Customer Reviews

Trey Anastasio: Shine

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Many of the reviews assume that no true fan of Phish could possibly like Trey's new album. Well, I wasn't at Amy's Farm, but my first Phish show was in the spring of 1993. I remember when "Hoist" came out and everyone on the Phish listserv figured Phish had sold-out (My favorite response was and is "Oh well, I guess I'll always have the Dave Matthews Band.") I think I have some credibility as a true Phish fan, and I like this album.

No, there aren't any intricately composed instrumental sections, like on Divided Sky or Reba. Trey doesn't lock in with his fellow musicians the way he did with Mike, Page and Fish. Nevertheless, Trey's fantastic ear, sense for music-craft, and (most importantly) the transcendent vibe of his guitar, which was mostly absent on his self-titled "debut", are all here. Indeed, in some ways its a return to his orignal sound--before the horns and the African grooves and the loops and the grinding tension that marked some of Phish's recent releases. Trey is obviously having fun on this album, and that's a joy to hear.

Trey has said in interviews that he wanted to work on his vocals--which sounded to many Phish fans like Mike Tyson saying he was going to work on his vocabulary. Trey will never be mistaken for James Taylor, and he doesn't display anything near a wide vocal range on this album. What you do find here is a sense of sincerity and passion in his vocals. In the past, Trey seemed to have two voices: the goofy stoner myth maker ("Lizards," "Esther," "Llama," etc.) and the maudlin sensitive stoner ("Fast Enough for You", "Waste," and "Secret Smile"). On Shine, Trey delivers his vocals in a voice that is direct and "earnest" (Pun intended). In most cases, this saves the lyrics, which are dreadful in places (But for those of you surprised by Trey's lyrics, let me remind you of one thing: "washufiziandrivemetofirenze"). Put another way, it doesn't matter if you find the line "Love is Freedom" compelling. Trey obviously does, and his belief makes the vocals compelling

As for stand-out tracks, I like many of them. "Tuesday" has a huge hook and an in the pocket guitar solo. "Come as Melody" is a tightly constructed rocker and soaring vocals. "Love is Freedom" has one of those leaping guitar choruses that sound so good on Trey's Languedoc. "Spin" is another keeper, perhaps the Phishiet thing on the album. Finally, "Love that Breaks All Lines" is a tender ballad that may be Trey's best love song.

All and all, Trey sounds like he's trying to reconnect with thirtysomething Phish heads(like me)who gave up touring, got straight jobs (though usually ones that attempt to make the world a better place), got married, and had kids. I used to lie around my dorm room, speak knowingly about musical palindromes, and lock into endless jams on concert tapes (back when you had to talk with a person to get them rather than click on a weblink). From time to time, I'll get lost in the complexity of Trey's longer compositions and jams, but usually my daughter comes toddling up to me in the middle and interrupts. The concise and direct sound of "Shine" fits me better. The album is full of passion and pathos, which I think is a real triumph in an age when pop music is dominated by "musicians" who play to the basest emotions of the "in-crowd."

Sony's DRM (Digital Rights Management) copy protection software is installed upon insertion of this "audio" cd into your computer. The software is malicious and can ruin your pc to the point of having to format and reinstall everything. This software also sends information about your pc to a Sony server. Do you want Sony to have ALL your information? The so called "patch" that Sony makes available to fix this software does nothing! The software also allows for virus, spyware, and other malicious programs to hide themselves and operate without detection. Currently there are no virus scanners (Norton, Mcafee, etc.) that can detect this software or the viruses it can help hide. The same goes for spyware.

i didn't expect much from this selection, especially after the slopfest that was coventry. this album is a departure from the self-titled release, but still good. if phish returns, expect to see some of these songs in the repotoire, especially sleep again, spin, and shine. most of the songs are pretty good, but some of the songs (LTBAL, for example) reflect the uninspired songwriting that was represented in the phinal phish studio release "undermind". with that aside, the album is pretty good. trey's lyrics aren't as good as his partner's tom marshal, but the album is able to stand on it's own two feet. i think phish fans are living too much in the past expecting trey to sound like he did in the 93-95 and 97-98 and 2003 periods of phish. i really hope to see phish get back together (i didn't get to see a show in 2004, saw 8 in 2003). this album will satisfy most of the hardcores. i think most of the true phish fans realize that trey is maturing, and shouldn't lose hope that he'll have a true creative renaissance. I am looking forward to Bar 17 for this very reason. He still puts on a killer show, by the way.

