Archive for the 'Review' Category

Berkshire Czech Pilsner Review

Published on August 12, 2010 in Beer, Lager and Review. 1 Comment

This post was written as a guest review for Lost in the Beer Aisle. I met the writer, Josh, through Twitter a while ago. We’ve been chatting about beer and he had asked me several times to write a guest review for him. Well, I finally got around to doing it (I tend not to write beer reviews as I prefer to just drink the beer). It was fun reviewing a beer again. I’ll have to do more of these. Anyway, you can catch Josh on Twitter as @Lost_in_beer. Now onto the review…

Today (Friday, July 30) is the first absolutely beautiful day we have had here in a while. It’s hot, but not unbearable. The air is dry. The sky is blue. The birds are chirping. It’s the perfect day to sit around outside (after work, of course) and drink a nice beer. Being that it’s summer, I wanted something lighter, but still full of flavor. I heard rave reviews about Berkshire’s new Czech Pilsner and had to try it for myself. I only bought this bottle last night, but it was calling my name. It also gives me an excuse to use one of my pilsner glasses, making the beer look extra special.

The beer pours a nice golden color. I think if I had to really give it a name, I’d say it’s maize. There’s a nice fluffy white head on top, about two fingers thick. You can see the beautiful bubbles rising to the top. Pilsners happen to be, at least in my (usually not so) humble opinion, one of the most beautiful beers when poured properly. It doesn’t matter what kind of glassware you use, they still look amazing. Though I will admit, the pilsner glass adds to that a bit.

The aroma has hints of the grassy, spicy hops and just a slight hint of the sweet malt. Upon first sip, you’re hit with those hops. As it lingers in your mouth, you get the nice sweeter malt flavors. It’s really hard to describe their flavor as they don’t hang around too long before the flavor turns back to the hops and leaves a nice dryness. It’s really hard to stop drinking this one. The carbonation in this beer, though relatively effervescent in the glass, is more mild in the mouth, though you can feel it tingle a bit on your tongue. It helps this beer go down easy, keeping it refreshing. While it may not be huge in-your-face flavor, it’s just the perfect amount of flavor with a nice dry finish. This is exactly the kind of beer needed
on such a beautiful day. A beautiful beer always pairs well with a beautiful day.

I’ve been getting more and more into lagers and kölsch lately. With the type of summer we’ve had, the lighter beers with a drier finish can be very refreshing and hit the spot just right. This beer is one of the better pilsners I’ve had. I see myself buying more of this beer in the future. It’s another excellent beer from a great brewery. I would even go as far as saying that this beer could easily turn your average Bud/Miller/Coors drinker onto craft beer, though they would have to be from New England as this is a small brewery.

Phish Hartford Review

Published on June 21, 2010 in Music, Phish and Review. 3 Comments

I’m going to write this review a bit differently than I would normally write it. Since I’m reviewing two shows, I’m going to compare them a bit and talk about what I liked better in one over the other.

First off, the Hartford shows on June 17 and 18 were awesome. They were both a ton of fun and featured some great songs, great playing, and great fun from the band. Going completely on memory, my favorite of the two was the second night. I felt the band had more energy to their playing. They seemed to have fewer problems with the sound system. They also seemed to be having more fun. The crowd also had more energy and it was reflected in the band’s playing.

The first show seemed disjointed. It seemed that the band didn’t know where they wanted to go with each set. I remember one standout moment after the great Down With Disease > Sand when they were jamming out Sand and it seemed as though Trey decided he wanted to play The Horse>Silent in the Morning. The segue seemed abrupt. Compare that with the segues of the second night and it’s night and day. The segues of the second night were patient and smooth. The first show also had Farmhouse come in and kill what energy existed after a great Guyute. While on its own, that Farmhouse was awesome, it took the set to a standstill. The band could have tore it up with the Mike’s Groove that followed had they not dropped, as one person put it, the “clusterfly song”. What should have been a raging set kicking off with Party Time ended up falling apart with that Farmhouse.

