Just popping in to drop off some intelligence, courtesy of Billboard magazine. My comments in brackets.
---
Divine Miss M Makes Tour News; Bottom Line On Baerwald's Message
By [author's name deleted by mistake]
May 29, 1993
[Lead piece on Bette Midler snipped; sorry, fans of Miss M.]
SECOND CHANCE: We headed down to the Bottom Line May 15 to catch David Baerwald, who was part of the "In Their Own Words" singer/songwriter series along with Lisa Germano, Johnny Clegg, and Freedy Johnston. As Baerwald sang the picturesque, bittersweet "China Lake" from his current A&M release, "Triage," we thought, here's another noteworthy album that's thisclose to falling through the cracks. Many of the songs on the February release feature dark characters who inhabit a shadowy netherworld where the line between right and wrong is crossed without so much as a backward glance. Much of the material was inspired by Baerwald's own investigations into government activities since the early '80s and his horror over what he's found merely by obtaining documents via the Freedom of Information Act. Rather than drawn-out political diatribes, the songs paint scary, evocative tales of real and imagined paranoia, conspiracy, and urban decay, backed with provocative, melodic music.
Baewald couples that knowledge with that of having grown up the son of a leading Japanese scholar who was often investigated by the FBI, and his tunes, such as "They got No Shotgun Hydrahead Octopus Blues" and "Nobody," bear the weight of an enlightened, frightened messenger. "I can't get away from this stuff. I see it everywhere; I feel it in every footstep I take," he says. "I'm kind of a drag that way, really. It's really hard for me to mellow out. I hope that someday this feeling of dread and paranoia will go away." The album ultimately ends on a joyous note with Baerwald coming to the conclusion that despite all the world's atrocities, there are still enough good things to carry on. He sounds positively hopeful on the closing track, "Born For Love."
"When I sang that song live during a promotional tour in Europe, I realized that the most important thing to do is to be forgiving, generous, and loving," Baerwald says. "So as I was performing the song, I was using George Bush as a test because I hate him with every cell in my body, and I figure if for the three minutes and 28 seconds that it takes me to perform that song I can have feelings of tenderness toward bush, than I as a human being have survived."
Maybe there is hope for us all.
BPI Communications Inc. 1993 All Rights Reserved.
---
Album Reviews
March 13, 1993
Pop
David Baerwald
Triage
Producers: Bill Bottrell, David Baerwald, Dan Schwartz
A&M 75021 5392
Baerwald continues the subversive method heard on his first solo album and David + David's "Boomtown,'' marrying grisly urban observations to cool, layered pop settings. An atmosphere of appalled disbelief prevails; story telling focuses on Hollywood psychos, burned-out cops, whacked out waiters, and other big-town detritus. Chilling "A Secret Silken World'' (featuring trumpet by Herb Alpert) and raving "The Got No Shotgun HydraHead Octopus Blues'' lead the many accomplishments here.
BPI Communications Inc. 1993 All Rights Reserved.
Digging up the past
C
Chris
(view)
Just popping in to drop off some intelligence, courtesy of Billboard magazine. My comments in brackets.
---
Divine Miss M Makes Tour News; Bottom Line On Baerwald's Message
By [author's name deleted by mistake]
May 29, 1993
[Lead piece on Bette Midler snipped; sorry, fans of Miss M.]
SECOND CHANCE: We headed down to the Bottom Line May 15 to catch David Baerwald, who was part of the "In Their Own Words" singer/songwriter series along with Lisa Germano, Johnny Clegg, and Freedy Johnston. As Baerwald sang the picturesque, bittersweet "China Lake" from his current A&M release, "Triage," we thought, here's another noteworthy album that's thisclose to falling through the cracks. Many of the songs on the February release feature dark characters who inhabit a shadowy netherworld where the line between right and wrong is crossed without so much as a backward glance. Much of the material was inspired by Baerwald's own investigations into government activities since the early '80s and his horror over what he's found merely by obtaining documents via the Freedom of Information Act. Rather than drawn-out political diatribes, the songs paint scary, evocative tales of real and imagined paranoia, conspiracy, and urban decay, backed with provocative, melodic music.
