Triage

Great pop/rock album by a artist I thought I never heard of. After reading his wiki page I now know he is one of the Tuesday Music Club (Sheryl Crow) members and co-wrote the songs on that album and played guitar on it. The album cover and lyrics are more depressing and confronting than the music. I get a bit of "Somewhere Down the Crazy River” (Robbie Robertson) vibes, because of spoken word parts and the underlying unease. I like the strange political atmosphere and the tension you can feel in a lot of the lyrics. And as other reviewers also state: it keeps getting better if you listen to it multiple times.

This properly alternates between exciting and forward thinking stuff and dry bluesy cruft. It's simultaneously a 1 and a 4 or 5.

Never heard this album before abd I’d say it was a unique add. The first song had me enticed early but then as it continued down the path of a bad political thriller, I started to lose interest. It definitely toes the line of enjoyable music mixed with lyricism that requires a specific mindset to enjoy. Overall it’s ok. 5.9/10

I'd never heard of this guy, but it's a good album. Interesting and inventive.

I don't like the all-too-clean sounding production values of this album. By 1993, there should have been ways to find tones for those generally well-written songs that packed a punch while standing the test of time. Of course, the other mistake would have been to include too many trendy alt-rock sounds that would have aged poorly as well. Something more organic-sounding, just like Suzanne Vega or Tom Waits' LPs in the same time period, would have fit perfectly. Too bad I can't find those tones in here. That said, David Baerwald has an interesting voice, in all the senses of the word. He knows his ways around a hook, as the second track proves it, and he is unafraid to explore off-kilter ideas and provocative topical themes in his songs (it's all in the album's artwork, is it not?). The tracklist ordering, which gathers the more experimental compositions on the first side to then offer more streamlined blues-rock or folk-rock in the second half, is also quite daring. And in said second half, cuts such as "A Bitter Tree" and "Aids & Armageddon" are stunning. I didn't know the first thing about this artist before today, so I heartily thank this user for submitting *Triage*. Looks like I can't include this LP in my own list of 1001 keepers (no room there anymore, lol), but I might return to Baerwald's music later, who knows? This very original album screams "potential slow-grower" from its very first notes, that much is obvious. 2.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 3. 7.5/10 for more general purposes (4/5 for musical competency and production values + 3.5/5 for the artistry). Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ----- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 40 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 50 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 97 (including this one. Unless...?) ---- Émile, comment s'est passé ton road trip avec tes chums au Lac-Saint-Jean ? J'ai checké la région sur Maps, ça fait rêver l'Européen que je suis, tout ça ! J'avais jamais remarqué qu'il y avait un fjörd qui partait du Saint Laurent (à Tadoussac, donc), pour aboutir sur ce grand lac ! Magnifique ! Avec tout ça à faire, je comprends que tu aies mis le générateur sur pause... Si tu checkes ce message, c'est certainement que tu as repris tes écoutes. J'espère juste que tu n'as pas eu à te fader trop d'albums post-punk et new wave vu que c'est pas ta came, ha ha. À ce sujet, deux trois précisions, moi qui suis au contraire un bon client de cette crèmerie : 1) L'apparente sur-représentation de ces styles dans la liste s'explique par le biais britannique du livre des 1001 albums, c'est indéniable. Dimery est anglais, et j'imagine que la plupart de ses contributeurs l'étaient aussi. 