Trey Anastasio goes solo May 1, 2002 - The Athens Insider by Gallagher Album Review - Trey Anastasio Don’t tell the Feds, but I got a bootleg copy of the Trey Anastasio CD a week ahead of Schoolkids (local record store). Trey’s self-titled solo CD was released yesterday, so after you are done reading this, head for the nearest music shop and pick yourself up a slice. No, it doesn’t taste like Phish. Trey is going new directions since Phish went out for recess. He’s made new friends and is playing new games. Trey has an essence that is distinctly playful and can be easily spotted in a crowd of musical instruments, and this essence, while still keeping with the imaginative, happy spirit of Phish, is not rehashed Phish sticks in any way. Trey breaks out into the new like a bird riding the wind. This CD is funky. Most Trey material, especially when it’s Phish, pales on a studio CD because the essence of the music is a musical ride flowing down whatever muse is tripping in their noggins at the time, thriving on off the cuff improvisation that’s only truly real when it’s live. This CD breaks that barrier, however. The music has a riding energy that rocks and ripples, flows and carries itself down the ridge of Trey’s imagination. It’s essence is live and pure. The first few tracks are all out funk jams. “Alive Again” begins with a Cuban Congo rift. Like the breaking of Spring, the song is about healing, finally reaching through the pain of struggle to that point where the pain breaks and you feel the joy of being alive. The line, “It’s time for you to be alive again,” is sung like a mantra, and by the end of the song, the sun tastes that much better and the air tastes like pure spring water. That song is followed by “Cayman Review”. After hearing it, I was instantly obsessed and played the same song 20 more times in a row. It’s a funky, all-out blues bash. It’s pure freedom rock, so turn it up and be free. The song celebrates falling for a hot woman and living at the tip of the tingling. That is immediately followed by “Push On ‘Til the Day”, which has a fast water rhythm. The trumpets reach a point of hypnosis, reverberating out in waves of energy. Trey’s guitar provides the smooth, tickling feathers. The keyboard keeps the funk up. All the musicians rhythms fall and recede, creating a beautiful journey. The fourth track is “The Night Speaks to a Woman”, which has funky words and observations. It’s about listening to the night and remembering past flames. The song has a highly poetic quality wrapped around a sonnet of rocking blues. A few tracks are slower and calmer. “Flock of Words” is good for sleeping in someone’s arms, and is sure to inspire good dreams. The song has a lush poetic quality about a simple word breathed from a woman’s mouth that says so much more than a complete sentence. Breath becomes communication. “Money, Love and Change”, kicks the album back into high groove again. Boredom is the price of fear, and the song dares you to put it all on the table and read the weeping. “Some live their days hidden from themselves, afraid of money, love, and change,” he sings. Risk it all. “Last Tube” is an all-out 11 minute funk jam. The rhythms run like squirrels, and layered on the rhythms is Trey’s funky, psychedelic guitar that speaks of space and imagination. The music reaches moments of very good jazz. Layered in the music are hints of rifts from previous songs on the CD, like suggestions of memories. “Ether Sunday” wraps up the CD. It’s slower, but has a really reaching beauty that will break you. It’s about waking up on a beautiful Sunday morning next to a beautiful significant other. It’s a great CD. I listened to it and nothing else for a week straight. Phish may still be thawing on the counter, but Trey lives on and will continue to create imaginative musical journeys that free the child within. Transcribed by Clint Haller