Phish - Round Room January 9, 2003 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch By Daniel Durchholz Album Review - Round Room They've released a barrelful of studio albums, live box sets and side projects. Now with Round Room, Phish is turning loose a collection of songs that are works-in-progress - rough versions of tunes recorded when the band came together to prepare for a tour after a two-year hiatus. In other words, they're not that far removed from rehearsal tapes. So what's next on the release schedule - Phish's collected answering machine messages? Snide comments aside, you can't completely dismiss this set, or at least its good intentions. Phish has long battled the notion that its studio albums simply aren't as fresh or spontaneous as its live performances. The idea that this sort of spur-of-the-moment recording could break them through the studio walls at last has at least some merit. But ultimately, it doesn't work. Phish fans will thrill to the album's documentary nature and will feel privileged to be present when these songs were still finding their form. The unconverted will note, though, that there's too much noodling, the lyrics are mostly impenetrable and the vocals often wander off-key. Looks like the round room Phish is talking about here contains a choir, and the band is still preaching to it. Copyright 2003 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.