Bedtime Stories (©1990 A&M)

the songs: All For You / Goodtimes / Dance / Hello Mary / The Best Inside You / Young Anymore / Sirens In The City / Liberty Lies / Walk Through Fire / Colette / In The Morning / Stranger

Remember when music was supposed to be music, and songwriters had something to say? Kind of depressing when you think of it, but the state of most music nowadays is about fluff image, and fake titties (sorry Ms. Spears). David Baerwald was the other David in David & David, and with this solo effort proves that there is such a thing as a great pop song that has something to say. All For You is a wonderful piece of music, and there several others on this album. When his follow up album Triage was released I remember thinking, "Great, his new album is out. Gee pleasant cover, that'll help move a few units." Sadly I waited too long to pick it up, and it's been out of print for years now. But at least I've got this one, and after a decade it's one of those albums that is as poignant today as it was when I bought it.

Triage (©1992 A&M)

1: A Secret Silken World 2: The Got No Shotgun HydraHead Octopus Blues 3: Nobody 4: The Waiter 5: Aids & Armageddon 6: The Postman 7: A Bitter Tree 8: China Lake 9: A Brand New Morning 10: Born For Love

I finally gave up hoping to find this one at the local used shops, so last summer I forked over some bucks on ebay. After exchange and duty this one cost more than a pair of pants. I've been listening to it off and on for a year trying to get my thoughts clear on this one. I'm really screwed here, I'm not sure if I love or hate this one. Half of this is amazing, and the other half is noisy and clunky and doesn't do a thing for me.

So that makes this is a hard one to listen to. Lyrically this is a gritty and challenging piece of work. Musically, there are moments of genius - I defy anyone to listen to A Secret Silken World and not be impressed. The Postman, A Bitter Tree, China Lake, A Brand New Morning, and the haunting Born for Love are great songs. But the other songs here almost sink the entire album. It's not that they're bad, far from it, they're tight, complicated, and well written. It's just that they don't work for me. Whenever I look at Triage I think David chose the right cover. This is messy.

Oh I know I'm going to offend the Baerwald faithful but not going ooh and ah over this one. Call me a tin eared Philistine, I don't mind. I know what I like, and I liked more than half of this one so settle down.

Reviewed July 2, 2003

Here Comes The New Folk Underground (©2002 Lost Highway)

1: Why 2: Compassion 3: The Crash 4: Nothing's Gonna Bring Me Down 5: Bozo Weirdo Wacko Creep 6: Love #29 7: If (A Boy Whore In A Man's Jail) 8: Wondering 9: Hellbound Train 10: Me And My Girl

David is back with a major market release after a 10 year absence. He's not been totally quiet, a couple of years ago he put out an indie album. At some point I'm going to have to find a copy of his self released A Fine Mess, which by all accounts is quite a piece of ear candy.

To be honest, I was a little nervous about getting another album by David, since I didn't really get off on some of the music from Triage - lyrically it was brilliant, but hell it is music for crying out loud, so I'll wank a little about a little thing called the ear. I'm not a first year music composition student where the "new" music is atonal and anything resembling melody will cause the other art students to roll their eyes at you like you're an idiot.

Whoa. Now that was a tangent.

But with Here Comes the New Folk Underground David delivers the goods. Fully and completely. This is a great blend of roots rock with the classic angry man, who oddly enough seems to have the hint of a smile on his lips this time around. This is a wonderful album, and David's voice is just the right mix of gravel and smooth. Imagine a nice shot Remi Martin (the good stuff the VSOP). Smooth with a bite when it hits your gut. Musically he takes the best elements of his first two albums and takes them a little further down the road. Oh there are some little moments of weirdness but they work here and aren't distracting.

Who knows in time I may even grow enough musically to appreciate the weird ones too. Can you tell I was listening to both Triage and this one today?

Welcome back Mister Baerwald, you've been missed.

Reviewed July 4, 2003