Trey Anastasio: Trey Anastasio : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

After seventeen years of heading up Phish, Trey Anastasio takes his Type A trance rock solo. For this outing, he has recruited a supertight eight-piece band -- half of it horns -- to back him on a dozen tunes that will not alienate his longtime neohippie fans. But Trey Anastasio may also entrance dabblers whose only contact with Phish is their incarnation as a Ben and Jerry's ice-cream flavor. Closely packed with urgent horn breaks and friendly guitar solos, Anastasio's new songs are less diffuse than his old roomy improv workouts. The players have the subdued joy of a Latin dance band on fire, especially on the opener, "Alive Again," the busy "Push On Til the Day" and the soul rave-up of "Money, Love and Change." Anastasio is an affable, uncomplicated singer; his intimate voice brings moody, autobiographical numbers such as "Flock of Words" and "Drifting" right up to the listener's ear. It's like hearing an old friend's secrets.

ARION BERGER
(RS 895 - May 9, 2002)