On the other hand, the first set was strong, though there seemed to be some sound problems during Divided Sky, which were worked out during the setbreak as the guitar techs were on stage the entire break, which seemed extended. Esther and When the Circus Comes were played for Cirque du Soleil, which was taking place across the street. The Walk Away had a HUGE jam that was completely unexpected, about as unexpected as the song itself. Sugar Shack had a nice jam that was also unexpected. While there wasn’t a ton of flow to the set, each song was strong on its own.

Now when the second night came along, the place was full of energy from the first notes of Fee straight through the last notes of the second (yes, second) Tweezer Reprise in the encore. The first set was full of energy, especially with Possum, Moma Dance, Julius, Reba, and Cavern. While Julius saw some flubs from Trey, who had a hard time with the lyrics, Reba was played with absolute precision. Possum, which doesn’t usually excite me, was loaded with energy that had the entire place bouncing. It also featured the new song Summer of ’89. It started out slow, but was a great ballad. I think this one may take some time to grow on me in the live setting, but it was a pretty song.

The second set was full of segues and flowed absolutely perfectly. The Light>Billy Breathes was beautiful and then the Tweezer>Theme from the Bottom was patient and perfect. The place went nuts when they started Harry Hood and the transition to Wading in the Velvet Sea was beautiful. That song made my wife particularly excited, though I also love that one. The only part that I was a little surprised about was the Stealing Time set closer. I was hoping for something bigger, like a YEM after such a great set.

Then came the encore. I was expecting YEM. It would have put a nice cap on the show, but Trey started playing Sleeping Monkey and then paused to tell a story about a sign someone had the night before. The song concluded with an audience singalong and the band started Tweezer Reprise, which was particularly energetic. The second they finished, Trey says they’re gonna play it again because they didn’t in Hershey. They start it up again and the crowd blew the roof off the place. They had even more energy than the first. Everyone walked out on cloud nine talking about the encore. Rarely is the encore the highlight of the show. In this case, it was more than a highlight. It was the theme.

As you can tell, I greatly enjoyed the second night the best. The Walk Away and Sugar Shack from the first night were my favorites from that night, and I always love a good Horse>Silent. Aside from the encore, the highlight of the second night were the segues of the second set and Reba from the first set. Tomorrow I’ll do it all over again at Great Woods (aka the Comcast Center) in Mansfield, MA.

Magic Hat Blind Faith

Published on June 11, 2010 in Ale, Beer and Review. 0 Comments

Magic Hat is one of those breweries that craft beer lovers love to hate on. I can’t figure out why other than that they don’t like some of their more mainstream beers. You know what? Forget those people. Ignore those people. Magic Hat is a talented, if a bit quirky, brewery. One need not go further than the brewery to see for themselves. While the majority of their beers may not be the best of the best, they are, at the very least, unique.

Craft beer lovers rejoiced when they announced the return of their IPA, Blind Faith. This beer is an excellent example of just how talented the brewers at Magic Hat are. It’s an excellent IPA that I would stack up against some of the most popular (be warned: it’s not “west coast style”, but an IPA doesn’t need to be to be excellent). It’s a very balanced, yet hop-forward beer. It’s closer to an amber ale in color, with a nice body that neither too thin nor too thick.

Anyway, I suggest everyone who likes good beer try this one. It’s not mind blowing or life changing, but it’s definitely an excellent solid IPA. And stop hating on Magic Hat. While I agree with most people that they need to stop discontinuing some of their best beer (Blind Faith, Jinx, Fat Angel, etc.), I disagree that they’re not a good brewery. They’ve been churning out #9 for quite some time and people still love it, even if it’s not a particular favorite of mine. Give Blind Faith a chance. You won’t be disappointed.

Railroad Earth Review

Published on June 11, 2010 in Music and Review. 0 Comments

I know I’m a little late with this, so here goes nothing. I went to see Railroad Earth a few weeks ago at Lupo’s. They’re a bluegrass/slamgrass/jamgrass band from New Jersey. First of all, they’re awesome. If you get the chance to see them, go. They put on an excellent show and will keep you dancing from the first notes right through the last.

The crowd was very mixed. I was actually surprised by it. There were a few flatbrims that I wouldn’t have expected at a bluegrass show, but I’m guessing they were there more for the scene than the music. There were some obvious fans who follow them all over the place. There were the older people, the younger people, but the majority seemed to be in their 20′s and 30′s.

