Review: Fuego- Phish

Phish is a band with a pretty uneven studio output. While riveting in a live setting, the Vermont group sometimes seems to have a problem translating that energy to record. Due to the length of the jams that occur during a Phish show, compacting that kind of sound onto a LP is a task that has been successful (Rift) and unsuccessful (Undermind) in the past. So, when I saw that this album had been released, my excitement was a little tentative. Would this album capture that energy, or fall short? Not surprisingly, it was a little bit of both for me.

The album opens with the title track, which takes a sharp left turn shortly into the 9 minute run time with a pretty great guitar and drum breakdown. Unfortunately, apart from this section of the song, there isn’t much to it, and with a longer run time, it becomes a little tedious. The rest of the album is pretty hit or miss. The lyrics for the most part are pretty bland, and the music, though at times interesting, is devoid of flavor as well. They are good frameworks for adding to for live performances, but I feel like some longer jam sections and some stronger lyrics could have really made this album a lot better. With the lukewarm reception these songs got live at their Halloween show, the need to retool the songs was there, but for the most part, the tweaks did little to change my opinion.

I do like Phish, and I do think there are some solid ideas here. Maybe if the songs were a little more fleshed out, and had a little more of the improv aspect to them, it might have been a little more interesting, but here there is little way in the way of enthusiasm. People have said that the band’s studio output does not capture the feel of their live shows, and I feel like they have stopped trying to prove these people wrong. As a touring act, Phish still has it in spades, but I think they might have to take a break from the studio and find some new songwriting inspiration.

Out of a total of five stars, I give this:

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