2) Moi qui suit un grand fan de post-punk (et un fan un peu plus casual de new wave), je peux te dire qu'on trouve dans la liste des albums indispensables au genre (pour le post-punk, des disques essentiels de Joy Division, Gang Of Four, Siouxsie, Devo, XTC ou The Cure), en comptant une petite poignée d'oublis regrettables (au moins un autre LP de Wire et The Cure, et également au moins un disque des injustement méconnus The Sound). Mais il y a aussi des déchets à trier, c'est vrai. Par exemple un petit tas d'albums de The Police, New Order, Echo And The Bunnymen, Psychedelic Furs, The Teardrop Explodes... dont la présence est sujette à débat, surtout quand on trouve deux albums par tête de pipe. Et si on élargit aux "new romantics" -- adjacents à la synth pop et à la blue-eyed soul des eighties -- ça devient encore plus flagrant (for instance ces albums de ABC, Scritti Politti, Soft Cell, ou encore cet album tardif de Dexy's Midnight Runner, qui sont des purges absolues, beurk!) 3) Ceci dit, pour avoir rechecké la liste sur internet ce matin, à l'oeil, cette surreprésentation post-punk / new wave n'est pas aussi flagrante que cela. Ce qui m'a un peu étonné. D'où le fait que je me pose aujourd'hui la question suivante... Le biais (négatif) ne provient-il pas *en partie* des lecteurs / utilisateurs d'Amérique du Nord, au départ bien moins exposés à ces styles de musique dans la culture mainstream ou populaire ? C'est une question ouverte, hein. Le débat est lancé... 4) À ce sujet, je suis pas vraiment d'accord avec toi quand tu dis que le post-punk est un style "éphémère", vu l'assez énorme vague "crank-wave" qui a lieu en ce moment dans toute l'Europe, dont les racines remontent très clairement au post-punk. Tu as dû au moins entendre parler d'Idles, Fontaines DC ou peut-être Shame, mais je t'assure que ce n'est que la partie non-immergée de l'iceberg par chez nous... Ce revival arrive même à toucher d'assez jeunes générations (en gros des gens de ton âge), et donc à bien des égards, il est carrément en train de sauver l'idiome rock de sa mort programmée depuis 20 ans. En tout cas d'un côté de l'Atlantique. En plus, ce coup-ci, il y a des échos simultanés à cette vague qui se font entendre depuis quelque temps déjà en Amérique du Nord, ce qui n'était pas du tout le cas dans les eighties. Corridor est par exemple pas si éloigné que ça de cette résurgence post-punk si on écoute bien... Bon par contre, je suis TOTALEMENT d'accord avec toi pour dire que niveau jazz, la liste de Dimery est absolument indigente ! Miles Davis y est assez correctement représenté, mais c'est bien le seul. Si on trouve dans le livre quelques disques épars de John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Herbie Hancock et Nina Simone, il y a pour chacun d'entre eux *au moins* un autre album légendaire qui devrait être ajouté (voire trois ou quatre pour Nina, mais j'avoue être un gros fan). Et ensuite, Dimery ne semble même pas savoir qui sont Sun Ra, Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Cannonball Adderley, ou, plus récemment, Kamasi Washington ou Shabaka Hutchings. Grosses, grosses lacunes ici. Il y a également des énormes lacunes dans au moins trois autres genres, d'après moi : le post-rock, le post-hardcore et le garage rock (des styles généralement joués par des musiciens nord-américains, ce qui n'est pas un hasard). Sans parler de ce fameux revival post-punk / crank wave, du hip hop actuel, ou des gros bangers pop du moment. Mais je crois que le livre a renoncé à se mettre sérieusement à jour depuis au moins 10 ans. Difficile de les blâmer, d'ailleurs : 1001 sélections, ça commence à faire serré après 70 ans d'albums... Dernière chose, le choix du CD. C'est trop drôle, je pense *exactement* comme toi, au mot près ! La seule différence, c'est que je paie (pas cher) mes pépites en euros, au lieu de les payer en dollars ! Bonne reprise suite à ton road trip. Cyril.

I actually bought this album on CD back in the day and listened to it a fair amount for a short period of time. But then I kind of forgot about it. I liked it, but I guess it didn't age very well for me. But it was great hearing it again. It's actually a really ambitious album, reminds me a bit of Pink Floyd and Alan Parsons. 4 stars.