The opening act was the guy from Dispatch. I never understood why people loved that band as much as they did. I never got into them and never really thought they were anything special. They were good, but not amazing. I felt the same way about the guy opening for Railroad Earth. It was a slim crowd for him, not surprising.

When RRE came on, the place filled up, but it was still mostly empty. It was a perfect sized crowd. Since it’s so far beyond when I saw them, I can’t really talk about much other than how much fun I had. They put on a great show. They put on a seriously fun show. I was dancing my heart out the entire time. There were a couple of seriously standout moments, one of them was the encore, Roadhouse Blues.

Anyway, since I can’t really write much else, I will just say this. Go see them if you get the chance. While I would have preferred it outdoors, because that music is meant for the outdoors, it’s awesome and fun no matter the setting.

Phish 3D Review

Published on May 1, 2010 in Music, Phish and Review. 2 Comments

I just got back from the theatre where I saw Phish 3D. Rather than wait until I lose my thoughts, I figured now would be a great time to write the review having just discussed what I liked and disliked about it with Susan, who reluctantly went with me.

For those of you who don’t know, Phish 3D is a 3D movie that was filmed at Festival 8 in Indio, CA. The three day festival was held over Halloween weekend and included eight sets of music. On Halloween night, the band played the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street in its entirety. And on the final day, they played a full acoustic set.

To make this easy, I’ll use bullet points with explanations of what I liked and didn’t like, along with a letter grade.

Song selection (B-): There were some good point and some bad points, but overall it was decent. I think they should have shown more from the Exile set. After all, that was the focal point of the festival. Only choosing four songs from that set was a little weak, though the song selections were good. I would have liked to hear more of the “raunchy” songs. I would have liked to have seen more from the acoustic set, though I thought the song selections from that set were just fine. It would have been nice to see McGrupp and hear Trey tell everyone to sit down on the nice soft grass. Finally, the songs from the other sets could have been better. My biggest complaint is that they didn’t show Party Time. The song kicked off the first set of the festival and set the tone for the whole weekend. It was a big party. I would have liked to have seen Fluffhead and You Enjoy Myself. Both songs were high points with fun from the fire towers in the back of the concert field. The only easy going songs they showed were from the acoustic set. It would have been nice to see Joy or When the Circus Comes.
Song order (C): I don’t know why they couldn’t play the songs in the order that they were played at the festival, starting with the first night and ending with the last. I know it worked out best showing a set opener first, but, again, why wasn’t the first song Party Time? Instead, they started with songs from the last night. They showed the acoustic set before the Halloween set. I imagine that was to put some of the higher points of the movie towards the end, but that goes into the whole song selection. They could have picked more upbeat rockers from the acoustic set.
Views (C+): While I really liked seeing the stage, I would have liked to have seen more of the audience, especially on Halloween night. Part of what would have made this movie great would have been seeing glowsticks and balloons flying at your head, just like you’re there. It would have been nice to see more views out from the stage as well. They also showed way too much of Trey and Mike finger work on their guitars during the acoustic set. Why this set in particular you ask? Because they were sitting down with their legs spread and the guitars resting on their thighs. What am I getting at? Crotch shots. There were WAY too many of them. One of the parts I really enjoyed seeing was Fishman playing the drums. He’s the one guy who is hard to see from the audience because he’s surrounded by tall equipment and he’s not a really tall guy. It was fun watching him get into it. The last thing that I have a complaint about is the lights. The lights are one of the best things about a Phish show. I don’t know if it was the editing or the cameras, but the lights didn’t really come through in many of the shots. I was really hoping to see some 3D lights. It also would have been nice to have a camera way in the back to film the whole field of people and the speaker/light towers near the back of the audience. Those are a bit part of the festival experience.
Picture quality (A-): The picture was clear as day. It was better than any of the DVD’s the band has released date. I was very impressed by it. However, for what they were trying to do, this would have been much better in IMAX 3D. I’m sure the movie crew didn’t have the money for IMAX cameras, but that would have really drawn you into it.
Sound quality (B+): The sound was excellent, though the bass could have been turned up a bit (no surprise there, that’s exactly how I feel about the soundboard copies of the show). I did feel that Page was a bit louder in the mix than usual, especially during the acoustic set.
Overall (B-): It was a good movie, but I didn’t feel drawn into it the whole time. The song selection, the order, and the shots were distracting at times.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I’ll explain what I think could have made the movie better. Concert movies are tough. They either really draw you in or really don’t. The one other time I saw Phish in the theatre was for their show in Brooklyn that kicked off their “final” tour in 2004. The difference was that it was a live simulcast. People watching it in the theatre were just as excited as the people at the show. This time was different. It was just a film made at a concert. I think in this case it didn’t have to be 3D. While it was great to see the depth of the stage setup and all that up close, it wasn’t necessary, though, as I said, it would have worked if it was IMAX.