Baewald couples that knowledge with that of having grown up the son of a leading Japanese scholar who was often investigated by the FBI, and his tunes, such as "They got No Shotgun Hydrahead Octopus Blues" and "Nobody," bear the weight of an enlightened, frightened messenger. "I can't get away from this stuff. I see it everywhere; I feel it in every footstep I take," he says. "I'm kind of a drag that way, really. It's really hard for me to mellow out. I hope that someday this feeling of dread and paranoia will go away." The album ultimately ends on a joyous note with Baerwald coming to the conclusion that despite all the world's atrocities, there are still enough good things to carry on. He sounds positively hopeful on the closing track, "Born For Love."
"When I sang that song live during a promotional tour in Europe, I realized that the most important thing to do is to be forgiving, generous, and loving," Baerwald says. "So as I was performing the song, I was using George Bush as a test because I hate him with every cell in my body, and I figure if for the three minutes and 28 seconds that it takes me to perform that song I can have feelings of tenderness toward bush, than I as a human being have survived."
Maybe there is hope for us all.
BPI Communications Inc. 1993 All Rights Reserved.
---
Album Reviews
March 13, 1993
Pop
David Baerwald
Triage
Producers: Bill Bottrell, David Baerwald, Dan Schwartz
A&M 75021 5392
Baerwald continues the subversive method heard on his first solo album and David + David's "Boomtown,'' marrying grisly urban observations to cool, layered pop settings. An atmosphere of appalled disbelief prevails; story telling focuses on Hollywood psychos, burned-out cops, whacked out waiters, and other big-town detritus. Chilling "A Secret Silken World'' (featuring trumpet by Herb Alpert) and raving "The Got No Shotgun HydraHead Octopus Blues'' lead the many accomplishments here.
BPI Communications Inc. 1993 All Rights Reserved.
---
Divine Miss M Makes Tour News; Bottom Line On Baerwald's Message
By [author's name deleted by mistake]
May 29, 1993
[Lead piece on Bette Midler snipped; sorry, fans of Miss M.]
SECOND CHANCE: We headed down to the Bottom Line May 15 to catch David Baerwald, who was part of the "In Their Own Words" singer/songwriter series along with Lisa Germano, Johnny Clegg, and Freedy Johnston. As Baerwald sang the picturesque, bittersweet "China Lake" from his current A&M release, "Triage," we thought, here's another noteworthy album that's thisclose to falling through the cracks. Many of the songs on the February release feature dark characters who inhabit a shadowy netherworld where the line between right and wrong is crossed without so much as a backward glance. Much of the material was inspired by Baerwald's own investigations into government activities since the early '80s and his horror over what he's found merely by obtaining documents via the Freedom of Information Act. Rather than drawn-out political diatribes, the songs paint scary, evocative tales of real and imagined paranoia, conspiracy, and urban decay, backed with provocative, melodic music.
Baewald couples that knowledge with that of having grown up the son of a leading Japanese scholar who was often investigated by the FBI, and his tunes, such as "They got No Shotgun Hydrahead Octopus Blues" and "Nobody," bear the weight of an enlightened, frightened messenger. "I can't get away from this stuff. I see it everywhere; I feel it in every footstep I take," he says. "I'm kind of a drag that way, really. It's really hard for me to mellow out. I hope that someday this feeling of dread and paranoia will go away." The album ultimately ends on a joyous note with Baerwald coming to the conclusion that despite all the world's atrocities, there are still enough good things to carry on. He sounds positively hopeful on the closing track, "Born For Love."
"When I sang that song live during a promotional tour in Europe, I realized that the most important thing to do is to be forgiving, generous, and loving," Baerwald says. "So as I was performing the song, I was using George Bush as a test because I hate him with every cell in my body, and I figure if for the three minutes and 28 seconds that it takes me to perform that song I can have feelings of tenderness toward bush, than I as a human being have survived."
Maybe there is hope for us all.
BPI Communications Inc. 1993 All Rights Reserved.
---
Album Reviews
March 13, 1993
Pop
David Baerwald
Triage
Producers: Bill Bottrell, David Baerwald, Dan Schwartz
A&M 75021 5392
Baerwald continues the subversive method heard on his first solo album and David + David's "Boomtown,'' marrying grisly urban observations to cool, layered pop settings. An atmosphere of appalled disbelief prevails; story telling focuses on Hollywood psychos, burned-out cops, whacked out waiters, and other big-town detritus. Chilling "A Secret Silken World'' (featuring trumpet by Herb Alpert) and raving "The Got No Shotgun HydraHead Octopus Blues'' lead the many accomplishments here.
BPI Communications Inc. 1993 All Rights Reserved.
