''Stands for Decibels'' is the debut studio album by American

power pop Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and ch ...

band

the dB's The dB's are an American alternative rock and power pop group, who formed in New York City in 1978 and first came to prominence in the early 1980s. Their debut album, ''Stands for Decibels'', is often acclaimed as one of the greatest "lost" powe ...

, released January 15, 1981 by Albion Records. The album was commercially unsuccessful but critically acclaimed. At the time of its release, the dB's consisted of singer/guitarists

Chris Stamey Christopher Charles Stamey (born December 6, 1954) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. After a brief time playing with Alex Chilton, as well as Mitch Easter under the name Sneakers, Stamey formed The dB's with Peter ...

and

Peter Holsapple Peter Livingston Holsapple (born February 19, 1956) is an American musician, who formed, along with Chris Stamey, the dB's, a jangle-pop band from Winston-Salem, North Carolina.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongat ...

, bassist Gene Holder, and drummer

Will Rigby Will Rigby is an American musician known for being the drummer of jangle pop band the dB's, a band he formed along with Peter Holsapple, Chris Stamey, and Gene Holder in the late 1970s. He has also performed with many other artists and has releas ...

. The songwriting was evenly divided between Stamey and Holsapple, although Stamey became known for writing the stranger, more

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

numbers ("She's Not Worried", "Espionage"), while Holsapple wrote the more accessible, poppier songs ("Black and White", "Bad Reputation"). Both Stamey and Holsapple played keyboards occasionally as well. Holder and Rigby did not receive any songwriting credits (other than a group credit for "Dynamite"). The album was dedicated to

George Scott III George Scott III (October 16, 1953 - August 5, 1980) was a bass player for several New York City bands during the No Wave era. He was a founding member of 8-Eyed Spy and the Raybeats, and he worked with James Chance and the Contortions, James Wh ...

. "Black and White" was released as the band's first single. I.R.S. Records reissued the album on CD in 1989.

Reception

In ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

''s year-end

Pazz & Jop Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...

poll, ''Stands for Decibels'' was voted by critics as the 26th best album of 1981. In a retrospective review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Chris Woodstra stated: "On their debut, the dB's combined a reverence for

British pop British pop music is popular music, produced commercially in the United Kingdom. It emerged in the mid-to late 1950s as a softer alternative to American rock 'n' roll. Like American pop music it has a focus on commercial recording, often orienta ...

and arty,

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

leanings that alternate between minimalism and a love of quirky embellishment, odd sounds, and unexpected twists; ''Stands for Decibels'' is clearly a collegiate pop experiment, but rarely is experimentation so enjoyable and irresistibly catchy." He concluded that the album "stands not only as a landmark

album, but also as a prototype for much of the Southern

jangle Jangle or jingle-jangle is a sound typically characterized by undistorted, treble-heavy electric guitars (particularly 12-strings) played in a droning chordal style (by strumming or arpeggiating). The sound is mainly associated with pop m ...

that would follow." ''Stands for Decibels'' was ranked at number 76 on ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

''s list of the 100 best albums of the 1980s.

Track listing

Side 1 # "Black and White" (

) – 3:09 # "Dynamite" (Gene Holder, Holsapple, Will Rigby,

) – 2:35 # "She's Not Worried" (Stamey) – 3:04 # "The Fight" (Holsapple) – 2:54 # "Espionage" (Stamey) – 2:39 # "Tearjerkin'" (Stamey) – 3:56 Side 2 # "Cycles per Second" (Stamey) – 3:06 # "Bad Reputation" (Holsapple) – 3:11 # "Big Brown Eyes" (Holsapple) – 1:58 # "I'm in Love" (Stamey) – 3:29 # "Moving in Your Sleep" (Holsapple) – 4:35 Some later CD versions (including the 1992 compilation ''dB's First/Repercussion'') add two bonus tracks: "Baby Talk" (writer: Stamey, length: 1:50) as track 7, and "Judy" (writer: Holsapple, length: 2:48) as track 13.

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. The dB's *Gene Holder – bass guitar *

– guitar, vocals *

– drums *

– guitar, vocals Technical *

Alan Betrock Alan Betrock (1950 – April 9, 2000) was an American music critic, publisher, editor, author and record producer. Initially a music critic, Betrock founded the influential '' New York Rocker'' magazine in 1976 and the publishing house Sh ...

–

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

*Stephanie Chernikowski – photography *The dB's – production *Victoria DeVeraux – painting *

Malcolm Garrett Malcolm Leslie Garrett (born 1956) is a British graphic designer, and Creative Director of Images&Co, a communications design consultancy based in London, UK. He is Ambassador for Manchester School of Art and co-founder of the annual Design M ...

– typography

References

External links

*
Discography
at official website {{Authority control The dB's albums 1981 debut albums I.R.S. Records albums