Phish - Farmhouse May 15, 2000 - Bigbeefandbeer.com By Swank Album Review - Farmhouse I think we have all gone to the music store and picked up an album we thought would be a reasonable risk to buy, even though we have never heard the music, only to get it home and play it and find out that it is not quite what we expected. Recently, I picked up the latest album by Phish and had this very experience. I had heard the name of the band and some of the music before and thought it would be pretty good, it was not. The album's name is Farmhouse recorded in 2000 by the Elektra Entertainment Group. The music played by Phish on this album is very mellow and smooth. This would be great except there is no real imagination or life in the music. The lyrics are uninspired and make very little sense for the most part. This all leads me to be believe that this album was put together just to get something out there and/or to fulfill some obligation. The lack of effort by the band is shown in even the titles of the songs, for example Farmhouse, Bug, Dirt, Sleep, Sand and etc. The music is well played and the vocals are solid but that is all that Phish has going for it. I give this music two Big Beef and Beers. The music and vocals are good but there are many groups that can do that. I recommend it for only background music when you are doing something else.