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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This album takes too much flack from being too goofy., July 21, 2001
I love this album. It's a wonderful collection of skewed pop and trippy style music. All the songs sound different. Alot of albums released by acts now have alot of songs that sound alike. on this album, everything has it's own little sound. It's nice to hear a band who can still do that. The album starts out with just Trey Anastasio's voice and Page McConnel's piano in the background in "The Squrming Coil". This sets a bright mood for the rest of the album. It's as almost Phish were saying that the album is a "squrming coil of sunset". Very bright and chipper with a great little jam thrown in for good measure. "Reba" is one of my more favroite songs. It is very catchy. Anastasio quick singing on this song is what first grabs you. Then the jam keeps you totally entranced. Just when you think it's over, a faint whistle in the tune of the song fades in and it gets louder and louder until it jumps right back into the song one more time. I had to listen to "My Sweet One" twice before I really got it. It's really just a joke song in all honesty. It is sung almost totally accapella. The only instrument that is constantally playing is Jon's drums. A witty little break from your regurlarly scheduled album. I love the deep slightly skewed vocals on "Split Open and Melt". There is a middle section here that kind of sounds like an old drinking song. It ends with a woman's voice just repeating the tilte of the song over and over. The "Oh Kee Pa Ceramony" is as wierd as it's name. No lyrics. Just a short little "country-jazz" kind of jam. It sounds like a ceramony, though in the sense that you can hear glasses clinking and people laughing and chatting in the background. It has some great guitar work on it that proves that Anastasio is an extremly talented musican that is well adversed in many styles. One of my favroite Phish songs is "Bathtub Gin". The song is very rolly-polly. It kind of sounds as if the actual notes in the song are intoxacated. Kinda like those old cartoons where all the notes in a song come off the paper and get drunk. There is a sound of liquid being poured in the background, and when the music stops for a quick second you hear the liqued being poured and that's it. Then, the music explodes back in again, almost drowning out the liquid noise. One of the best Phish jams, "Run Like an Antelope" needs to be heard. It can not be explained in words. It's simply one hundred percent musicanship. I laugh in the face of any one person who says that the members of Phish are bad musicans. Then I ask if they've ever heard "Run Like an Antelope". When they say no, then I just walk away knowing that they don't know Phish well enough to call them anything. "Lawn Boy" has a very slow jazz/swing feel to it. It's very short, and I think that does it well. A jam would just not be right for this time in the album. This song almost sounds like a prologue for "Bouncing Around the Room". I must say that I like the live version of "Bouncing Around the Room" much better. Nevertheless, this is still a great end to the album. With all the members of Phish vocalizing as the album fades away. Overall, the album leaves you with a brighter feeling than some other Phish albums do sometimes. It really shows off the band's great sense of humor and combines that humor with diverse musical styles and great musicanship.
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by Phish 