This had a few cool moments, some blues, some rock. Got a bit strange here and there but still a fun listen. 4/5.

Ah, that’s a shame. I loved the first three tracks - dark and jazzy and political and electronic and generally a bit weird. But then it really fell off and ended up as boring blues. Still, a cool inclusion from OP and the kind of thing I’m looking for with these user submissions.

1992 pop rock that will play while you listen

Hard to listen to.

Rock, pop rock. Ni fu ni fa.

Hmmmm… this had some good moments but never really caught fire with me… still decent music that might get better with more listens.

Good find 3

Not bad. Doesn't have much too special

Every time I thought I had this LP pinned down, it found a new combination of influences to keep me guessing. Don't know if I'll be returning to Baerwald's world here, but the listening experience was novel and lively enough to keep me entertained and that's all a solid album needs to do in my book

Something completely new to me. Generally I'd say I liked it, but was on the fence about how much throughout. A little too clever, or maybe the word is sophisticated. I generally agreed with the sentiments but a lot of it was fairly preachy and heavy handed - the whole bloody hands imagery on the cover art was apt. Musically very competent, not really innovative.

Rating: 6/10 Best songs: Aids and Armageddon

Blah

Ok, but not very exciting

It sounded like background coffee shop music.

This is the kinda bland stuff the original list had tons of. It's fine but it's not anything special and it's a sound you've heard before. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No

I feel this one may grow on me with more listens.

The first half of it sounds like something from Miami Vice. The last half is like Wilco meets The Traveling Wilburys. It’s not bad but not my thing.

A political pop-rock smorgasbord that’s just not as revolutionary as it seems to think it is. The album cover is quite striking and there are a couple of quite incendiary tracks, especially the opener and AIDS & Armageddon which has the spirit of a Saul Williams anthem. Unfortunately they’re interspersed with some really dry arena rock-style ballads, with The Postman in particular sounding like a late U2 B-side, and a couple of forgettable, emotionally flat blues numbers

July 28, 2025 HL: "A Secret Silken World", "The Waiter", "A Brand New Morning"

Didn't like the opening track and it kind of spikes up and down for me. Some songs a good, others are mediocre and some are just not to my taste.

Where are some of you guys finding these albums lol. I wish every submission came with a little blurb written by the submitter since it seems I got here before they wrote their review. Don't get me wrong, this is surprisingly pretty good and I'm happy to listen to some more obscure music, but like.. What even is this. Who the fuck is David Baerwald. Fitting this is an album about conspiracy theories, since I'm choosing to believe that this was retroactively added into our timeline last week by an evil time warlock.

Pretty cozy stuff, fits a rainy day

Not bad

A little too Bruce Springsteeny and a little to U2y for my tastes

This is an odd album. Didn't hate it, but I'm sure I won't remember it either. Musically this is fine, but stylistically unfocused and frequently bland. I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you're going to make an album with such a striking cover image, you really need to go bigger than whatever is going on here. Fave Songs: The Postman, A Secret Silken World

I appreciated the groove on some of these tracks but the Bruce Springsteen kinda vibe was not for me in this moment.

I feel like i've listened to a bunch of these average sounding pop records and given them a passing grade. This one doesn't do anything for me and a lot of the delivery starts to get irritating. A Brand New Morning attempts to save the album a bit, but its too little, too late.

There's nothing special about Triage, some generic pop rock sounds and some basic bluesy notes and then a bit slowly meandering towards the end. Only really got interesting in The Got No Shotgun... track, 2/5, nothing here to excite.

Only listened once, which felt like plenty, but fragments of the songs stayed with me the rest of the day. I'll definitely come back to this, if only to listen a couple more times (and without distractions) - and I'll come back to edit this review when I do.

I enjoyed the first song but the rest was very hit or miss

I don’t think the music lives up to the Album cover.

Another album where the artwork goes against the content. It was ok but couldn’t really recall it the next day.

Yet another irrelevant album.