The kind of smart, angular pop music that was a big part of what became known as New Wave in the mid- to late '70s was a product of the Deep South as much as any of the hipper enclaves of the East and West coasts. One could reasonably say Memphis cult heroes
Big Star created the template with 1974's
Radio City, and North Carolina acolytes like
Mitch Easter,
Chris Stamey, and
Peter Holsapple were flying the flag in bands like
the Sneakers and
the H-Bombs while the scene was still incubating elsewhere. So when
Stamey headed to New York City and started gigging with
the dB's, which would include Winston-Salem pals
Holsapple,
Gene Holder, and
Will Rigby, he wasn't jumping on a bandwagon so much as getting the rest of the world up to speed on the great music he and his peers had been making for several years. The period before
the dB's cut their debut album, 1981's
Stands for Decibels, was remarkably fruitful, and 2021's
I Thought You Wanted to Know: 1978-1981 is a superb look at the group's first era. The album is dominated by demos they recorded while they rehearsed in a loft that was also home to New York Rocker magazine, while also featuring some early single sides and tapes from their club gigs of the era. Most of the New York Rocker demos previously appeared on the 1993 collection
Ride the Wild Tom Tom, but this release boasts better audio and a prudent selection of the material, keeping most of the highlights and leaving out many lesser tracks. The strength of
Stamey and
Holsapple as songwriters is abundant on the demos, and with just a makeshift four-track recording setup to their name, they were savvy enough to put together an arrangement and get it on tape in a way that favors the song and the performers. The live tapes are of less-than-stellar fidelity, yet they document a band that had plenty of energy and imagination on-stage, and the covers of "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Time Has Come Today" nod to their influences as well as their approach to making the material work on-stage. Even though
Stands for Decibels and 1982's
Repercussion are clearly superior, the buzz and inventiveness of these recordings is joyous and exciting, the work of a great band finding their path and loving the process.
I Thought You Wanted to Know: 1978-1981 is a must for any serious
dB's fan, even those who already own
Ride the Wild Tom Tom, with the higher fidelity and live recordings making it the preferred foray into this era. ~ Mark Deming
