Phish - Round Room December 13, 2002 - The Buffalo News by Jeff Miers Album Review - Round Room 3.5 Stars When Phish went on hiatus in 2000 and each band member pursued other interests, it looked like the group's run as king of the jam-band circuit might be at an end. The strength of guitarist/vocalist Trey Anastasio's solo album and world tour, and the interesting side projects of the other musicians in the ensembles Pork Tornado and Vida Blue, lent credence to that theory. But when the band announced a News Year's Eve performance, the faithful should have known something was afoot. Sure enough, when Phish rehearsed a few months back, the musicians spent four days writing and recording "Round Room," the studio album that marks the official conclusion of the hiatus. The songs were written and recorded almost immediately, which lends an immediacy and looseness to the disc's 78 minutes. At first, particularly following the majestic, song-oriented grandeur of 1999's "Farmhouse" - easily the band's strongest and most cogent studio effort - that looseness is off-putting. But by the third spin, "Round Room's" brilliance is revealed. It's easy to view it as the first album in the second phase of Phish's existence. The opening 10-minute-plus bizarro opus "Pebbles & Marbles" reveals the irreverence and adventurousness that make the band unique today. The song begins with plaintive piano chords that evoke Miles Davis' "In a Silent Way"/"Bitches Brew" period, devolves into an almost nebulous, untethered folk song, and culminates in a spacious jam that would not have been out of place on Pink Floyd's "Ummagumma." "Anything But Me" is a beautiful Anastasio ballad with a sultry, blues-like feel. Here, the band reveals the confidence and ability to revel in the subtlety and understatement that mark its recent work. The title track finds bassist Mike Gordon offering a Latin-tinged ode to oddness, as the band's penchant for making unusual meters sounds compellingly natural. It's as brilliant as it is weird. All the elements that make Phish so charming meet here and party heavy and hard, as the individual virtuosity of the players combines to form a whole greater than the sum of its parts. Phish is back. And if "Round Room" is any indication, its better than ever. © 2002 The Buffalo News