Well the long "hiatus" is over and cult fans all over the country couldn't be happier. The legendary Vermont jam band Phish is back and ready to retake their "jam" throne. What is the result of the first practice session of Trey, Jon, Mike, and (my favorite) Page? The first studio album in a whomping 2 years! A practice session indeed and the opening numerous minutes of Round Room it shows in "Pebbles and Marbles". Trey Anastasio fails at times to keep up with the instruments as they spiral into a long and improvised jam. The bass, keyboard, drums, and guitar take nearly the whole track to come together perfectly, but when they do the effect is built up and dramatic. The rest of the album tends to travel over a wide range of styles, Phish trying to find out who they are now that they are back, and unfortunately results in a lot of throwaway material. Fortunately there is plenty of material there, and so there is still redemption.
There are a few definite songs on Round Room which stick out as favorites once you plow through it a few times. The clear winner is "46 days" which they chose as the lead off single and to perform at a recent taping of Saturday Night Live. This one sounds much more straight "Rock" than Phish usually is, and is a unique and fun song. The song has the repetitive use of the line "Leigh Fordham sold me out, 46 days and the coal ran out." The song has a great guitar solo, and has a perfect live sound. Another favorite is the original and complex "Walls of the Cave". Trey's vocals are at their most crisp and superb, while the drums have their way with the song and keep the beat up. Halfway through the song breaks into one of the better Phish instrumentals I've heard. One of the funnier tracks is "Mexican Cousin" which contains some trademark fun Phish lyrics including, "Oh Tequila I turn to you like a long lost friend, I want to kiss my Mexican cousin once again," and also contains a great guitar solo to end out on this, one of the shorter tracks. Another one of the triumphant sections of the album is the closing song "Waves". This is one of the jams on "Round Room" which display the theme on this album as more mellow and more pleasant sounding improvisations. This song concludes the soothing lyrics which transition nicely into a beautiful jam that is soothing to listen to. This song makes for a beautiful ending to an inconsistent, yet overall pretty good album.
3 tocks
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