From MOJO Magazine - June 2005 issue

Sid Griffin (Three stars)

He's been recording since the age of 12 but it took San Francisco's Steve Barton almost two decades after his 1967 debut to hit with "Everywhere That I'm Not", after which his band Translator became both R.E.M. and Bowie's opening act. Quiet since their 1986 break-up, he's back at last, produced by long-time Ramones desk jockey Ed Stasium, the clean yet punchy sound more than keeps the powerpop flag flying. Starting with the rockin' Soft Boys soundalike "When You're Gone" and quickly moving through a Buzzcocks-styled cover of the Fabs' "She's Leaving Home", the most programmable song is "Shy", a successful updating of Merseybeat as it might've been played by a CBGB's act in 1997. Despite the slightly anonymous quality to the ballads, Barton may be only an MP3 file away from serious cult success.

From THE SUNDAY LONDON TIMES - January 16, 2005

It has taken more than three decades, but the sense of reverence that has prevented bands from covering Beatles songs successfully seems to be wearing off. Last year, David Kitt fashioned a Krautrock And Your Bird Can Sing; now Steve Barton takes She’s Leaving Home by the scruff of the neck and subjects it to a brutal, brilliant power-pop reinvention. Barton, once of Translator, lives in a musical world book-ended by what Americans would call "British invasion" and new wave. Bertha Jane is the Beatles in Hamburg, Shy is Freddie and the Dreamers with Richard Thompson on guitar (an alarming thought, but it works), Kiss This is the Attractions in 1978, and Tina Finds the Silences is a hyper tribute to the Talking Heads bassist Tina Weymouth that Franz Ferdinand fans should love. Pastiche, perhaps, but Barton does it all superbly. Three stars

From Fufkin.com

BOSTON PHOENIX

Brett Milano (four and a half stars)

This is both a surprise comeback and a seriously fine power-pop disc. Steve Barton was the main singer-songwriter of Translator, a San Francisco band who put a thoughtful, folkish spin on British Invasion stylings. At their best, they came as close as anyone to being an American version of XTC. (Their one hit, "Everywhere That I’m Not," was by no means their best song.) Just Barton’s second album in the two decades since Translator’s demise, Charm Offensive reunites him with that band’s (and the Smithereens’ and the Ramones’) producer, Ed Stasium. And the surprise is that he’s sounding younger, not older. Largely dropping Translator’s moody folk leanings, he puts the hooks up front and keeps the songs short and the sound scruffy, evoking both the British Invasion and the tougher side of new wave. He rewrites history by turning the most maudlin Beatles song, "She’s Leaving Home," into a punkish rocker that could have fit on an early Joe Jackson album. There’s a bit of the Jam’s swagger on "Kiss This," and "Yours To Lose" has a tremolo guitar not far from R.E.M.’s "The One I Love." "Tina Finds the Silences" is a musical love letter to Tina Weymouth, with appropriately jittery Talking Heads guitars. But the high quality of the songwriting makes the album more than the sum of its influences: the hooks and riffs come so dependably that it all feels effortless. And the lyrics take a few sharp looks into the dark corners of love affairs, proving that the thoughtful streak of Barton’s younger days hasn’t waned.

From Rolling Stone.com

Charm Offensive, from former Translator frontman Steve Barton. Produced by Ed Stasium no less, as that band's best albums were (there was so much more to them than "Everywhere That I'm Not").

From the DETROIT FREE PRESS
by Fred Mills 2/2/2005

Pity the long-suffering powerpop fan. Do a Web search on the name “Steve Barton” and 9 out of 10 links will net you a veteran stage actor (he played Count von Krolock in Tanz der Vampire ) who died in 2001. This Steve Barton, however, is very much alive and kicking, although you’d be forgiven if you’d counted him among the undead. His early ’80s San Fran combo Translator enjoyed a bona fide chart hit with minor chord jangler “Everywhere That I’m Not,” but dissolved after four albums, leaving Barton to wander the wilderness from 1986-99 before resurfacing with Boy Who Rode His Bike Around the World .

Six years on, the follow-up platter’s got everything that’s great about powerpop: 12-string chimes and meaty Pete Townshendesque riffs, soaring vocal harmonies and handclap choruses, raveups and reveries. “When You’re Gone” issues forth on a bedspring of Byrdsian guitar and thrumming bass, while the tuff-as-nails “Kiss This” sounds like a bastard offspring of “Dirty Water” and “What I Like About You.” A dash of Star Club-period Beatles and a dollop of early Dwight Twilley informs the hopped-up “Bertha Jane,” and speaking of the Fab Four, Barton reworks “She’s Leaving Home” as a Buzzcockian thrasher. Plus you gotta love a guy who starts a song off with the lines, “I wanna be your monument/Crawl between your dreams and your legs” (“Monument”). Powerpop’s always had a reputation — undeserved — for being wimpy. Born-and-bred rockers like Barton put the lie to that.

From LOST AT SEA.COM

Rating: 8/10
If you’re like most people, when you think “power pop,” you undoubtedly think of sweetness and light… and more sweetness.  And, if you’re in the half of those folks whose stomach turns a little with the notion of so much sugar, you scrounge for something else.

Personally, I like power pop, but even my sweet tooth needs a little break.  Steve Barton understands; his brand of invigorating power pop, filtered through the devil may care attitude of the Ramones and the Kinks is enjoyable to hear.  This is pop, duly amped to high, bounding levels, and it’s really satisfying to find someone who fairly well forgoes the usual sweetness and isn’t afraid to get a bit salty.

While still courting pop mistresses, Barton plainly flips the bird - and his sneer is outright shining.  While some tracks do teeter on the sugary side (see “Yours to Lose”), we know from the get-go he’s having a ton of fun at everyone’s expense.  “Bertha Jane,” an outlandish surf party, is trite in the best way: flippant and tongue-in-cheek.  “Kiss This” and “Tina Finds the Silences” are gloriously crass retorts, sung with bitter glee, and even on the simple, reverbing pop singalongs “When You’re Gone,” “Shy” and the misleadingly sunny, “Hold a Shadow Down,” we know that Barton’s playing offense and he’s clearly winning.

Past all the barbs, he reluctantly shows his vulnerable side. “What Treasures I May Find” is swimming and luckless, but achingly hopeful that there is more to life than all the biting.  We hear in closing that some of the reactive jabs could be a coping mechanism - that he might long to let his guard down.

While all along, Barton has seemed more relatable than many of his pop counterparts in that his world isn’t coated in a high-gloss sheen, he takes on added depth with his realization that even getting the last laugh isn’t enough. Charm Offensive goes far beyond the surface skimmed by most power pop affairs, and because of that, it is a deeply rewarding find.
Reviewed by Sarah Peters

 

From HIGHBIAS.COM