dB’s – That Time Is Gone

One of the things I have always loved about the dB’s is that their music seems to exist outside of time. You can put on one of their songs from the early 1980s and then play this song from 2012, and there is no jarring difference. That’s exactly what happened to me when I first heard this song. If someone had told me it came from their earlier albums, Stands for Decibels or Repercussion, I would have believed them (I did at first). Instead, it opened Falling Off the Sky, the band’s reunion album released nearly three decades after their original run.

By the time Falling Off the Sky arrived in 2012, the original lineup of Peter Holsapple, Chris Stamey, Gene Holder, and Will Rigby had traveled down different musical paths. Fans had waited years to hear them record together again. Reunion albums can be risky. Too often, they sound like musicians trying to recapture something that disappeared long ago. The dB’s avoided that trap by simply picking up where they left off.

This one is a perfect way to open the album. The guitar tone, the harmonies, and the melody stick with you long after the song ends. What impresses me most is how natural it all sounds. There is no attempt to modernize it at all. The dB’s understood something that many bands forget: great songs never go out of style. Peter Holsapple’s songwriting comes through with the track, giving it a reflective mood without losing its energy.

The dB’s never received the recognition they deserved outside of power pop circles, but songs like this one explain why musicians and fans continue to talk about them. Their sound was built on melody, harmony, and great playing rather than production tricks. That’s why this song could have fit comfortably on one of their early records. Sit back and enjoy.

That Time Is Gone

When you’re standing on the first step of the bus
And you’re asking yourself what are you doing this for
And you hand the man the ticket, find a place to sit
Try to rest on a night headed North
And you settle in your seat and your mind starts
Tripping on what it is you may be running from

You better wake up, wake up, wake up
That time is gone

Watch the world go by outside the window
As you lean against the greasy grey-green glass
And you’re trying to keep from sleeping
So you’re counting every moment that goes past
‘Cause you know when you sleep
You just dream a lot all night long

You better wake up, wake up, wake up
That time is gone
That time is gone
That time is gone
You better wake up, wake up, wake up
That time is gone

Every truck that passes, every cactus
Every bird is freer than you now
You got nothing holding you back, nothing tying you down
Freer than the law allows
And there’s no going back to go back to
One more time all that finished with and done