Phish - Round Room January 27, 2003 - Random Title.com by Staff Album Review - Round Room Phish releases their new album Round Room on the heels of the end of their two year-plus hiatus with an environment surrounding their legacy far different from the one that existed when they last took the stage in late 2000. After 16 months of repose, legions of curious newbies and wayward longtime fans have built the band’s output and reputation to unparalleled heights. Like a deceased relative, th moniker of Phish has been granted an idealized stature that few bands could reach. After recharging the creative juices, with a brief New Years run and longer tour scheduled for the spring, the band’s stage show seems likely to return to its lofty heights. Less predicable is the quality of an album rumored to have been recorded over a three-day span in the barn of enigmatic frontman Trey Anastasio. On paper, the album appears to be an amalgam of more recent studio efforts with the style of earlier Phish releases, containing songs written by longtime collaborators Anastasio and Tom Marshall as well as oddball bassist Mike Gordon. The four songs clock in at over 8 minutes (with three topping the ten-minute mark) and are surrounded by poppier, song-writing focused tunes. Round Room’s intentions seem clear- documentation of the first official Phish reunion in studio at a confined three-day interval. How have the band member side efforts contributed to their cash cow? On the whole, the album does not stand out as a particularly fine studio effort. Many songs appear to have been written in studio, little more than ideas to be more fully fleshed out in a live setting. Songs like “Mexican Cousin”, a paean to tequila, seem little more than a toss-off jokey novelty song than fully formed compositions, and will certainly tire after multiple listens. Gordon’s “Mock Song” and “Round Room” seem more suited to a poetry compilation than an album. Despite their bizarre word-play, the tunes are little more than a clever Gordon idea that do not hold up upon repeated listens. “Right angle rooms drive me crazier each day, Put me in a box I know I'm never going to play, Put me in a square room and I won't know what to say, I want a round room at the end of the day”, Gordon opines, though the initial imagery of life in his round room pales with staid rhymes that surround. “I went to a lighthouse, and I liked the view, I looked out the window, and I could see you.” Gordon’s attempts to move his song-writing into more mature, traditional styles are combined with his usual irreverence, resulting in songs that succeed neither as delightfully weird or enjoyable profound. Songs like “Friday” and “All of these Dreams” resemble the “diet Phish” songs that recent albums have moved towards; sensitive ballads with interesting changes and pretty soloing from keyboardist Page McConnell and Anastasio. The diet Phish on Round Room is unfortunately staid and less impressive than albums before. Friday’s interesting vocal melody is, paradoxically, too beautiful for Anastasio’s voice, as the guitarist struggles to perform the vocals with any power. The songs suffer lyrically in comparison to earlier efforts as well. Perhaps diluted by Marshall and Anastasio’s side projects, the lyrics rarely reach the complex imagery of songs like “Waste” and “Fast Enough for You” from prior albums. “Why is the sun hot? Why does it rain?” Anastasio asks in “Friday”, “Why is there danger and Why is there pain? Why can't the burden we carry go away, And why isn't it Friday today?” Come on, guys. Did Trey let his four-year old child write this chorus? The songs with the most potential are the longer efforts, as would be expected by a live band recording all new songs in studio. Clearly excited to be playing together again, “Walls of the Cave” and “Seven Below” feature extended jamming and are sure to thrill at live shows down the line. “Walls…” has several different parts leading to a long guitar-based jam with a nice return to a chorus at the end, and sounds remarkably akin to “Mr. Completely” from Anastasio’s solo album, for better or worse. Halfway through, the band stops, only to be restarted by a drumbeat from Jon Fishman that seems directly lifted from Fiona Apple’s “Fast As You Can.” “Seven Below” is a very free-form jam in the vein of live “David Bowie” or “Run Like an Antelope.” What “Seven…” lacks that gives the afore-mentioned songs such power is the defined ending for the jam to build to. On Round Room, the song meanders in an intriguing, though somewhat aimless manner before eventually petering out. Things could get interesting if the band adds a new ending for their live shows. Which brings me to the album's intro track, “Pebbles and Marbles”, the hands-down standout. The song represents what may be the best studio song the band has ever recorded. Inspired songwriting, beautiful harmonizing by McConnell, and a rip-roaring major key jam in the vein of finer “Down with Diseases” the band has performed, “Pebbles” represents the best of what can be expected by the band from here to come. This is the Phish I love… a song to rip a bong to, turn off the lights and do the hippie headbang as the band builds in intensity and volume until my mouth is left hanging open. “Pebbles” combines the shredding of early studio jamming with the experience the band has gained as song-writers and studio perfectionists. It is nothing less than chill-inducing. A song performed by Anastasio over the past several years on his solo tour, "Pebbles" is clearly the most mature of the numbers on the album, and as a result, its highlight. This praise may well apply to other numbers as the band fleshes them out in the practice room and on stage, but on Round Room, most tunes are still in their adolescence. Copyright © 2003 Random Title