17th Century Fuzzbox Blues
Jon Hanna | Sacramento, CA USA | 09/29/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
""How can you review the CD if you haven't HEARD it yet?" my wife Blake asked."Hey, are you gonna argue about DETAILS like that? Anton said he'd give us fifty bucks. Or someone would," I replied.This CD, like most of Anton's work, is undoubtedly eccentric (notice I didn't say "quirky") pop at its best. I expect that Anton pumps out one well-crafted song after another, proving that both musically and lyrically he still has a lot to offer. My first impression of the CD was, "Man, that's one green cover." But, since you really can't judge a CD by its cover, I suggest that everyone buy this puppy and listen to the tunes. That's what I'm gonna do."
I'm not going to use the word "quirky."
Jon Hanna | 10/26/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I suspect that puts me in an elite crowd amongst people describing Anton Barbeau. If there were partial stars, I'd have rated this a just a hair lower - simply because Barbeau's last release, "A Splendid Tray," was a 5-star record for me in every way. This one, while it contains eight or nine perfect songs and a few more that are very good or at least interesting, doesn't have quite the same flow - doesn't hang together quite as beautifully.Still and all, eight or nine perfect songs is more than one can reasonably ask from any single CD - and from the Scott Miller-produced rocker "Little Daisy" to the utterly devastating "Another Stoned Piano" to the album's closer, "Lara Brushing Her Hair In LA" - which puts Barbeau among the handful of songwriters who can write about simple, blissful contentment without sounding sappy - "17th Century Fuzzbox Blues" delivers 'em."