How do you judge a blueprint? January 14, 2003 - The Calgary Sun by Mike Bell Album Review - Round Room 2 1/2 out of 5 Show me one and the most I can say is, "That might/should/could be a nice building." Of course, it's just a blueprint -- the time and effort put into it are mostly in vain without the finished product. That's similar to the dilemma when confronted with a studio album from American jam band No. 1, Phish. The songs, as they appear on record, are merely the starting point -- the place from which live versions take off and, depending on your point of view, spark magical explorations of sound or set off fits of self-indulgent nothingness. On Round Room, the reunion album of sorts for the band -- they broke up at the beginning of the decade and surprisingly reassembled last year just prior to the recording of the disc -- Phish seem to be relying on that a little too much. It's a rather lazy, sometimes sloppy album with forgettable pieces that confirm the fact they were borne out of a four-day rehearsal session. They're virtually live but lacking that sense of freedom, that true sense of rootsy rock improvisation you either love or hate about the band's music. It's tough to judge them even as a blueprint, except to say they sound as though they were rendered to beat a deadline, like the architects were content to say, "Fine, finish it, we'll fix everything later when it really matters." Might/could/should they be a nice building? If you took these blueprints to the planning office, it's doubtful they would even be given the proper permits. Copyright © 2003 Sun Media Corporation