I love hearing and reading musicians in their own words discuss the aspirations for their own songs. This morning I received a note from a friend in Spain with a link to a New York Times piece by The dB’s Peter Holsapple, entitled Anatomy of a Flop. It’s a well-written examination of his dashed desires for the song “Love Is For Lovers,” the failed single from the band’s underwhelming third album, Like This. Holsapple writes of his would-be hit:
It had (and has, I believe) an undeniable hook, the kind you’d find yourself singing in the shower or pounding along to on your steering wheel while driving. The performance, produced by Chris Butler at the old Bearsville Studio in upstate New York, has all the power of the best kind of rock: slamming drums, inventive bass, a solid riff and a fantastic solo.
You can hear both the failed single and a snippet of Holsapple’s original demo, with an old girlfriend on vocals (someone here must know who this woman was), alongside his piece. As many of you know, I’m a big fan of the first two dB’s albums, but Like This never quite worked for me. The “slamming drums” never sit well with me and as much as I love Gene Holder on bass, I thought he was a detriment to the band’s sound on guitar. I highly recommend reading this piece and reviewing the song.
Holsapple’s a good egg about the situation:
Of course, as usual, the glaring problematic element of the equation is the vocals provided by yours truly. I tried, God knows, and it sounds almost all right, but if there’s a weak spot in “Love is for Lovers,” it would be the singing.
Holsapple shoulders the burden for the song’s failure, but as the snippet of his original demo suggests, I think the band’s arrangement for the album version was too fussy and too “slamming” for its own good. “Amplifier,” sly and understated, recorded with the earlier 4-piece lineup, was rightfully the more successful song from Like This.
