Has Trey Anastasio gone Phishing? May 12, 2002 - Dallas Morning News by Matt Weitz Album Review - Trey Anastasio Hardly. The jam band's singer-guitarist hooks horns, new rhythms and more on solo debut The lead guitar is so identified with rock 'n' roll – often the most heroic role onstage – that the player and the band often are inextricably linked. Once a hero leaves his context, almost anything can happen. Just ask John Glenn. Or Pete Rose. That's why fans of Trey Anastasio – Phish's lead guitarist (and singer, which only strengthens the association) – could be forgiven a bit of anxiety while awaiting his first solo album. After all, he'd been part of the improvisational quartet for 17 years, the last 10 of which saw the group enjoy a phenomenal popularity that grew until their retirement in 2000. From the first tinkling piano notes of the opener, "Alive Again," it's clear that things are going to be different avec solo Trey. The song swings with a spry Latin beat, heavy on feisty horns and percussion. The horns get most of the attention; they punctuate a majority of the album's 12 cuts: the manic "Push On 'Til the Day," the funky "Money, Love and Change." But there are other new elements, too – most of which mirror the composition of the big band (10 pieces at last count) that Mr. Anastasio's been playing and touring with. Soulful female vocalists add heat to the lusty "Cayman Review" and "Night Speaks to a Woman." "At the Gazebo" is a gentle, pastoral etude starting with a brass band that hands the song off to an interplay of string section and acoustic guitar. "Ray Dawn Balloon" is another quiet acoustic instrumental. With Phish, Mr. Anastasio was known for his ability to build long, ever-expanding soundscapes. But here, he's lithe and economical, whether casting spiny, kinetic guitar lines against a funky clavinet ("Cayman Review") or wailing psychedelically with an orchestral background ("Mr. Completely," which sounds like the overture to a rock opera). How to proceed after leaving a popular band is a riddle that has tripped up more than one talented musician. With this debut, Mr. Anastasio has done a masterful job of separating himself from the identity he established in Phish without repudiating it.