The best parts of the movie were the parts the audience and fans never get to see. I loved watching the band rehearse with the horns and backup singers. The movie needed more of that. I also loved watching the crowd come in for the acoustic set on Sunday morning. That part was fun because it added the excitement of the festival to the movie. What concert movies don’t usually do is give you that full experience of being there. That’s what this lacked.

This movie would have been better off as a documentary. It’s so difficult to make a concert movie out of a three day festival with eight sets of music. Which songs do you pick? What order do you show them? How much of the audience do you show? There needs to be a balance, but if you mess any of that up, it can make what could be a great movie into a mediocre movie. I had really high hopes for this, having been at the festival and dealing with the camera booms going up and down over the audience blocking our view. It would have been nice to have seen people coming in for the Halloween set. Other than the fact that the movie mentioned it was Halloween weekend, you couldn’t tell from watching. They should have setup an area near the entrance to the venue where they could have lights and a camera man filming people coming into the show in their costumes. That would have made the movie and given some people their 15 minutes of fame. The could have filmed people coming onto the site on the first day and setting up their campsites. There should have been more wandering around the campgrounds. There was so much at the festival, I feel this didn’t really capture it, even when it came to the music. Had they included more of this other stuff in the movie and cut out some of the music (they could have cut out AC/DC Bag, in my opinion) it would have really brought you into the festival and drawn you into the movie, like you were part of the experience. I guess if I had to summarize the movie in a word, it’d be flat (kinda funny considering it’s a 3D movie).

I’m not going to tell you if you should go see it or not. That’s up to you to decide. I did enjoy the movie. I don’t know if being there made me a bit jaded about the movie because it lacked that full experience. It really is a toss up. I’m inclined to suggest seeing it in the theatre for that full big screen experience and buy the DVD because I’m sure it will have special features with additional songs and hopefully some of that documentary type stuff I’m looking for.

Beer Wars Movie Review

Published on March 15, 2010 in Beer and Review. 0 Comments

I finally got around to watching Beer Wars tonight, thanks to Netflix and Tivo. I’m going to start off by saying that I’m very glad I didn’t pay whatever the outrageous price was to see it in a theatre. It wasn’t that good. I am glad I saw it, but I won’t be buying the DVD, regardless of what kinds of extra features there are.

The movie is narrated by Anat Baron, supposedly from the beer industry (she ran Mike’s Hard Lemonade). She seems pretty knowledgeable about the industry, at least from the perspective of an independent company (even if it is a malternative, or alcopop), but her narration feels like it is better placed in a movie for children. The production quality is pretty bad and the animation used is just plain silly and could have been left out. It just gives the whole movie a very simplistic, and not in a good way, and childish start and finish.

The basic premise of the movie is that the big three American brewing companies (of which there is now one as Miller and Coors merged and Anheuser-Busch is now owned by Brazilian/Belgian InBev) will do whatever it takes to keep their products on top. The advertising is explained from how they go about placing their products on store shelves to how much money they spend on television and print ads.

The movie explains how the three-tiered system works, but with such little detail that they could have kept that part out. The only thing explained is how big the distribution lobby is and how well they keep the outdated system, which is ultimately responsible for preventing consumers from being able to choose what they drink, in place. She breezed over it with such broad strokes, there wasn’t enough detail to explain why the system was put in place to begin with and why many consider it important still, and by that I mean people outside of the distribution lobby.

