It's always so satisfying when an album's title perfectly
describes the contents within. Such is the case of Robin Barrett's
Eclectricity, a cleverly-monikered collection of slightly poppy,
solidly-based blues. Barrett's been at this for years, and it shows;
whether he's going upbeat and cheery, or slow and dreary, he's a master of
mood. The day I reviewed this album, it was cloudy, cold, and drizzly in
Seattle, and the song "Lonely Part of Town" made the day seem darker,
colder, and lonelier than it already was. A depressing feeling, granted,
but it also proves my point: besides, "Don't Worry," which followed,
turned out to be a perfect cure, with its rock & roll-style riffs and a
beat that bounces like a rubber ball. Actually, that describes a lot of
Barrett's more uptempo material; there's a sense of rhythmic restraint in
much of his music that actually adds to the experience by winding the beat
more and more tightly until you expect it to pop. Then he'll cool things
down with something like the almost-ballad "Small Change Lady," or the
vaguely country blues-ish "Daddy Had to Go." Barrett wanders across genre
lines a lot, exploring the territory between blues, pop, and rock with
much of his material. Admittedly this is country that's been mined so
often, you wonder that there are any untapped veins left, but Barrett
manages to avoid some of the more tired cliches and hew to a distinctive
sound that keeps Eclectricity fresh. When things close out with
"Speedball," one is left with the impression of having left the bar at 2
a.m., after hearing the last song of the night while the staff mopped the
floor and put the chairs on the tables, but also of having stuck around to
hear that last song.
-- Originally appeared in Bluesletter Vol.
13 No. 6, June 2001, p. 18, 21