple - vocals, rhythm guitar, mandolin 

Gene Holder - lead guitar

Will Rigby - drums, vocals

Rick Wagner - bass, vocals

WATCH THE COMPLETE SET HERE.

ROB SEZ: Ya never know when something featuring our heroes might turn up. I don't know anything about the person who posted this, but here's my guess: he was doing some pandemic cleaning, found this, and recently decided to post it. I don't know of any other pro-shot video footage in circulation that features a full set by The dB's. Consider this a very rare treat. HUGE THANKS to seeamanaboutahorse for sharing. The audio rip turned out pretty well, I think, after a bit of post-production work. Comments are welcome (hint)!

FLAC lossless capture, lossy source

MP3@320

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 - Hoboken, N.J. Oct. 1987

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Maxwell’s

Hoboken, N.J.

Oct. 3, 1987

   
audience recording (quality VG+; very solid audience recording from a first-generation tape source; a club show that makes you feel like you’re right there…)
   

Outtake from The Sound of Music cover shoot.
The dB's were touring behind the album at the time of this show.
Don't miss the interactive tour of TSOM's artwork HERE. 

01 Today Could Be the Day

Jeff, Will and Peter, NOLA public access show, 1987

02 Never Say When

03 Change With the 

     Changing Times

04 Working for 
     Somebody Else

05 Lonely Is as Lonely Does

06 She Got Soul

07 A Spy In the House 
     of Love

08 Never Before and 
     Never Again

09 Feel Alright  
      (Cargoe cover)

10 Living a Lie

11 A Better Place

12 Why Did You Sleep With My Girlfriend?

13 Message from the Country (Move cover)

14 Amplifier

Proof that Harold Kelt (right) really existed...
and played briefly with The dB's... 

15 Neverland

16 band intros

17 Suspicious Minds

18 Love Is for Lovers

TT: 1:12:49
  
ROB SEZ: Good karma compels me to say yet again: THANK YOU to dB's fan for sharing.

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The dB’s:

Jeff Beninato – bass, vocals

Peter Holsapple – vocals, guitar

Harold Kelt – keyboard, additional guitar

Will Rigby - drums

The dB's - St. Louis, MO 1985 (FM)

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Mississippi Nights

St. Louis, MO

Feb. 26, 1985

FM recording (sound quality: VG+; only potential distraction is some recurring vocal distortion)
   

The dB's made a strategic decision in the 1980s 
to save money on haircuts & buy leather

01 Spitting In the Wind

Bottom one is for a dB’s show at Miss. Nights in '88
 

02 Rendezvous

03 Big Brown Eyes

04 Not Cool

05 I Lie

06 See No Evil
     (Television cover)

07 pH Factor

08 She Got Soul

09 Amplifier

10 I Am the Cosmos

     (Chris Bell cover)

11 band intros + Neverland

12 Love Is for Lovers

13 She'll Be Coming 'Round 

     the Mountain

14 Black and White

15 A Spy In the House of Love

16 Suspicious Minds

17 Money (That's What I Want)

ROB SEZ: If you snag this one and give a listen, you'll not only hear an energetic club show with good sound quality, you'll also enjoy some rare gems — most notably the cover of "I Am the Cosmos", Big  Star founder Chris Bell's only solo single. HUGE THANKS to the taper and Glenn S for sharing.

WAV lossless files 

MP3@320

The dB’s:

Gene Holder – lead guitar
Will Rigby - drums, vocals
Peter Holsapple - vocals, guitar
Jeff Beninato - bass, vocals

Above, one of

Peter's favorite

touring band

line-ups, with

Gene on lead guitar

and Jeff on bass

and backing vocals

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

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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