GAY DAD: To Earth With Love (London) - They may be as tough as Alex Ferguson's chewing gum but to go along with the hype surrounding this lot would be silly. A watered-down psychedelic version of The Rolling Stones, or Supergrass. (3/10) JS

ONE LADY OWNER: I Do Need You (Creation) - Rossendale teenager Nathan Sudders provides the driving bassline which runs underneath the dark mutterings of Steve Dougherty. The understated sound lets the overdriven guitars and plinky keyboards dominate and shows confidence. (7/10) PB

ALBUMS

THE MUTTON BIRDS: Rain, Steam and Speed (Shhhh!) - New Zealand's finest are a strange commodity. Binned by Virgin, they have to be admired for never pandering to fashion. Don McGlashan and his crew are in a league of their own, concentrating on musical perfection and putting some long-lost craftsmanship back into modern-day songwriting. Classy tracks like the single Pulled Along By Love, with its spooky piano riffs, As Close As This, and Last Year's Shoes cock a snook at all the doubters. (9/10) JS

3 COLOURS RED: Revolt (Creation) - It seems Creation are moving away from Britpop and driving headlong into hard-edged fuzz guitar territory. The single Beautiful Day, one of the softer offerings, lives up to its title. Tougher tracks like Song On The Radio and Paralyse use a simple cutting rock formula yet sound fresh. This lot rock just as hard as many metal bands and their sound is nothing new but it's as if there's some invisible ingredient which stops them from being just another dull bunch of headbangers. Without being revolutionary, they somehow breathe new life into guitar noise. (8/10) PB

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.