Joy Review

This is going to be a short one since i actually got most of my thoughts out yesterday.

There are only a few songs worth the time on this disc:

Backwards Down the Number Line
Sugar Shack
Light

BDTNL, as i've already mentioned, is THE 3.0 anthem. Trey is giddy every time he sings it and lately it has evolved into a jam monster. You can hear the pure energy on this track of the four of them back in the studio together and its noticeable that Lillywhite had very little to alter off this first take.

Mike's Sugar Shack is def one of my fav new songs and is probably the "phishiest" of the tracks. Great vibe and it comes across well live. No major jamming from it yet, but i'm looking forward to its evolution.

I first heard Light at Gorge and was privileged to hear the calypso jamming out of this one. While the body of the song doesn't really have any umph, the ambient intro is maybe the only piece of music i hadn't heard before this came out. Could be wrong, but i think the next studio album will have much more of this type of lead in. Phish's songs have always had intros and outros that are as much a part of the tune as the chorus or verse (2001, DWD, Axilla, Bowie).

Beyond those three there's not much i'm going to listen to again on here. I had to skip through Time Turns Elastic after 7 minutes and the other new songs just don't do it for me.

So there you have it. I'll give this a B, if only because BDTNL is so fucking awesome and if i hadn't played with someone for four years and made an album i have no idea what i would have to go through.

This crop of Trey songs rightfully dwell on his troubles and i'm very much looking forward to some new songs with a "phishier" disposition.