Like This
Studio album by
The dB's
ReleasedSeptember 12, 1984
StudioBearsville Studios, Bearsville, New York
GenrePower pop, alternative rock
Length34:36
LabelBearsville
ProducerChris Butler, The dB's[1]
The dB's chronology
Repercussion
(1981)		 Like This
(1984)		 The Sound of Music
(1987)

Like This is the third studio album by the American power pop band the dB's, released in 1984 via Bearsville Records.[2] The band recorded as a trio following the departure of Chris Stamey.[3] The album includes a re-mixed version of "Amplifier", the lead single from their previous album, Repercussion.

The album's cover is a collection of stills from the music video for their 1982 single "Neverland", which went unreleased until 2008.[4] Stamey, who was present for the video shoot, was edited out of the stills adorning the cover.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
Robert ChristgauA− [6]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[7]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide[1]
The Philadelphia Inquirer[8]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[9]
Spin Alternative Record Guide7/10[10]

Trouser Press called the album "an instantly lovable gem," writing that "although the reliance on [Peter] Holsapple’s songwriting cut down on the band’s eccentricities, unpretentious intelligence, wit and ineffable pop smarts make it a wonderful album with no weak spots or inadequate songs."[3] The Chicago Tribune deemed it a "minor pop masterpiece."[11] The New York Times wrote that the Stamey-less songs "are less crammed with melodic and verbal ideas than earlier dB's material. They also sound more integrated and less like strings of pop quotations."[12] The Sun Sentinel thought that "the weakness here (and probably what sank it on radio) is the strained vocals."[13]

Track listing

All tracks composed by Peter Holsapple

  1. "Love Is for Lovers"
  2. "She Got Soul"
  3. "Spitting in the Wind"
  4. "Lonely Is (As Lonely Does)"
  5. "Not Cool"
  6. "Amplifier"
  7. "A Spy in the House of Love"
  8. "Rendezvous"
  9. "New Gun in Town"
  10. "On the Battlefront"
  11. "White Train"

CD bonus tracks

  1. "Darby Hall"
  2. "A Spy in the House of Love" (Extended Version)

Personnel

  • Peter Holsapple – rhythm guitar, lead vocals, keyboards, mandolin
  • Gene Holder – bass guitar, lead guitar, keyboards
  • Will Rigby – drums, backing vocals, keyboards, co-lead vocals on "Not Cool" and "White Train"

Additional musicians

  • Mark Tomeo – Pedal steel guitar
  • Patrick Irwin – Keyboards
  • Rick Wagner – Keyboards
  • Phil Marino – design, photography

References

  1. 1 2 MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. pp. 314–315.
  2. ↑ "You Say It's Your Birthday: Peter Holsapple Of The dB's". MTV News.
  3. 1 2 "dB's". Trouser Press. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  4. ↑ "The dB's "Neverland" Video by Phil Marino, Jake Gorst – The dB's Online". thedbs.com.
  5. ↑ Like This at AllMusic
  6. ↑ "CG: The dB's". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 2012-02-28.
  7. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 2. MUZE. p. 788.
  8. ↑ Rea, Steven (5 Oct 1984). "ALBUMS". The Philadelphia Inquirer: F28.
  9. ↑ The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 184.
  10. ↑ Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. 1995. pp. 103–104.
  11. ↑ Heim, Chris (25 Mar 1988). "MINOR POP MASTERPIECE BY THE DB'S GETS ANOTHER CHANCE". Chicago Tribune: 80.
  12. ↑ Pareles, Jon (22 Oct 1984). "POP: DB's PERFORM AT THE RITZ". The New York Times: C19.
  13. ↑ Bernarde, Scott (5 Jan 1985). "NEGLECTED LPS WERE AMONG BEST OF 1984". Sun Sentinel: 30S.
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