Customer Reviews

Bar 17

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am torn...I have been (and still am) a huge Phish fan, as well as a fanatic for great songwriting. I found Trey's last album, "Shine" to be a great departure for the guitarist...less "jammy", with some great songwriting (best examples: Invisible, Wherever You Find It, Sleep Again, Love That Breaks All Lines).

So, naturally, I'm both excited and interested to hear Trey's newest album, "Bar 17". First impressions..."Wow, this is great, I like the vibe on this album. A lot less packaged sounding than Shine, a lot less restrained." They I listened to it again, and the album's scattered feel started bugging me. It's obvious that he recorded this over 3 years time, because nothing seems to fit together on this album.

There are some amazing songs..."If You're Walking", a jaunty upbeat song with a groove that wouldn't have sounded out of place on a 90's era Grateful Dead record, "What's Done", which just smacks of Pink Floyd (in a good way), "Empty House", some more great acoustic playing, similar to that of "The Inlaw Josie Wales" from Phish's 'Farmhouse' album, "Shadow", an irritaingly catchy yet wonderful series of vocal rounds, piano and strings. Then there are the jams..."Bar 17" features some of Trey's most inventive and inspired soloing I've heard in YEARS! Very surreal and beautiful! Then, "Goodbye Head", which is the most Phish-like track on the record, has great lyrics and a wonderful atonal jam segment...easily the most accessible for fans of Trey's earlier work. "Cincinatti" is also great, lots of horns, mad drumming...fantastic vibe...great album closer.

As for the rest of the songs, I wasn't too thrilled. The best thing about this album is that it featured Mike Gordon, the Benevento Russo Duo, and should give fellow Phish heads even more reason to believe the band will eventualy reunite. It's obvious Trey misses Phish, as he has stripped down his current touring band to keys, bass and drums, and several tracks on this album feature a similar lineup. Here's hoping they'll come back when they're all good and ready!

Overall, great album, could have been stronger...Trey is a great songwriter, but he needs to work with a really visionary producer one of these days. Maybe he should give Nigel Godrich a call...hell, even Steve Lillywhite.

Bar 17 is probably my favorite of Trey Anastasio's solo albums. This is his 3rd official solo studio album since 2000, and his second since Phish officially broke up. Last year's Shine was a big slice of sunny, straight-ahead rock. It was recorded with a single backing band and produced and co-written by studio ace Brendan O'Brien. Bar 17, on the other hand, was recorded over three years and features more than 40 different musicians. It was largely recorded at Trey's rural Vermont studio, The Barn, and mostly self-produced. As an album, it isn't a very cohesive collection of songs. But the songs themselves are nearly all high-quality efforts. It's also the first album of Trey's where some of the songs bear a striking resemblance to Phish. Songs like "Host Across the Potomac," "Goodbye Head," and "Bar 17" stretch past the 6-minute mark and bear the same mixture of highly composed sections and loose jamming solos that were a Phish hallmark. The appearances of Phish drummer and bassist Jon Fishman and Mike Gordon on some of the songs undoubtedly add to that feeling.

Which isn't to say that the album is just a poor attempt to recapture that Phish magic- Anastasio tries a lot of different things here. Considering that Phish spanned nearly every genre imaginable in its 2 decades, it's hard to say that that band wouldn't have attempted any of these songs. But "Let Me Lie" is a simple low-key pop song, "Empty House" is an acoustic guitar song, that recalls folk and bluegrass, and "Cincinnati" features a long, very jazzy horn-based introduction before it kicks into a bright rock song. "Dragonfly" and "Mud City" are more traditional rockers, and "If You're Walking" and "A Case of Ice and Snow" are laid-back tunes that amble along slowly. For me, the combination of styles on this album is really what makes it work. Anastasio has tried a lot of very different musical things over the past few years. Bar 17, though, is the most confident thing he's put out since Phish's penultimate album Round Room. Trey just seems more comfortable sliding through various styles and trying out different things, and this album is a great illustration of that mindset.

