1. You Never Know
2. 555
3. Wombat
4. Fuego
5. Wingsuit
6. Waiting All Night
7. The Line
8. Monica
9. Winterqueen
10. Snow
11. Amidst the Peals of Laughter
12. Devotion to a Dream

1. You Never Know
Phish are writing this album from the heart and, for the first time, asking their audience to take their lyrics seriously (or at least with a smaller grain of salt than usual). The new music is so sincere and the writing has been handled with such care, i was actually genuinely proud to be a fan. Proud of Phish for finally casting off their typical and often endearing whimsy in favor of mature and concerted songwriting. The more music a person has listened to, I think, the less endearing the zany lyrics. I think in their heyday their sheer technical prowess as musicians allowed them to get away with a lot of strange subject matter; today the band has had to change gears. The new album will de different from in the others in that you'll be able to put it on at a party and have someone say "who is this? i dig it." instead of something like "wtf is going on in this song, man? put on some Litte Feat or something." "You Never Know" is great because it is a story song and it is set in the real world. Country and Western as well as Folk fans love great story songs. Think of Bob Dylan's "Black Diamond Bay" or Mearle Haggard's "I Am A Lonesome Fugitive." Phish's twist on the genre is their uncanny and practiced ability to straddle vagueness with their writing. The listener couldn't create a timeline of the story that's being told, or even name or describe the characters, but the idea of being robbed in Mexico is implicit and vivid enough that one's imagination creates the imagery and plays with the scenes. "landed the jet with the limo runnin" "but i just met two guys with piles of cash" and other scenes have strong imagery and the context of the song, delivered by Trey before the song, only adds to the intrigue, just like any good autobiographical country song (Johnny Cash's "Man in Black" . It's simply great songwriting and I hope the boys like to play this song as much as I like to hear it. I am biased for this song because it is evidence that Phish is moving in the direction I've been waiting for since becoming a fan: Away from antics, away from spectacle, away from face-melting, and towards playing from a more traditional posture (while peppering in that incredible musicianship and technical skill) and also toward songwriting which is easily related to. I once got my wallet stolen in Barcelona, so in a way I can relate to their experience. It sounds corny, but it's the backbone of legendary songwriters, and Phish is finally attempting it.

2. 555
Has anyone else listened to Mike Gordon's solo albums Inside In, The Green Sparrow, Moss, Clone or Sixty Six Steps? Mike is a talented songwriter in his own right. If you haven't, check out "Horizon Line" "Idea" "Another Door" "Couch Lady" "The Beltless Buckler". Not to mention his stint with guitar legend and songwriter Leo Kottke. I wish Phish would hand the reins to Mike. Trey is cuddly, but Mike is muscular. Mike's lyrics have more interesting content and less pure emotional expression. If you aren't that into Trey's epic emotional ballads ("Drifting" "Dirt" "Waste" etc) then you should be for more Mike input. Acaster wrote a great history for this song. It's a song about a dharma bum being robbed and leaving town on the train -- aka an experience perhaps many old phish fans could relate to. Anyone else get a "Sloth" vibe from this tune? Dark lyrics and great imagery: I really hope Mike writes as much as possible for the new album. And, on Halloween they didn't even give the song a proper jam, just a trippy fade-out for a trey ballad "winterqueen."

3. Wombat
Pure fun. Comedic relief and chunky tones from Paige, gotta love it. The tune actually has great potential for jams. All of Trey's pedals sound so fucking good lately and he could easily bring in a ton of different sounds for this song. More wah, more phaser, more delay and small loops, please. Boomerrang it once in a while, Trey, geeze... My gripe with this tune is that on Halloween it was used in combination with the dancers and VigodaBat aka more phish antics. Am I the only one who would rather just have no antics shows, with less lights? Phish should play indoors at small clubs more. Nevermind, I'm just rambling... Fucking great song to have in their repertoire. loved it.

4. Fuego
great lyrics, but they shouldn't say "rollin" so much. For real, only do it a few times and it will be better. too much and it gets corny really fast, imho. great music and composition, though.

5. Wingsuit
Sonically smooth and contoured. It's a real groover and scratches the same itch as "Roggae" "Moma Dance" "the Wedge" and "the Mango Song". I'm a fan of slower Phish so this appealed to me. It's the "Stir It Up" of Phish tunes.

6. Waiting All Night
Dark and sombre ballad. Page sounds great.

7. The Line
More songwriting set in the real world and, as Trey said, about people. Cool premise but they overdid the "...clinging to the notion you'll be..." repition in the outro blemished the song in my opinion. What a great opening and first couple verses; if you didn't know the song's context this song could be interpreted in a wide variety of ways and that is a characteristic of great songwriting. Heavily repeating the lyrics just felt so juvenile and honestly the first time i listened to it i was taken aback -- it went from a pop jazz funk groove to dumb pop in no time at all. if I were Phish's coach I'd say cut that shit out and stick with a tight short jam.

8. Monica
Anyone else think this sounds like a Dead song? Regardless, the lyrics and wordplay are fun and the tune is uplifting. Acoustic guitar is more evidence of a calmed down Phish, and that's cool with me.

9. Winterqueen
Great imagery, but it is a Trey ballad and I just Mike's writing is so much deeper and more interesting. This should be a TAB song. For some reason I think that Trey's daughter spoke "i wish that i controlled the skies" and it stuck with him? Trey's family has influenced his writing a ton and sometimes it's good and sometime's it's decent.

10. Snow
Mike's work in progress, I'm assuming. I liked but it just needs to be developed and approached in a different way. Mike's time spent with Leo Kottke is showing in this tune I think.

11. Amidst the Peals of Laughter
Down with Phish whimsy. I'd be embarrassed to put this on during a party among people unfamiliar with Phish.

12. Devotion to a Dream
I like the lyrical content but the song is radio friendly and not really pushing any boundaries for Trey. It's last place because "all it was was a fairy tale and devotion to a dream" is a dumb lyric. Trey is married and it is painfully obvious in his songwriting and I just don't like it. It's way too personal and overtly about marriage. You could interpret it differently, but would you?

I was extremely pleased to hear Trey being so candid near the end of the album.