Trey Anastasio "Trey Anastasio" May 11, 2002 - The Morning Call (Allentown) By John Terlesky Album Review - Trey Anastasio ROCK It's pretty much a given that if you are fond of on-hiatus jam-phenoms Phish, you are going to like lead man Trey Anastasio's eponymously titled solo album. That leaves the rest of us. And though "Trey Anastasio" may be the easiest way yet for a non-Phish-head to appreciate the songwriter/guitarist, there are still some essential stumbling blocks to contend with. Anastasio assembled a powerful unit of musicians for the disc, particularly the rhythm section and horns so prominently featured on the Latin-tinged jams "Alive Again" and "Last Tube" and the white-funk workouts "Money, Love and Change" and "Mr. Completely." When Anastasio concentrates on jamming with them, there are some nice moments that transcend the "jam-for-jam's-sake" sensibility of a lot of his work. But, as in Phish, lyrical/vocal contributions are less than a strong suit; there's a complacency (passivity?) to Anastasio's stream-of-nerdiness mewling that tends to invalidate some of the authority of the instrumental chops on display. Then again, why should Anastasio feel the need to court more fans? Phish was always about a certain in-joke exclusivity anyway. I never got into "Dungeons and Dragons" either.