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Round Room
Home > Complete List of "p" Artists > Phish > Item 42
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Round Room
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by Phish
Sales Rank: 96297
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$18.98
At Amazon
on 1-26-2008.
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The wait is over. After going on an indefinite hiatus that ended up lasting over two years, Phish has reunited and, with astonishing speed, recorded 'Round Room', their first studio album since 2000's acclaimed 'Farmhouse'. Elektra. 2002
I received Round Room last Thursday from Phish Dry Goods and have had a chance to listen it through five or six times. It's great to hear the boys back together again, and there is some good stuff on this disc. However, it's a different story than their last three studio efforts. Beginning with "Billy Breathes", Phish really began to use the studio as a tool rather than simply a way to wrap their live concert sound onto an album. This is a good thing: Phish's studio recordings never could match their live concert energy, and given the easy availability of high quality live concert recordings - "the real thing" - why would you want that in a studio album anyway? "Round Room" is a departure from that approach. Obviously, this stems from the remarkably short timeframe in which this album was created. Traditionally, many of the songs that eventually find their way onto Phish's studio efforts have either been in their concert rotation for months or years, evolving during that time, or been carefully crafted offline. In contrast, much of this album sounds like it's in the formative stages. In some cases, this works. The title track, "Pebbles and Marbles", and "Waves", are smooth, rich musical textures where the vocals and the instruments almost merge into a tapestry, even if they aren't particularly complex. The title track, "Round Room", is a latin-flavored ditty that grows on you and has unexpected depth on repeated listenings. "Seven Below" is a good jam. A couple songs, particularly "Mexican Cousin", have me reaching for the "skip" button. Most of the rest is somewhere inbetween: some interesting melodies and rhythms; but nothing that feels quite finished. "Walls of the Cave" has potential, but ultimately feels like it's been pieced together from scraps leftover from other songs. This isn't a new idea for Phish, some of their concert classics such as "Fluffhead" and "You Enjoy Myself" are defined by distinct segments. But here, it feels forced: the styles are so different from beginning to end, there's no cohesion. By the time you get to the last segment, you'll think your CD player is playing "Loaded" instead of "Round Room". What's consistent throughout the whole album, though, is the feeling of being unfinished. Nearly every song starts and ends in such a way that you feel like you've walked in on a jam session. And that's essentially what this album is: a somewhat refined jam session. The result is, it's fun to listen to, and some of it grows on you. But at its best, it never feels much like you're listinening to a finished product, but rather interesting melodies that the band has worked up a little bit. Ultimately, it should prove to be fascinating as the band begins playing and evolving these songs. But for now, think of "Round Room" as a swim in the primordeal soup of Phish's creative process. Any fan of the band will enjoy this album and I definitely recommend it; I've given it three stars because it's simply not a cohesive album or fully evolved works.
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Round Room
Available from Amazon
Price: $18.98
Updated on 1-26-2008.
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