THE MUTTON BIRDS - RAIN, STEAM & SPEED

Fourth studio outing from kiwi popsters, now ploughing an indie furrow.

Singer-guitarist Don McGlashan writes melodic ditties that, in the capable hands of his three cohorts, arrive fully formed, fresh from the same cerebral powerpop motherlode that birthed Big Star, early R.E.M. and Counting Crows. Being dumped by Virgin has done nothing to dent Donovan-alike McGlashan's obsession with hook-laden, plangent pop-rock as evinced by the breathless opener As Close As This and the frenetic semi-anthem Pulled Along By Love. This time, there is a pleasing breadth of previously-lacking textural experiment. Euphonium and Farfisa organ caress The Falls - a wistful ballad, reminiscent in structure and lyrical tone of mid-period Go-Betweens; while the acoustic Jackie's Song comes replete with short-story-like lyrics ("the birds laugh like drunken garrison girls..."). Named after a Turner painting, Rain, Steam & Speed is itself something of a minor masterpiece. ****

David Sheppard

Music 365 (Internet magazine)

THE MUTTON BIRDS

Rain, Steam And Speed

(Shhhhh! SHCDP 001)

Melodic pop-rock from London-based New Zealanders, and probably the first pop album named after a Turner painting. The Mutton Birds apparently hate the comparisons with their compatriots Crowded House, but they would surely kill for a fraction of the commercial success enjoyed by Neil Finn's old band. They moved to London three years ago on the strength of a contract with Virgin but without a hit single or a definable image, they found themselves peremptorily dropped when their last album, Envy Of Angels sold poorly despite a slate of good reviews.

Happily they have answered the doubters in the best possible fashion with their most accomplished album to date, released independently on their own label. Glorious guitar tunes, intelligent lyrics and inventive harmonies put them in a tradition that traces its lineage through not only Crowded House but all the way back to the Beatles and the Byrds. The influence of R.E.M. is also strong and Don McGlashan's voice at times sounds uncannily like Michael Stipe, particularly on Small Mercies. From the Byrds-like guitars of Pulled Along By Love to the tender acoustics of Jackie's Song, McGlashan proves his versatility as a songwriter. Best of all is the atmospheric Ray, that sounds like all your favourite bits of Crowded House and R.E.M. rolled up into six minute epic. ****
Nigel Williamson

Mojo (march 99), Album section and Diary respectively.

Mutton Birds

Rain Steam & Speed

shhh! records

Tuneful New Zealand guitar combo return to indie roots for fourth album.

Having invested much time and promotional effort into breaking The Mutton Birds in the UK, Virgin did the sensible thing and let them go last year. Happily, the band's renewed indie status suits them well on an album that plays to their strengths, keeping experimental excesses in check and concentrating on slightly skewed harmonic guitar rock. Despite echoes of R.E.M and Crowded House, this is one case where too much of a good thing adds up to a glorious feast, including backwards guitar duets, poignant discords, sonorous tubas and a name-check for DC Comics' most underrated superhero, Green Lantern, last mentioned in a song by Donovan. With Don McGlashan's songwriting growing ever more accomplished, it should only be a matter of time before Mutton Birds find the wider audience they deserve.
Johnny Black.

The Mutton Birds

Sometimes, it takes a sack load of stamina to survive the fickle music business, and no matter how many albums you fill with warm, enigmatic melodies commercial success is not guaranteed. It's a dilemma that The Mutton Birds have suffered from since the release of their self-titled debut which, like it's four descendants, marries a Byrdsy melodicism with beguiling lyrics. Luckily, Mutton Bird singer/songwriter Don McGlashan is not short of stamina or, for that matter, a sense of humour when he talks about why The Mutton Birds were recently dropped by Virgin: "We told them we'd sold a lot of records and they checked up on us," he deadpans. "It's a big company and they've got somebody who can do that. We thought we had sold a lot! When you come from New Zealand selling outside your immediate family is considered selling-out."

Beyond the bravado, Don McGlashan really does feel liberated away from the clutches of a major label. "The main thing is," he tells MOJO while in transit to a radio show in Wolverhampton, "we don't have to explain the songs to anybody but each other. The tours are more fun because we don't have to measure up to anybody. I think we've made a good or better album as we did with the big budget and the big producer."

