Phish: Round Room January 14, 2003 - The Hartford Courant By Jeff Puma Album Review - Round Room Listening to "Round Room," the new album from Phish, you can almost imagine the Vermont quartet giddy to be playing together again after a two-year hiatus and eager to appease the many Phish Phans salivating for new material. You can almost picture them hard at work for the four days that it took to record the new album. But you might wonder why they didn't take more time to allow these songs to mature. Phish features four of the most talented working musicians. The problem with "Round Room" is that lyrics that too often sound contrived and overzealous guitar noodling replace the group's superior musicianship. And though guitarist Trey Anastasio is impeccable, as always, it's too bad that the rest of the quartet didn't get to show off their musical chops as well. This is not to say that the album doesn't have its good moments. It just doesn't have the one-two punch of grooves and hooks that marked "Farmhouse" in 2000. On "Round Room," the songs won't grab you right away, but given a chance, they will grow on you. And undoubtedly, the band's recently announced - and already sold-out - tour will give Phish plenty of room to grow into these songs. Article © 2003 Hartford Courant