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Round Room

Phish - Round Room Audio CD

A fair review of the Phish "Round Room" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Phish reviews here, or go back to the Phish tabs.

Band: Phish
Title: Round Room
Rating:

Release Date: 2002-12-10
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Pebbles and Marbles 2: Anything but Me 3: Round Room 4: Mexican Cousin 5: Friday 6: Seven Below 7: Mock Song 8: 46 Days 9: All of These Dreams 10: Walls of the Cave 11: Thunderhead 12: Waves

A musical adventure
A friend gave me Farmhouse 5 years ago, and a coworker just got me Round Room at the dollar store! So I'm not a crazed Phish fan- no big axe to grind, and no major biases- Phish-wise at least. I'm the odd man out- I own two Phish CD's- this and Farmhouse. Just a music lover- mostly blues and jazz, but I'd like to think I can appreciate good music of any genre.

That said, I love round room. Each song brings a different flavor- there's a monster funk jam, some epic weird poetic stuff, some stuff that sounds "alternative"- which is a stupid label- Each of the musicians is a total master of their respective instrument, and it shines through very clearly- interesting and original compositions and great extended jams- some tasty guitar played with both restraint and abandon. All in all very cool- It hasn't left my CD player for a week now.

And yes, it's a BIT rough around the edges, but nothing that someone who's into blues, jazz, and live music shouldn't be able to handle. To me it adds character. You want "finished", go listen to Brittney Spears.

Proper lure yeilds small catches
Even so, extended solos and instrumental convergence have more merit then usual studio treatment, and the title track alone is an example of the powerful gifts hidden underneath a lackluster Buffett-esque presence. 3 1/2

Striving to recreate their special live appeal, the production is mainly in vain due to RR containing some of the wondrous jammer's weaker songwriting.

The Epitomy of Phish
Start with "A Live One". If you've never listened to phish, don't start here. If you've heard other studio albums, don't expect more of the same. Okay, now that all disclaimers are out of the way. . . this is my personal favorite Phish studio album, and I'll tell you why. All phish fans, if they're perfectly honest, will admit that Trey's vocal are okay. . . sometimes. He's off key about as often as he's on-key. Such is the case on this album, and thus I immidiately take a star off. But, Phish's magic is created on the spur of the moment jams, and much of this album is riminiscent. Furthermore, the songs offered here are not the the jazzy concoctions evident on "lawn-boy" or "nectar", nor are they the creepy funk sounds of "Ghost", but they're more like acid-gospel. Simple, backwoods, folk sounding songs that they let fly. If the Dead had recorded American beauty in just four days, it may have come out sounding the same. There is one really bad song on here, and that's Thunderhead. I won't go into detail because i don't want to take away from the album too much. It is a very laid back and fun album, and even though "Mexican Cousin" is a sing along, it's a great sing along, and if you've been kissing the mexican cousin (tequila), then you'll enjoy it even more. Don't over-analyze this album. Just go with it and have fun. Afterall, that's what Phish is all about, and this album captures that attitude more than any other.

Not my favorite, but still really good.
'Pebbles' is great. A lot of heads don't like this album, and I don't understand why because I have enjoyed since the band has released it. Trey had debuted the song on his solo tour either earlier in 2002 or 2001 and Phish definately made it their own. 'Anything but Me' is a very enjoyable slow song and actually has some decent lyrics. 'Round Room' is pure Mike and you gotta love it. 'Mexican Cousin' is about as meh as it gets. 'Friday' is decent with some good guitar work (check out a live version). 'Seven Below' sounds good on the album but it really came into it's own during the band's tours starting with February 2003 (a stand-out version from 07/13/2003 is used as the filler on Live Phish 07/29/2003. ) 'Mock Song' is pretty meh (the band only performed it once live. ) '46 Days' seemed to become very popular during the band's final tours and was one of the more beloved post-hiatus songs (a stand-out version appears on the IT DVD. ) 'All of these Dreams' is pretty meh. 'Wall of the Cave' is just awesome. This song really fit well as a set closer the last couple of years and the band really performed some great versions of this song live (Check out Live Phish 02/28/2003 for a remarkable version. ) "Thunderhead" is another Trey Solo leftover, but not bad FWIW. The album closes with "Waves", which is arguably the best post-hiatus song, and if Phish had continued past 08/15/2004, this song is probably the direction their song-writing and jamming-style would have taken. Overall, I love this album. It definately put my doubts to rest while I was worried about how they would during the interval between the hiatus ending announcement in August of 2002 and their first show coming back on 12/31/2002.

My first look at Phish ... and the last
It made me realize that there was at least one astounding musician in this band, so, based solely on reviews here on Amazon, I chose to get hold of "Round Room. My (rather late) introduction to Phish came rather indirectly via one of my favorite jazz improv CDs, "The Illustrated Band" by Vida Blue, which features Phish keyboardist Page McConnell. " Having been an off-and-on fan of the Grateful Dead since the 1960s, I can't help making the comparison, because to my ears much of the jamming sounds very similar, especially the Garcia-like guitar work and, at times, the group harmonies. This is a good thing, however, since the band doesn't copy or rip off the Dead in any way, but seem to have merely picked up a few of their sounds along the way. The songs here are terrific, with lots of great written lyrics, complex music, and some very adept improvisations on guitar and keyboard. My only complaint about "Round Room" is that it sounds a bit sloppy and unsure at times, maybe a little like the Dead's less successful, off-night, live recordings. I can understand the band's desire to keep a fresh take rather than beating it into the ground with multiple attempts to record the "perfect" track, but more practice might have been in order. Not bad, though.

You can see a complete list of all Phish discography, or go back to the Phish tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.