I have tried to ignore Phish. I am a Pop rock fan by way of Big Star and Badfinger. The endless jams and doodling I didn't like about Phish. However, they have always drawn me in with their studio pop songs. Chalk Dust Torture, Sample In a Jar, Free, The Connection and others I have really enjoyed enough to go out and buy some of the albums that annoy some Phish fans. I like Hoist, Billy Breathes, and Undermind which some of the hard -core hate. Well, if you are that kind of observer of Phish like me, you will LOVE this album! Concise 5 minute pop songs you can't get out of your head. I can't stop playing this CD! I even love the DVD part.Trey seems to be a complex guy, but I really love his simple pop side and its obvious he has a little Big Star in his heart. "Shine" alone is worth the price of the CD. Buy it now. All the cuts are strong and memorable.

The first time I heard some of Trey's new music was at the music festival Vegoose in Las Vegas last Halloween. My friend and I loved it, we were surprised, and I think we enjoyed Trey's music more than anybody at Vegoose. Great songs, and awesome jams that never get boring. Some of my favorite songs are "Shine", "Sleep Again", "Invisible", "Tuesday", "Black", and especially "Spin". I can't stop listening to it. If you liked Phish, you should like Shine. I also like how the cd is set up.(Dual Disc) It is mainly made for your dvd player; Both the audio portion and Live at Red Rocks/Documentary. Although it will play on some cd players, but not all. So buy it!

While incredibly different than even his previous solo effort and much more different than anything done with Phish, it is still a solid record if you can block the amazingness of his previous efforts haha. For real hardcore Phish fans like myself, I don't know how you will recieve it, that is surely based on personal feelings. However, if you are new to Phish/Trey, than you will love it, very easy on the ears, not very much intelligence or appreciation needs to be put into this album. It's fun to listen to every once in awhile but definitely won't have the staying power of say a Junta or Lawn Boy. Sadly it's Trey's life and if he wants to make pop records now, it's his life, let him make the wrong decision haha.

I have no idea how people can dislike this album. Simply put, this is a solid album. Sounds of psychedelic 60/70s rock a la Eric Clapton rings throughout. A lot of my friends at work love it too. I highly recommend it. He is a great singer, songwriter and guitarist. Keep it going Trey!

It pains me to do this, but I'm down-grading my rating of "Shine" from 3 to 2 stars. Being a huge Phish fan, I thought these tracks would grow on me, much like studio Phish songs did. But, after several months, I'm so tired of this CD that I'm actually planning to sell it to my local used CD store.

I'm rating "Shine" 2 stars (versus 1 star) because I do like tracks #2-5 (I'd recommend downloading those tracks separately). It's just that I have no desire to hear the remaining tracks any more. By the time "Shine" concludes, I'm actually relieved it's over.

While I love Trey's guitar, it gets drowned out on most of these over-produced tracks. While I dig Trey's voice, some of the lyrics are so painfully adolescent that it's distracting.

If you're new to Trey, I'd recommend his far superior self-titled debut album or the live "Plasma". For serious Phish fans, this CD will add a few decent tracks to your collection, but that's about it.

(PS - This CD got many 1-star ratings which were lost (and are not included here) when Amazon stopped selling the Sony copyrighted version and switched to this version.)

In 2004, the band Phish went on a farewell tour and would part on good terms. Much of the reason why Phish would split up is because they felt they had taken themselves as an entity as far as they can go. Following the split of Phish, each of the band members would go their separate ways. For lead singer and guitarist, Trey Anastasio he would resume his solo career. Anastasio had started his solo career in 1998 with the release of "One Man's Trash". For a while, Anastasio would continue to work his solo career in parallel with working with Phish. He would release three more albums - including in an orchestral album, "Seis De Mayo". In 2005, Anastasio would release his fifth solo album, "Shine". This would be the first album that would be released following the split of Phish. "Shine" is an album that is very different than Phish, but at the same time gives Anastasio to take things in a different direction.

