Phish returns from hiatus with "Round Room" January 2, 2003 - Baltimore Sun By Sun Staff Album Review - Round Room This Vermont quartet was the most beloved jam band to emerge in the '90s, but there was a long time when nobody knew if the band would ever play again. They left their hiatus open-ended, fueling intense speculation and rumor. Round Room, then, is the first step to the band's dominating its field again, and it promises what so many of the band's other studio CDs have not delivered: long jams, man. Cut during Phish's rehearsals for coming tour dates, this was done quickly, with the band cooking up nearly two dozen songs in two weeks and the group's label, Elektra, rush-releasing the CD. The idea was to find the spontaneity and chemistry that have made the band's shows so legendary. Round is a breezy, upbeat and enjoyable CD. Numerous songs, including the opening "Pebbles and Marbles" and the concluding "Waves," clock in at over eight minutes each. There is, in other words, jamming aplenty. But to what end? The CD sometimes lacks structure. Look beyond the surface pleasures, and what emerges is an album with several baldly mediocre compositions. A number of the songs here feel undercooked and unfinished, their ideas not fleshed out enough, their arrangements unenticing. On a good night, Phish's improvisational rambles are great fun, and it's nice to have the band back among the living. But Round Room is a CD with numerous promising ideas and few fine moments. © 2003 Baltimore Sun