The movie follows Sam Calagione and Rhonda Kallman with great detail and Jim Koch with lesser detail. Sam is the founder of Dogfish Head, one of the largest craft breweries in the country. Rhonda used to work for Boston Brewing Co. with Jim Koch, the founder. She left and started Moonshot, a caffeinated beer. The best parts of the movie were seeing how Dogfish Head is run and how they fight to stay on top. Rhonda basically runs a beer marketing company. She isn’t a brewer and doesn’t run a brewery (the two beers she “makes” are contract brewed in PA). While I understand her inclusion in the movie for the advertising and marketing perspective, they could have gotten that from a real brewery that doesn’t make gimmick beers – her other beer, Edison, is a light beer. Sam explains how he prefers to keep growth small even though he has investors pushing him to go public. He wants to avoid that so he can concentrate on making great beer rather than keeping shareholders happy. It’s a real story of someone who went into great debt and took great risks to keep his business going strong in the face of big marketing money and legal attacks from the Big 3. Unfortunately, however, Anat chose to spend the most time following Rhonda, for whom I really had no sympathy. Perhaps it was because they both had been in the “beer” industry promoting alternatives to actual beer.

Had the movie followed real breweries who were faced not only with the challenge of running a brewery and all the issues surrounding that, but also the issue of marketing against the norm, it would have been a whole lot better and held a lot more weight. I would have liked to have heard more from Jim Koch and how he grew the Sam Adams brand to become the largest craft brewery in the country. I was a bit surprised he was just glanced over. The movie also briefly discussed Yuengling, the oldest brewery in the country, but failed to really get into details about how they lasted through prohibition to remain in operation.

It’s worth watching if you want a broad overview of the beer industry and what small breweries are up against. It’s not worth buying. The only reason I watched it was because Netflix had it. If I gave things a star rating, this one would have 2 stars out of 5.

Long Trail Pale Ale

Published on March 12, 2010 in Ale, Beer and Review. 3 Comments

I haven’t written a beer review in quite some time. That’s not because I haven’t been drinking great beers, but rather because I tend not to think of it or the beers just weren’t worth writing about (or they’re stuff I drink all the time). I’m also drinking less as part of my weight loss program. Well, Thursday night was a Long Trail tasting at Nikki’s Liquors. In fact, it’s Long Trail Month at Nikki’s with all Long Trail beers on sale all month long. Six packs are only $6.99 and the bombers of the Brewmaster’s Series are $1 off. It’s totally worth it.

Long Trail is one of my favorite breweries. It’s a very underrated brewery in my not-so-humble opinion. They make two Altbiers, which is two more than most breweries make. I love German ales, which tend to be lesser known styles. That gives Long Trail extra points in my book. Anyway, talking about Long Trail isn’t the point of this. They recently released a new year ’round beer – Pale Ale. I’ve had everything they’ve released and they’re all solid beers, though the Belgian White and the Blackberry Wheat leave a bit to be desired. They dropped their spring seasonal, the Hefeweizen, from their repertoire and added the Pale Ale. I love their IPA, which is made in a traditional English style. It’s well balanced and more malty than most American IPA’s. It’s a great IPA, though most hopheads turn their heads because it’s not in-you-face hops. It’s not meant to be. Well, hopheads can rejoice. Long Trail’s Pale Ale is, oddly enough, hoppier than their IPA, at least in flavor.

The beer pours a crystal clear light amber color with a nice one finger head. It has an immediate and lasting aroma of Cascade hops – a nice citrus scent. As you drink the beer, it leaves a nice lacing down the side of the glass. Upon first sip, I get the immediate flavor of those hops – a grapefruit flavor. It has a nice crisp, clean flavor that lingers just enough to savor while not leaving a long-lasting aftertaste. It’s quite refreshing. It was hard to let this one warm up too much, but as it did, I got a bit more of the malt balance. This is more definitely an American Pale Ale. While it’s not punch-you-in-the-face hops, it’s all about the hops. As I finish it, I am left wanting another.

The easiest way for me to describe this beer is through its similarity to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. It is a very similar beer, but quite different in many ways. The flavor profile is almost the same, but where they differ is in the body. This one is a little lighter, but in a good way. Where SNPA is heavier in all aspects of the beer, this one is crisp, clean, and refreshing. Don’t get me wrong, I love SNPA, but Long Trail Pale Ale definitely edges it out simply because I want more and more. The crispness and the lack of the lasting aftertaste make it that much better. While many call SNPA a “near-IPA”, this one falls perfectly in the APA category and sits tall there. Many beer lovers, especially hopheads, tend to dismiss the APA category. I mean why get an APA when you can get an IPA? Isn’t an APA just a light version of an IPA? It’s not, and Long Trail Pale Ale is a perfect example of why you would want an APA over an IPA.

