BURIED TREASURE
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This month on rock obscuria’s MIA list, powerpop gold from no wave NY.
Up to 11: The dB’s in 1981 (from left) Chris Stamey, Gene Holder, Peter Holsapple, Will Rigby; (below) the “bean tin” cassette version of the debut LP.
Stefan Wallgren
The dB’s Stands For Decibels
ALBION, 1981
ZOOMING MOJO from home in the southeastern US, Peter Holsapple scampers off screen to pull out the bizarre cassette edition of The dB’s’ debut LP. “It’s all rusty now, but it came in a bean tin,” he explains. “Inside there is a cassette and a dB’s sticker. Albion Records did a beautiful job. At the Virgin store on Oxford Street, they had a front window with these all stacked up.”
Recorded and conceived in New York by four schoolmates from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Stands For Decibels was released in Europe only in early 1981. Moody post-punk Britons were unmoved by this force-10-galepaced one-upping of Big Star’s #1 Record. However, with Stands For Decibels finally being lined up for a first vinyl release in the US, The dB’s can take comfort from the fact that their debut has lost none of its aggressively quirky freshness during its 43 years in the can.