Trey Anastasio
Phishguitarist Trey Anastasio's solo debut--not countingOne Man's Trash, his limited-release odds-and-sods assortment--is the affable, something-for-everybody, more-or-less-mainstream album that the avant-arena rock quartet was always too collectively freaky to record together. Anastasio's new group--an eight-member powerhouse with a rock-solid rhythm section, slamming horns, and a string player or two--is a versatile vehicle for eclectic compositions ranging from a trio of dangerously mellow 3-minute acoustic ballads (including theBob Marley-inspired "Ether Sunday") to the explosive 11-minute head charge "Last Tube." Anastasio updates the hornyTower of Powerlegacy in the Latin funk of "Alive Again" (with guest percussionistCyro Baptista), the wailing R&B; of "Money, Love, and Change," and a rocket-fueled commercial for decadence, "Push on 'Til the Day." His stated goal was to mesh composition and improvisation. Here he invokes composer Charles Ives's regionally inspired chamber music in "At the Gazebo" before cranking up theOysterheady psych-rock of "Mr. Completely." All in all, mission accomplished.--Richard Gehr