The distributor said the beer falls at about 5.2% ABV. It’s a very easy drinking, but very satisfying beer. I bought a six pack. I already drank two of them. I wouldn’t be surprised if the rest of it don’t make it through the weekend. Do yourself a favor. Find this beer. Buy this beer. Drink this beer… especially if you’re in RI. The discount at Nikki’s is a great deal.

Great International Beer Festival 2009

Published on November 15, 2009 in Beer, Beer Fests and Review. Closed

I went to the GIBF this year for both sessions. While there seemed to be fewer booths at this one compared to the one last year (note: I did not go to the one in the spring), the quality of the breweries seemed to be a bit better. We had more smaller breweries present than in past years, though we also had some that weren’t present, most notably Smuttynose. I can’t help but wonder if their presence at Beervana had anything to do with them not coming to the GIBF. It’s probably a combination of that and the economy, considering the GIBF not only makes the breweries pay for a table but also donate the beer and their time. This is something that should not be done if you ever want to start a beer festival. Beervana, on the other hand, bought all the beer and simply requested that a brewer or brewery rep staff the tables. The breweries prefer this approach because they only have to donate their time. It also allows the festival organizers to hand pick the beers they are pouring at the festival.

Last year, I had only attended the afternoon session, which tends to be the quieter of the two sessions with more people who are really into the beer as opposed to people looking to pay $36 for an all you can drink party. I had heard some horror stories of the second session in the past. This time it seemed to be a bit more mellow. While there were a lot more people than the first session, and it was definitely crazier than the first session, there wasn’t a whole lot of screaming and chanting that I had expected. From an attendee’s standpoint, it seemed to go pretty smoothly, though they had a harder time forcing people out than we did at Beervana.

Some of my favorite brewery stops were Mayflower, Offshore, Gardner’s Ale House, Watch City Brewing, Blackstone Valley Brewing Supplies, and Ithaca. They all had a great selection of beer. Even the other breweries brought some unexpected beers. Victory, for example, had Wild Devil, Golden Monkey, Baltic Thunder, and Hop Wallop (in addition to Prima Pils). I was surprised they brought so many of their bigger beers. I would have expected Prima Pils and Hop Devil. I was surprised to see that Mayflower signed up for this as well. They hadn’t been there in the past. They even brought some of their Thanksgiving Ale with them, which was quite excellent. Even Providence’s own Trinity Brewhouse had four different whiskey barrel aged beers. So even though Heineken, Corona, and Presidente were all present, the quality of beer from the other breweries was much better than last year. Dogfish Head, whom I had heard would not be coming, ended up having a table (though without their RI rep). It was expected that they would only have 60 Minute IPA and a seasonal. They actually had 90 Minute IPA, Chicory Stout, Raison d’Etre, and Indian Brown Ale. While these aren’t their top offerings, they aren’t the usual suspects either.

All in all, it was a good fest. The layout was better, spacing the rows out a bit more, allowing for easier movement around the floor. They put the stage in the far corner this time rather than at the end of one of the rows of booths. This kept it a bit quieter, though they probably should have lowered the volume of the band and raised the volume for the award ceremony. Aside from that, it was great. I still don’t think it’s worth my money for admission, but if you want a decent introduction to some craft beer available in southern New England, it’s a pretty good place to familiarize yourself with it.

Theobroma at 1 Year

Published on October 28, 2009 in Ale, Beer and Review. 1 Comment

The other night we visited with some friends. I brought over a couple bottles of beer to share with them. One of those was a bottle of Dogfish Head Theobroma from the first batch. The beer had originally been a bit drier with the chili pepper coming through a bit more in the back. The aged version had changed quite a bit. The heat from the pepper had subsided, though was still there just enough to give you a slight tingle. The beer had sweetened up quite a bit. I remember when we first tried it, someone suggested that it wouldn’t be a good one to age. I disagree. It was nice and malty with a hint of cocoa and that slight tingle from the pepper. If you have some bottles of this, I suggest aging one or 2 of them. It’s a great beer and I thought it was even better aged. Susan did not like it at all when it was fresh, but she loved it aged. Of course, she doesn’t like peppers or spicy things, which would explain that.

