Sometimes a story is over before it even starts. By the time Phish’s new studio album hit the shelves this week, Trey Anastasio had already announced the band was unexpectedly calling it quits and finalizing their farewell summer tour. To many, it came as a shock. Though the poignant lyrics, Let It Be cover art, and equally Beatles-esque individual song contributions of Undermind lead you to believe each member recognized the end was near many moons ago.
In direct contrast to their overtly loose Round Room - which found even Phish moving well outside generally acceptable boundaries - this time they call upon producer Tchad Blake (Peter Gabriel, Los Lobos, Soul Coughing) to strike an even balance. What he orchestrates is the band at its best and worst - which is all you can ask for from a swansong.
Songs which were meant to truly come alive only after years of on-stage tweaking - “Scents and Subtle Sounds,” “Two Versions of Me" - become notes in a bottle never to be opened. The Zeppelin-tinged “A Song I Heard The Ocean Sing," complete with “o’er” lyrics, clamors with dissonance, matched only by the brief instrumental monster, “Maggie’s Revenge.” Ironically, the album's strength ultimately comes in the form of Phish’s most commercially accessible song of its career. The rhythmic, country bounce of “The Connection” is the closest Phish has ever come, and now will ever come, to creating a timeless radio classic. Perhaps finally adding that elusive achievement to an already packed mantle, in covertly Phish fashion.
Like the other fab four's signoff piece, this concluding paragraph is both a nod to where they’ve been as one and a full embrace of where they're venturing out to all alone. Trey Anastasio’s excessively dramatic orchestral piece “Secret Smile” is indicative of his latest cinematic endeavors. Mike Gordon’s “Access Me” compounds on his always quirky writing style and recent time spent with Leo Kottke. Page McConnell’s “Army of One,” pure Elton John, is his best work in almost a decade. And, well, Jon Fishman’s chorale number “Tomorrow’s Song” solidifies him as the one most likely to call for a ten-year reunion.
Here’s hoping he makes the call.
