For the record before we start, let’s set the stage: Liked Trey Anastasio, loved Plasma, HATED Shine so much that I couldn’t actually tell you where the physical disc is in our flat. And our flat’s not that big. I didn’t even rip it to iTunes, kids. Liked Seis de Mayo and Surrender to the Air for their experimental natures. Loved the 2001-2003 incarnation of Trey Band, travelled to see them, still think the Santana show was one of the best shows I’ve ever been to. Adore Oysterhead – album and live. Think that Phil Lesh is good for Trey’s head and Trey with Phil is good for everyone’s heart.

So.

Bar 17.

I've had this review kicking around the computer for about a month now, ever since the album came out. I have been at a complete loss for how to really make sense of it as a complete work, and maybe that's because I'm not sure it is a complete work. It's certainly more ambitious than anything he's done on his own (outside of Plasma, which isn't really fair, since it's live) and there are some amazing, AMAZING songs on here. But after that first week of listening to it non stop I haven't listened at all in the past three. When I realized that I hadn't actually posted the review yet, I turned it back on to see if I still felt the same way. Some songs had really mellowed well ("What's Done is Done," for example) but some I didn't miss at all ("Empty House" and, despite M's efforts to dissuade me, "Let it Lie").

Since the album does feel very disparate to me, I decided to break it down song by song:

Songs I love:
Bar 17: It’s about Phish. It’s got to be. The minute I heard the first line, I thought “Of course.” My Mike thought so too, but for different reasons. That aside, it’s probably one of the best pieces of music Trey’s written in the past 5 years…understated, lush, gorgeous. It’s modern and completely new. What a great sound.

Dragonfly: I don’t understand why people don’t love this. I loved this from the minute I heard a gritty GRAB version. I cannot help but dance when it comes on, and for the LIFE of me I don’t get why a crowd that gets giddy over “Rye, rye, rocco” despite it being – in Trey’s words “just some thing that Tom said when he came walking in the door” – thinks they’re above “Boots and your dragonfly.” It’s the same joyful nonsense. Get into it!

Cincinnati: But then we already knew that, huh?

Songs I like:
Host across the Potomac: This is a good one too: complex enough to be interesting, jams that could go anywhere, not over-orchestrated. In fact, it already has Mike, and there’s lots of room for Page and Fish ifyouknowwhatImeanandIthinkyoudo. I’d love to hear this get Trey’s “beast” treatment live. And yes, I can forgive the exploding skyrockets and elevating desks and chairs…at least it’s more figurative than “we all shiiiiiiiine on.”

What’s Done is Done: This one stood up to my listening hiatus well. The end of the song soars. I think it does a better job than Host Across at conveying "emotional elevation." Just very pretty. I know Trey's voice isn't for everyone but I love it, and I love it even more on this song – it makes me happy.

Goodbye Head: His daughter wrote it with him. Too cute. Thank God it's actually a good song, too.

Gloomy Sky: A totally gorgeous melody stuck in a song in dire need of de-orchestration. I’d love to see this deconstructed and pieced back together by fewer instruments in a simpler fashion. I’ve got to believe that will happen live.

Jury’s still out on:
When You’re Walking: Pretty. Has potential. I'd have to hear this one live, though.

A Case of Ice and Snow: I can't decide if I like this, or if I think it's cheesy. I've read reviews that compliment the lyrics here, but I can't get my head around them. Maybe in the right setting or at the right point in a set this would work for me. As is on the album, I'm just not sure.

Mud City: I know this is supposed to be Trey's answer to the Stones, but it doesn't work as a rocker for me the same way that Dragonfly does. It sounds a lot like the Stones, sure, but does the world really need any more songs that sound like the Stones? Just go see the Stones…they're still together, hint hint.

Let it Lie: I cannot get over the "Gonna take my bike out" lyrics. I know they're Tom's, but I just can't do it. I keep thinking about Freddy Mercury singing "I want to ride my bi-cy-cle" and it totally ruins what is otherwise a gorgeous song, in the "Army of One" vein, with a really pretty guitar solo at the end. I do hope that if Phish ever gets back together they don't decide to have Page sing this with Trey doing the stupid background chant. It just makes me squirm. Keep your shirt on, dude.

Empty House: The idea is good – spare acoustics and a folksy melody – but the execution just doesn't work. Again, another one that could work well live but not hold up to anything but Trey, a stool, and a guitar.

Oh Trey, no…
Shadow: Sounds like the theme song to a cheesy 80's sitcom staring Candace Cameron, Ricky Schroeder, and Mark Linn-Baker. So bad.

So (again).

Thinking through all these songs, I guess I've made sense of the album thusly: it's a Phish record in disguise. And as with almost everything Trey or Phish has recorded, it's merely a skeleton upon which to build live shows - even more so because this album desperately needs Page, Mike, and Fish. I am sure that would disappoint Trey to hear, but from what I hear his live shows are killing lately…proving that he clearly has good material. Sadly, I think it's material that's much better than his current band (Ray, Sipe, and the horns aside). There are spaces in this music where just imagining how creative Phish could be gives me shivers. There are songs that are begging to be played to amphitheaters. There's a complexity to these tunes that makes me think that – consciously or unconsciously – Trey wants to be writing songs for the only other three guys he knows can really play them.

They’ll be back. Bet it all on 17.

#2: They can write a damn good pop song

I've written before about how I think that writing a perfect pop song is truly an art. Anyone can write shitty pop (and there's a lot of it out there) but a well-crafted, interesting, meaningful, catchy, complex pop tune is hard to come by. The Beatles did it, of course, and that's why we're still listening to them. Talking Heads was great at it…"Once in a Lifetime" is the best example of what I'm talking about, a song where the form belies the meaning and musicality. I honestly think The Slip is in that category, and Even Rats was the first song that made me believe.

(And for those of you who think I'm indulging in a bit of hyperbole, I've just spent the day listening to songs from Eisenhower while waiting for our pre-order to arrive and know of what I speak. Yes, The Beatles. Yes, it's that good. Go get it!)

(Hey! Did you know that you can actually download the music on here – just click to listen to it with Quicktime (or your favourite player) or right click and "Save As" to keep it. You'll have to do that with Even Rats because it's an M4P - I'll get the MP3 up there as soon as I get the album in my hot little hands. Trust me, it'll be worth it.)