Their new album Rain Steam & Speed, certainly sits on the same podium as its predecessor, Envy Of Angels: brimful of class-A material - each track a potential single. "It's probably the result of being able to forget about the tensions of being on a major," Don continues. "Right from the beginning it felt like we'd been signed as the result of some typographical error. New Zealanders tend to look a gift horse in the mouth but we didn't form a band to be picked up by big cars and ferried to flash interviews."

Don along with fellow members Ross Burge (drums), Chris Sheehan (guitar) and Tony Fisher (bass guitar/vox) will stop off at Birmingham Aston Villa North Stand Banqueting Suite (Feb 19), Derby The Flowerpot (20), Bristol Fleece & Firkin (21).

LAM Magazine:

Having traded the cold, wet conditions of NZ for the chilly, precipitous ones of Britain, the Mutton Birds and in particular, head Bird Don McGlashan show that if the move was one in search of a particular muse, it would appear to have paid off. This is quite matter of factly, a beautiful fragile gift of an album. Think REM in nightswimming, and Everybody Hurts vein combined with Matthew Sweet lamenting about a certain Winona-two examples of as exquisite a guitar pop you'll ever hear, because that's what been encapsulated on the 11 tracks here.

As Close As This features a jaunty air propelled by a distinctive distorted, synth-guitar sound, but it's McGlashan's ability to come up with a chorus that enters space you weren't expecting but once experienced know that it's right. He's also got to be the only man who starts off a song with the line "I was on a Belgian Airlines plane". This is Winning Numbers and once again boasts a most swoonsome chorus where McGlashan proclaims he's not trading places with anyone. Meanwhile, deliriously heady backing vocals vie for your attentions in the mix of this song.

Small mercies has an addictive, central guitar riff that sounds like an off centre coursing of blood and is immediately contrasted by the crashing waves of guitar and snare that is Green Lantern. No let-up is on sight on this tightly reined and contained intimate affair with the magical first single Pulled Along By Love showing up some eight songs into the track listing. Hopefully, radio programmers will do the right thing so people's days will be enlightened. At this time of the year when fine musical product is thin on the ground, the Mutton Birds will stand up and stand out.
Gareth Gorman

Paul Du Noyer from the first issue (6-12 Feb '99) of the new weekly entertainment mag, Heat:

"Achingly melodic story-songs from London-based New Zealand cult favourites."

If warm words were any guarantee of record sales then The Mutton Birds would be Brit contenders this year. But all the critical acclaim they won for their gorgeous album, Envy Of Angels, failed to win the band a UK following much beyond their exile Kiwi fan-base - least of all at Virgin Records, who "right-sized" the group last year. Perhaps their "classic pop" isn't so popular now, but there must be enough people who mourn the passing of Crowded House to welcome these melancholic songs by Stipe-ish vocalist Don McGlashan, who can turn everyday feelings into poetry." ****

"That's Entertainment" from Northern Ireland.

New Zealand has a healthy, if overlooked, musical heritage. From the acceptable face of MOR Crowded House to undiscovered gems like Alastair Galbraith and sonic innovators the Dead C, the island seems to inject a certain magnetism into the bands inhabiting it. The Mutton Birds are no exception.

The obvious geographical reference, however, is America and more specifically the alternative country scene where they would fit nicely alongside the likes of Lambchop, Bonnie "prince" Billy or a sober Royal Trux.

The Mutton Birds' romantic senibilities and sheer simplicity of songwriting could almost make them bedmates with Sebadoh, particularly on "Last Year's Shoes" and the inspiringly jaunty "As Close As This"

Nothing on "Rain, Steam and Speed" deviates far from the traditional two guitars/bass/drums set-up, but it's played with enough imagination and warmth to separate them from the stodgy grey mass of 'real' musicians who fear technology. In fact, this is how Fire in the Kitchen would sound, had they ever managed to live up to their full potential.

Anyone wondering what to spend that record token from Christmas on could do worse than make this their first purchase of '99.