ALBUM: Like This (1984)
MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$$
This reeks of college. Although this came out in 1984, two years after I had graduated from Auburn University.
I guess you may have earlier picked up that I matriculated there.
But my home was Athens, Ga. Yes I went to UGA as well. And Athens, at that time, was on the cutting edge of alternative music with the B-52’s, REM, Pylon, Love Tractor and many others.
I straddled the line, sometimes going all in on so-called alternative music, but still respecting roots rock and classic rock, blues and soul.
As Springsteen famously sang: I learned more in a three-minute record than I ever learned in school.
The dB’s had several very good musicians and songwriters, Chris Stamey and Peter Holsapple, who later joined REM, on tours. The dB’s had that college radio sound, a little jangle, a poppy feel that felt on the edge of breaking out but nonetheless retained its alternative label — perhaps a reason they never really did break out.
The dB’s were clever, smart and musically interesting. A Spy in the House of Love is one my favorite rock and rollers, but db’s still screamed dorm room and college life, which as I listen to it right now is good — because it brings back memories.
Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.
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