dB’s: Smart Cliches

Take any standard rock-critic cliche and you can apply it to the dB’s: “well-crafted hooks,” “smart, insightful lyrics,” “hard-edged, ringing guitars,” “soaring harmonies.” All these (and more) apply to the long-lived, if little recognized hard-pop quartet that performed at the Variety Arts Center on Saturday.

Together since 1978 and an influence on such guitar-oriented combos as R.E.M. (who the group recently toured with), the dB’s demonstrated a winning hand at the pop game as singer/guitarist Peter Holsapple played spin-the-genre, going from lightly humorous, personal ballads (“Why Did You Sleep With My Girlfriend?”) to funky-town rave-ups (“A Spy in the House of Love”). A passing remark addressed to college students identified this band’s audience; unacknowledged thanks belongs to the Beatles and every tough little garage band from the ‘60s onward.

Yet for all the self-assured skill, smarts ‘n’ humility here, the dB’s lack the kind of vital personality and emotional resonance to separate the band from all the groups that have followed in their wake. Like many fathering institutions, the dB’s command respect and admiration; they barely inspire love.