Re: David + David "Boomtown"

If I ever I wanted to see a movie about an album (the making of, etc.), more than Pet Sounds, more than London Calling, more than What's The Story Morning Glory, more than even Daydream Nation, it would be David + David "Boomtown."

I remember being absolutely sucker-punched by that album when it came out in 1986, and it STILL feels timeless and relevant. If it weren't for one of the Davids still working (and making some damn fine music, too), David + David could easily have been indie-rock's answer to Salinger.

You might be interested to know that, after 30 years, a new David + David album is in the works. Its release will probably be crowd funded.

Hmm...there should be a TP entry for D+D/David Baerwald.



Post Edited (07-05-16 16:57)

I saw them on what they told the audience was the opening night of what turned out to be their only national tour. Not sure why they would've kicked it off in St. Louis, but I guess it's plausible. Peter Case opened, in support of his solo debut, so it was a great night of music all around.

I try not to hold the Davids' heavy involvement in Sheryl Crow's Tuesday Night Music Club against them, though I will always consider the marketing of it and Hootie as "alternative" to have been the death knell of the brief golden age of commercial alternative radio in the 90s - once mislabeled mainstreamers like Crow, Hootie and Jewel started crowding out Sugar, Sonic Youth and Lush from the airwaves, it was all over.

Now, of course, Crow, Hootie and Jewel are all Country artists, without having made any appreciable change to their sound. Blandness is highly adaptable.

Eh. I saw Jewel open up for Peter Murphy's "Cascade" tour. No big deal there, but it must have rankled Murphy to see his opening acts [Nine Inch Nails on the "Deep" tour, as I recall] go platinum while he toiled in the darkness.



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Eh. I saw Jewel open up for Peter Murphy's "Cascade" tour.

Eh?

I never heard of these guys. No TP entry. I was listening to lots of college/alt radio at the time and don't remember them getting airplay (tho they may have, just don't recall*), or my friends talking about them. Where they more mainstream then?

*1986 is a disturbingly long time ago, after all.

They're mainstream in the way that Warren Zevon is mainstream. Aimed at the general market (which did respond to the song "Welcome to the Boomtown," which got a lot of radio play, despite it being about drug abuse and suicide) but a little too left of center to fit comfortably.



Post Edited (07-05-16 17:00)

I remember there were articles pairing them off with Concrete Blonde as the torchbearers for the post-X chroniclers of the underbelly of LA.

I remember a friend playing D+D, or maybe just Baerwald, for me around 1990.

I recollect recognizing a track at that time, but I think I've always had it confused with another song he played that night.

I think it might have been Indio's "Big Hard Sun." Or maybe some minor Canadian hit that referenced a "boomtown"

After this thread started, I went and checked out some of the David's songs, but none of them sound familiar.

Error



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/28/2026 08:40AM by zoo.

After years of seeing this album in the bins for a couple of bucks, and based on my memory of it receiving some high praise on the TP message board, I finally pulled the trigger over the weekend and purchased a very dusty copy for $1.99 (plus tax).

After one spin, I'm not sure what to think, or how much I really like it. I don't hate it, but I didn't find myself buying in to the singing or the smoothness of some of the songs. I did like some of the guitar playing, which at least had a little edge. I remember the song "Welcome to the Boomtown" but hadn't heard it in years. It, and the album as a whole, is a lot slicker than I anticipated. It is definitely well produced. But the lyrics and atmosphere make up for the lack of grit in the production, as others have mentioned. Anyway, I'll give it more time and see if it grows on me.

Boomtown definitely shows its age in the production - ditto Bedtime Stories and Triage, Baerwald's two solo albums, both of which sound like D+D albums. (Ricketts was involved in Stories.) For me the songs and the vocals (Baerwald's one of my favorite singers) more than make up for the production. You might give Baerwald's 'aughts album Here Comes the New Folk Underground, made during a couple of years living in Austin, a shot - it came out on Lost Highway and features much more stripped down production. I miss some of the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink color of the eighties stuff, but I appreciate the direct focus on the songs. If you really want to get into the weeds with him, there's also a box set of NFU demos called a A Fine Mess, but it's difficult to find and expensive when you do.

The David + David reunion from the thread ten years ago fell apart, obviously. I messaged Baerwald (not thinking he'd answer) about it a couple of years after it was announced, and he told me they just couldn't come up with any good songs together.

At one point he was playing shows in L.A. and working on new songs. But that seems to have gotten derailed by the publication of his first novel The Fire Agent, which I haven't read but have heard good things about.

Hmmm...the plot thickens:
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Yep. Single coming soon!

It's funny you brought up D+D - I've been listening to that and Baerwald's solo albums a lot lately.

I saw David + David on that tour with Peter Case as well, at the Rainbow Music Hall in Denver.

I remember that tour coming through Houston. I lived in a then-small town called Lake Jackson at the time and couldn't be there. Regretted it bitterly for many years, as I was completely besotted with both of their albums at the time. Still am, frankly.



Post Edited (07-05-16 16:58)

This discussion prompted me to see what Toni Childs is up to these days and I see she's released a couple of new albums in the last few years, at least one of which was produced by David Ricketts. I'll have to track those down.

I remember reading an interview once where Baerwald was talking about how one of the main reasons David + David broke up was because he can be a sarcastic asshole and didn't really take into account that Ricketts is not programmed that way. Baerwald was constantly making fun of Toni Childs - who'd sung back-up on Boomtown - for being a latter day hippie chick and being into peace and love and patchouli and whatever else. He didn't mean any harm, it was just his style of humor leading him to be what could be considered a prick. Ricketts, who was her boyfriend at the time and had just co-produced her debut album, took it all very personally and finally told Baerwald to fuck off, and that was pretty much the end of the band.

They'd patched things up enough that they could be part of the whole Tuesday Night Music Club business, but it's taken them 30 years to actually be David + David again. So I don't know if the hurts feelings were just that deep, or if it's because Baerwald had started to make a name for himself as a solo artist and figured it would be counterproductive for him to go backwards.

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... it's taken them 30 years to actually be David + David again.

Yes. And that's a crucial thing, because David Who Makes Fun Of Toni Childs + David Who Takes Offense At It isn't exactly a moniker that rolls right off the tongue, is it?

Wow ... Who would've imagined that Toni Childs would turn to be David + David's Yoko Ono?