Thursday 24 April 2008

Come around to my way of thinking...

Anyone who knows me will know about my affection for the NZ pop band The Mutton Birds. With my co-conspirator Dave Thake, we've in the past been responsible for gathering together the band's long out-of-print b-sides and rarities for an audio project (the results of which can be downloaded at A Religion Of A Kind), and now we're turning our hands to the band's video work.



The above video, for should've-been-a-hit Come Around is one of a vast array of promos, interviews and live clips we've gathered together for a YouTube channel called Mutton Birds And Beyond (and all of the clips are also embedded for easier navigation at A Religion Of A Kind). The archive also delves into frontman Don McGlashan's work away from the band, from his time in NZ theatre duo The Front Lawn up to his recent solo record Warm Hand. From the latter, here's the stunning I Will Not Let You Down:



Don is touring with Crowded House over the summer - fingers crossed for some UK dates...

Friday 11 April 2008

About to go down like a domino...



I've had a bit of a Squeeze-fest in the last few weeks, digging out the brilliant Big Squeeze best of and making inroads into the back catalogue. I've started at the end and plan to work backwards, so I have a newly acquired copy of Domino, the band's final (to date) record from 1998, while waiting the postman to drop 1995's Ridiculous through my letterbox. The singles off the latter were stellar, so I have high hopes for the rest of the album.

As for Domino, it's far from a classic album, but it has some very fine tunes indeed. Whether or not either Glenn Tilbrook or Chris Difford do any of these songs in their solo sets remains to be seen, but I won't be complaining if Glenn drops one of the following into his set when he plays Leeds in October...

MP3: Squeeze - Domino
MP3: Squeeze - Sleeping With A Friend

Buy Domino