Phish Joy Review

Published on September 13, 2009 in Music, Phish and Review. 3 Comments

The latest album from Phish, titled Joy, was released last Tuesday. Though it had been leaked to the internet and then posted for streaming from Phish’s MySpace page a few weeks prior, I had waited until the official release to listen to the album in full. Overall, I would say that as a studio album, this is one of the band’s strongest. Steve Lillywhite’s production is impeccable and each song stands on its own. The one complaint is that the album isn’t really cohesive. Considering it’s from Phish, I’m not overly upset by that. They most definitely aren’t known for their studio work. From the perspective of each individual song, it’s their strongest album, but as a whole, the last album Lillywhite produced for them, Billy Breathes, is better.

The album opens with “Backwards Down the Number Line” a song written from a poem Tom Marshall had sent to Trey. The song is probably the poppiest song on the album, but not in a bad way. It’s a well written song with great lyrics. Like most Phish songs, it’s better live than on the album, but it certainly doesn’t make me think of Trey’s Shine, an album known for being all catchy pop music and one of Trey’s worst musical works.

The second song on the album, “Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan”, is a nice psychedelic rock song that really showcases the “new” Phish. The guitar riffs and lyrics are a bit darker and contrast nicely with the easy listening opening track.

Up next is a song Trey had written for his sister who recently passed away after a battle with cancer. The title track of the album is a beautiful uplifting ballad, slowing down the music for a bit.

The fourth track is a Mike song called “Sugar Shack”. This is a fun funky tune that brings visions of New Orleans (at least to me). It has a hint of a reggae beat. It’s a classic Mike tune that goes down as one of his best.

In the fifth spot is the laid back groove of “Ocelot”. This was a much anticipated song for me. It’s a great easy listening song with a catchy tune, but by no means poppy. The laid back grooves make this a perfect song for a lazy summer Sunday afternoon.

Following “Ocelot” is probably my least favorite song of the album, “Kill Devil Falls”, a straight up rocker. The song itself is pretty good, but it’s almost out of place on the album. The initial guitar riff makes me want the song to be a bit faster and harder rocking than it is. It could be a great 60′s surf rock song, but it’s just a tad too slow.

The next song, “Light”, has an intro that they can extend and practically turn into its own jam when they play it live. The song is one of the best songs on the album. It’s got a nice slow build from the ambient intro into a powerful tune, much in the same style as “Piper”, though the building intro isn’t as long. It’s a nice rocking song, similar to some of Trey’s later solo work from Bar 17 or 18 Steps.

“I Been Around” is a short bluesy Page song that provides a nice little interlude before the epic 13 minute composition of “Time Turns Elastic”. TTE has become known as a set killer when they play it live. While it may someday make a great closer for the first set of a show, only the ending of the song is really worth hearing live. It’s much better on the album than live. Though I did also buy the album Time Turns Elastic with the 30 minute classical composition written with Don Hart and loved it that way, the song just doesn’t pop coming from Phish. I think if they can really work out some better improv with it and sway from playing the exact composition for much of the song, it can be awesome live. Until then, it’s a long bathroom break.

Closing out the album is “Twenty Years Later”, which is a retrospective on life. It’s a slow rocker, again showing some of Trey’s newer writing similar to some of the stuff off Bar 17.

Overall, the album is one of their strongest, only beat out by Billy Breathes for both production and cohesiveness. While Rift is always a fan favorite, the production quality of this album is worlds away. I’d rank Phish’s studio albums something like this:

Billy Breathes
Joy
Rift
Story of the Ghost
Picture of Nectar
Junta
Farmhouse
Hoist
Round Room
Lawn Boy
Undermind

We’ll see what happens when I receive my Joy box with the Party Time album included. I also didn’t include the Siket Disc or the White Tape in my list, though the White Tape would probably fall near the bottom and the Siket Disc is more ambient jamming than a real studio album.