Phish's "Round Room" January 5, 2003 - Philadelphia Inquirer By AD Amorosi Album Review - Round Room When members of a band known for stretching out stretch out even further into solo works - as the Phish foursome did in 2000 - the question when they reunite is what shape they'll shrink back into. Led by principal songwriter and guitarist Trey Anastasio, the always-elastic kings of jam spontaneously combusted in October in a fast four-day recording session that has produced the surprisingly hackneyed Round Room, which sounds melodically and lyrically akin to Little Feat soundtracking the faeries of Two Towers under water. While the rush allowed for some of the band's most heroically complex elongations (the beatific intro to Pebbles and Marbles, the rhythmically shifting time signatures of Walls of the Cave and the intertwined vocal harmonies of Seven Below), it left little time for quality songwriting and singing. Like great grandpa's stories, bassist Mike Gordon's tunes are sweetly whimsical but boring. And though there's a lo-fi funk to Anastasio's Mexican Cousin and 46 Days that signifies something raucous is afoot, they sound like demos cut by Lowell George's doppelganger. Trey should give them back and find a focus worthy of Round's instrumental bliss. Grade: B © 2003 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company