{"id":19024,"date":"2020-07-06T05:30:16","date_gmt":"2020-07-06T09:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=19024"},"modified":"2021-06-14T17:15:35","modified_gmt":"2021-06-14T21:15:35","slug":"album-review-holsapple-stamey-our-back-pages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2020\/07\/06\/album-review-holsapple-stamey-our-back-pages\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Holsapple & Stamey — Our Back Pages"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"As wonderful as the dBs<\/a> were during their original run (featuring Peter Holsapple<\/a> with and then without Chris Stamey<\/a>), the more acoustic-flavored efforts by Holsapple and Stamey \u2013 1991\u2019s Mavericks<\/i> and 2009\u2019s hERE aND nOW<\/i><\/a> \u2013 were truly special as well. Decidedly different in tone and energy, but simply superb they were, even for a listener like myself who nearly always prefers electric over acoustic guitars. The unique chemistry and musical simpatico<\/em> that the two very different singers and songwriters enjoyed resulted in something that (if one can imagine such a thing) was greater than the sum of its parts.<\/p>\n

So to learn (in the decidedly desultory time of COVID-19) that during the hERE aND nOW<\/i><\/a> period, the two took the time to create acoustic arrangements of songs from the dBs catalog is a tantalizing prospect. And the news that they recorded that material, and have chosen right here and now (so to speak) as the time and place to share it is greeted with rapturous excitement. Not to be all non-critical and all, but in this quarter Our Back Pages<\/i> nearly earns five stars before I\u2019ve even heard it.<\/p>\n

But that would be rash, and not especially illuminating for readers of this online mag.<\/p>\n

Happily, Our Back Pages<\/i> is every bit as good as one could hope it would be. The rock trappings of the songs have been stripped away; the pair mostly play acoustic guitars, but they do overdub some additional instruments here and there. And Chatham County Line fiddler John Teer adds some delightful texture on several tracks.<\/p>\n

The song choices aren\u2019t always the most well-known ones, either. No \u201cAmplifier,\u201d no \u201cLove is for Lovers\u201d and no \u201cA Spy in the House of Love.\u201d Those are all from the post-Stamey Like This<\/i> LP, and Our Back Pages<\/i> understandably focuses on music from the period when both musicians were still in the band.<\/p>\n

The 11 songs that Peter and Chris did decide to include provide a tidy survey of material from 1981\u2019s Stands for Decibels<\/i> and 1982\u2019s Repercussion<\/i>. And with due respect to the great rhythm section of Will Rigby and Gene Holder, the stripped-down arrangements emphasize that songwriting was equally important as sound for the dB\u2019s.<\/p>\n

These new versions aren\u2019t intended to replace the originals. And they\u2019re not demos that illuminate the creative process. Instead they\u2019re relaxed re-interpretations of the music, recorded decades after they were originally created. A great deal of water had gone under the bridge by the time of the Our Back Pages<\/i> sessions, and that lived-in feeling permeates the songs.<\/p>\n

In its acoustic rendering with prominent banjo, the introduction to Stamey\u2019s \u201cFrom a Window to a Screen\u201d sounds uncannily like something off R.E.M.s\u2019 Out of Time<\/i>. And Holsapple\u2019s classic \u201cBlack and White\u201d delivers its heartfelt lyrics in such a different musical context that it might as well be considered a completely different (yet equally great) song. The acoustic \u201cBig Brown Eyes\u201d has a feel a bit like Pete Townshend\u2019s solo Scoop<\/i> recordings, but it still has that distinctive, chiming and decidedly Southern vibe that characterizes the dB\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

The duo plugs in \u2013 just a little \u2013 for \u201cPicture Sleeve,\u201d but the arrangement is still based in acoustic textures. And the swoonworthy, Everly Brothers-influenced vocal texture so prominent on hERE aND nOW<\/i> shines through all of the tracks. Throughout Our Back Pages<\/i>, the friendship and camaraderie that helped create the music is on brilliant display.<\/p>\n

And for the faithful, two tracks on the new set deserve special mention. \u201cDepth of Field,\u201d the liner notes tell us, was written for Repercussion<\/i> but not included on that record. The new version features lovely and subtle violin work that makes it of a piece with much of Stamey\u2019s sublime solo work of the past decade. Holsapple\u2019s \u201cNothing is Wrong\u201d was included on Repercussion<\/i>, but the version here \u2013 featuring the full band plus guest keyboardist Andy Burton \u2013 features Stamey rather than its songwriter out front on lead vocal. And while the original had a forlorn, haunted and faraway Big Star\u2019s 3<\/i>rd<\/i><\/sup> vibe, the new version feels more intimate and vulnerable. Fans of the dBs, Peter Holsapple and\/or Chris Stamey will want both recordings in their collections.<\/p>\n

Recorded without any thoughts of release, Our Back Pages<\/i> is filled with emotional resonance and damn fine music that belie its modest origins. With nearly everything everywhere on indefinite hold, it\u2019s a digital-only release. But I\u2019ll make a hopeful prediction here and now (so to speak) that when Record Store Day 2021 rolls around \u2013 assuming things have gotten back to some kind of new-normal \u2013 we might see a vinyl release of this gem.<\/p>\n

RSD21 Update: My prediction was close but not quite on -target: A CD release. I’ll take it!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As wonderful as the dBs were during their original run (featuring Peter Holsapple with and then without Chris Stamey), the more acoustic-flavored efforts by Holsapple and Stamey \u2013 1991\u2019s Mavericks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19025,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,62,65],"tags":[529,1622,1692,2153],"class_list":["post-19024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-release","category-rawk","category-review","tag-chris-stamey","tag-omnivore-recordings","tag-peter-holsapple","tag-the-dbs","cat-49-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19024"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21139,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19024\/revisions\/21139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}