Mutual Admiration Society: self-titled

Mutual Admiration Society, a band name you’d think would have been used long ago for a collaborative project, consists of Glen Phillips, late of Toad the Wet Sprocket, and three members of Nickel Creek (Sara Watkins, Sean Watkins, and Chris Thile). Though the advance copy trumpets that the album was “rehearsed, recorded, and mixed in just six days with producer Ethan Johns,” there’s no mention that those six days occurred way back in 2000. The material has been held from release by contract negotiations and record company wrangling.

So, let’s see: what’s happened since then?

• Phillips has released his solo debut (Abulum), a concert album (Live at Largo), and convened a Toad the Wet Sprocket reunion tour.

• Thile released his third solo album in 2001 (Not All Who Wander Are Lost).

• Sean Watkins released two solo albums: his debut, Let It Fall, and the 2003 follow-up, 26 Miles.

• Perhaps most importantly, however, Nickel Creek scored their commercial breakthrough courtesy of 2002’s This Side, a fine disc that succeeded in bringing a modern take on bluegrass to the masses.

In other words, the potential market for the Mutual Admiration Society album suddenly jumped up by more than a few units, which is probably the main reason there was so much negotiation involved in finally getting it on the shelves.

It’s regrettable that Sugar Hill’s publicity department has chosen to claim that “[this] release features songs written and sung by Phillips”. What’s more important is what they’re not saying: the songs aren’t all new (which is fine, given that even the old songs are presented in a new setting), but, perhaps more importantly — given that no songwriting credits are provided on the advance — the songs aren’t all written by Phillips.

There’s a co-write by Phillips and pop god Jon Brion on the second track, the darkly rollicking “Sake of the World”. It’s the most successful incorporation of Nickel Creek’s sound into Phillips’ usual vocal style and, as a result, it’s arguably the best track on the disc. MAS also cover Brion’s “Trouble”, which remains as melancholy here as it was on Brion’s original version. The group takes on Toad the Wet Sprocket’s “Windmills”, as well as “La Lune”, written by Sean Kennedy of Toad’s peers, the Woodburning Project. The album closes with Harry Nilsson’s “Think About Your Troubles”, most famously covered by Jellyfish for the Harry Nilsson tribute album several years back.

Of Phillips’s new songs, the best are “Be Careful” and “Somewhere Out There”, but for the most part, Nickel Creek don’t really feel as though they have much of a presence on these tracks. Instrumentally, they come across as just another backing band, and vocally, Phillips’ voice is consistently front and center. Reportedly, the Mutual Admiration Society’s live performances spotlight some phenomenal harmonies (Sara Watkins’ voice does manage to shine through beautifully in this capacity on the aforementioned “La Lune”). If those reports are true, then producer Johns should be ashamed of himself for not incorporating those more effectively into the album.

With Nickel Creek’s rise into public awareness over the past year or two, one hopes that they’ll have the pull to get any future collaborations with Phillips into stores far more rapidly than it took this one to see the light of day. Despite its production faults, it’s still a lovely album that begs for a follow-up sooner rather than later.