I've been around the block many times with all of Trey's material, from the old days with Phish to the new days without. With a lot of Phish shows, Phish albums, Trey albums, and general music listening under my belt (I'm now 30) I have to say that this is a very solid piece of work by Trey. After approximately 10 listens, I can give Bar 17 a stamp of quality. Overall, this is a rather sad and slow album. The production isn't quite as chirpy as Shine. However, the music is really very good. Listen to the strings on tunes such as "Gloomy Sky" and "Bar 17". How can you not tip your hat to Trey? The man may not play guitar like a 25 year old, but he can still compose a tune that is very much Trey, and very much enjoyable.

This CD has 13 tracks, is almost 70 minutes long and has excellent sound quality. My copy came in a cardboard digipack. Unlike most digipacks, the tabs that hold the CD have not broken off yet.

Every track starts out wonderfully, with beautiful, energetic music. But, most revert into some bad, inane song. Many of the songs have the same format. About 1 minute of great intro music, 1 and a half minutes of horrible lyrics and mediocre singing with mostly repeated lyrics, and then about 2 to 4 minutes of great music.

You start listening to this CD and it starts out great. But, then the first song is pretty bad after the first minute. So, you skip to the next track and think this is great. But, then it goes into more bad singing. Then, songs 3 and 4 are actually fairly good throughout. But then the rest of the songs fall into the same format of great start, inane singing, great ending.

With editing software, I will cut out the parts I don't like and will end up with a great CD that is about 30 minutes long. (Hey, I bought the CD, I can do anything I want with it, but post it for others to get for free). I would give my new edited CD 5 stars.

What kills me about other people's opinion of Trey Anastasio is that everyone expects PHISH. PHISH were a good band, however, I think that Trey's music is more straight forward and less complex than most PHISH songs. If your looking for PHISH, then buy a PHISH CD. If your looking for Trey Anastasio, then buy this CD.
Personally, I enjoy every song on this recording. It has everything in it. A little bit of Jazz, and a mixture of styles of music. It's a great companion on my MP3 player ,and it should be on yours as well. Listen to this CD from start to finish. You won't be dissapointed.

Some over the top bad songs. What is the bike song all about? Syd Barrett was cool, and wrote a weird song about a bike. Trey's song about a bike sucks. There are some great moments on this disc, and as always w/ Trey the musicians on the album are top-notch. The downside is, its almost painful waiting to get to them.

I enjoyed most of his first album, and parts of Shine. This is easily his 3rd best solo album... Comparing it to Outside In by Mike Gordon, the album really has no flow. Be nice to see Phish get back together, but I'm afraid it would sound an awful lot like this, and that would be very depressing.

This album could be a new Phish album. And that piss me off. Why they are not toguether anymore? Anyway, in "Shine" Trey was really simple but cool. In "bar 17" Trey is more complex but more free. It's kind of weird if you listen to it carefully. Trey is trying the things he already knew with Phish and the things he learned in his old solo albums. What I'm saying, "bar 17" is "Shine" plus any phish album in a blender. The result: something new that sounds like something we already heard. But cool enough to worth to listen. Great album. but I insist , if Trey is going to record more albums like this, he should please think about coming back to Phish. I know he miss it.

Like Phish? Get it. It's not Phish exactly, but the creativity is still there. I didn't know what to expect since this is my first Trey solo release, but I'm very happy with it and will enjoy it for many listenings to come, God willing. The standout cuts are: Host across the Potomac, If You're Walking, Bar 17, Goodbye Head. Dragonfly and Mud City both rock very hard and perhaps many would like those more than me, but I lean toward more progressive and improvisational stuff nowadays.

If you're a Phan, get it.

I have been a Phish fan since the early 90's, and have seen them a number of times as well as Trey solo. I have Trey's 1st solo disc as well as Shine. While they are both very different in sound, I love them both. I saw Trey on Letterman last night they played, "Dragonfly" from Bar 17 and I enjoyed it. So today I went out and bought the disc. I am not done listening to it yet but I have to say I am enjoying it emensely. As stated in a review above mine, this was recorded over a lengthy period, so some of the songs all have different feels. That is what I love about it so far, Trey does not get stuck in the same groove for the whole album like some other artists do. He mixes it up alot. I highly recomend this album to any Trey or Phish fans. All of his solo ablums have a different feel to it, you never know what your going to get from Trey, but it's gauranteed it will be a great disc. This is no exception.

Why is this loser still making music, man? This album sounds like an asexual James Taylor/Collective Soul hybrid whining about how bad life is being fed with a silver spoon. Vermont is cool.