This edition of "Shine" is a "Dual Disc". The "Dual Disc" has a CD on one side and a DVD on the other side. The CD contains the 12 tracks that make up "Shine". The DVD contains an enhanced stereo version of the tracks on "Shine" as well as four video tracks of a live performance from Red Rocks, Colorado. As for the enhanced stereo tracks, you are going to need a very good set of speakers to really hear the enhanced stereo sound. The DVD also contains some behind the scenes tracks and interviews. An important thing to know is that the CD version is a non-standard format than most CDs - and as a result it won't play in some older CD players.

To understand how Anastasio takes things in a different direction from Phish, it is important to understand some of the roots of Phish. For the most part, Phish followed a very simple formula. Their songs contain simple lyrics - most of the lyrics toward the beginning of the song. Many of their songs are then extended with some beautiful and intricate instrumental pieces - "or jam" pieces. As a live band, Phish has been known for constructing "extended jams" of many of their tunes. These jams could easily be in excess of 10 minutes, and some have been known to go to 30 minutes ( If you want to know why Phish isn't played on conventional radio - this is the reason. It's a shame because conventional radio's loss becomes the fans gain). Although the studio albums didn''t quite have as long jam sessions, you can often listen to the sound of a Phish studio cut and see how it can turn into an extended jam. Phish's jams often provided an avenue to improvise. When it comes to improvising music, there aren't many bands that can surpass Phish. Another important point about Phish is that they often will blend many different genres of music such as Rock, Jazz, Latin, and more.

"Shine" isn't going to contain the multitude of genres that were contained on Phish albums. For the most part, Anastasio is going to utilize a very heavy guitar-laden sound. The songs on this album are not going to sound like jam songs - but on the DVD, you will see and hear Anastasio and his band set up some extended jams. While the guitar-laden influence sounds good, the only knock is that the guitar-laden influence does sound at times like the cookie-cutter music of the 2000s.

Simply put, "Shine" is not a Phish album. From a lyrical standpoint, "Shine" is going to have a deeper set of lyrics than most Phish albums. On the DVD, Anastasio discusses how the emotions that were running through his mind played a role into writing the songs for this album. Anastasio includes a song "Whenever You Find It" that basically describes the period when he was making the transition from wrapping up Phish to focusing on his own career. This is evident in the lyrics: "Another letter to remind me; Walking circles on the phone; While this distant fog surrounds me; I let it settle on the ground." This very personal touch in his lyrics is something that I found to nicely compliment the work Anastasio did with Phish. Another song that comes from a personal angle is "Spin". This song also reflects Anastasio's transition period as demonstrated in the lyrics, "In time when you change the game; and hold yourself up to the light; It's past and you're all alone".

There is a lot of other good music on this collection. One of the best tracks is "Come as Melody". This song has a haunting sound and a nice balance of both guitar and keyboard work. While I wouldn't put this in a category of a Phish song, it has a mantra-like chorus sound that does evoke memories of Phish. Another good track is "Invisible". This sound opens with an almost folk-like sound. It features some terrific guitar work, but ultimately it is going be Anastasio's vocals that are going to standout here. Not only does Anastasio demonstrate terrific range, but he does a great job at switching his vocal tempo throughout the track.

Overall, there are no weak tracks on the album, but there are several additional standout tracks. This includes the "Shine", Air Said to Me", "Sleep Again", and "Black".

The liner notes contain all of the lyrics to each of the songs. In addition the production credits and musician credits are included. For those who don't believe that Phish's breakup was really on good terms, it is worth reading the acknowledgements that are included. In these acknowledgements, Anastasio gives major thanks to each of the members of the band Overall, this album is a very good piece of work. Even though the guitar sound is reminiscent of most of the music of the 2000s, Anastasio still brings enough musicianship to take things up a level. Highly recommended.

I've been a Phish fan for more than a decade, and have seen them 30+ times. Yes, I miss Phish....but, I'm really pleased with Trey's latest effort. He is focused again. Even Phish fans can admit that the last two Phish albums were poor. Shine shows promise. In three years time Shine will be a memory, it will have made it's mark much more so than Undermind or Round Room.

Listen to it for what it is, not what you think it should be.