Phish returns with improved form, maturity in new release January 24, 2003 - Kansas State Collegian By Tony Herrman Album Review - Round Room Let's face the facts: any die-hard Phish-head already owns (or refuses to buy it since it's not "Live Phish") the new album, "Round Room." The album was released Dec. 10, following a two-year hiatus that had resulted in the broken hearts of a lot of young dudes and neo-hippies. For those casual fans who merely enjoy the band's good vibrations, this album is a keeper. "Round Room" takes the three-star quality of 2000's "Farmhouse" and butters it with more funk. The opening track, "Pebbles and Marbles," begins with two minutes of the kind of cool jazz you'd expect to hear from a polished quartet in a yuppie restaurant. The song quickly progresses to an archetypical 11-minute Phish jam. The fourth song, "Mexican Cousin," is an ode to tequila. With the lyrics, "We'll cover every emotion from happiness to sorrow, and the conversations I forget you'll tell me about tomorrow," the song sounds like something Homer Simpson once said about alcohol being the cause and solution to all of life's problems. For the first time since the album's opening song, Phish really cuts loose on the sixth track, "Seven Below." Like most Phish songs, "Seven Below" -- an awesome eight-and-a-half minute jam -- is accompanied by nonsensical poetry from lyricist and high school buddy of frontman Trey Anastasio, Tom Marshall. This verse is just repeated several times: "Blue, spinter and grow, new crystals of snow, seen several kinds, through seven below." "Mock Song," the seventh song, is sung by bass player Mike Gordon. While Anastasio handles the usual lead vocals well, Gordon's singing makes for a pleasant change. Gordon sings with the kind of choppy ease that would make for a great "Sesame Street" singalong, with dancing Muppets in the foreground. The last five songs of "Round Room" are perhaps its five best and five most original. The first three seconds of "46 Days," the album's eighth song, have hit written all over them, with what sounds like the beating of a cowbell. "46 Days" is to "Round Room" what "Back on the Train" was to "Farmhouse" -- an infectious funk-anthem, with simple and catchy lyrics. "All of these Dreams," resembles the slow burn of a Grateful Dead song like "(Walk Me Out In The) Morning Dew." The coolest thing about this song is that the music is as beautiful as the place it describes. The first minute of "Walls of the Cave" begins with a great Page McConnell piano solo, which has shades of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." It then flows into four minutes of a melodramatic clash that sounds more like a Vanessa Carlton song. The song is turned on its ear at the five minute mark and produces a great five-minute jam. "Round Room" has more hits than misses for a successful 78 minutes. What started out as another "Farmhouse," turned out to be a product of a lot of growth for Phish. Even if "Round Room" wasn't such a good album, it wouldn't matter because just having the band back is enough. Copyright © 2003 Kansas State Collegian