Ever since last Halloween, when Phish covered their future selves by playing a set of never-heard-before music under the then-album title “Wingsuit,” fans have been waiting for the release of Fuego. Granted, nothing gets your average Phish phan as excited as seeing the band live, but certainly their 12th studio album, and the first in five years [Joy (2009)], is bound to attract some attention. Thus, when NPR released a free stream of the album, the Phish community listened.

Now, I would consider myself an avid Phish listener. I’ll do my best to present an unbiased review of the music, but know that these songs will be placed in the context of their live performances (Halloween, New Years Run, and “The Line” at Jazz Fest), because the essence of Phish is live performances.

The album kicks off with the title track, “Fuego,” a nine-minute musical saga with an only-too-appropriate title. This song is fire. A true-to-form production of the song that started 2014 (for me, at least), the song keeps it rolling, weaving through various musical sections and making its way to a blistering guitar solo from Trey Anastasio. Trey seems to be dialed in throughout the track, playing off of Page McConnell’s piano melodies with creative ease. 

After a hauntingly dreamy musical interlude, the band jumps into the more-pop-music oriented track, “The Line.” This song, which was previously released, is a slow-building, heart-wrenching tune. Filled with backing vocals, the chorus takes on a majestic quality. It’s a good song, but a bit slow-going for my tastes. Fortunately, the band picks up the pace on the next track, “Devotion To A Dream.” It seems the band is embracing their poppy side on Fuego, orchestrating a oldies-type tune with straightforward verses, a fun call-and-response chorus, and a bridge section that predictably drops into a minor key. Still, “Devotion To A Dream” is done well. It’s clean; the band hits their notes. So bop your head along as the band reflects on how they wound up as successful musicians for thirty years. And a fun vocal jam ends the track.

After a brief respite, the band gets groovy with their studio rendition of the Page McConnell-written song, “Halfway To The Moon.” The only Fuego tune to premiere at a Phish concert prior to Halloween, many Phish-goers will offhandedly refer to this song as a “bathroom breaker.” However, HOWEVER, this is probably one of the best songs on the album. After a couple of Page-sung verses, the musician shows off his masterful chops as a pianist. It’s moments like these that give depth to the mantra “Page side, rage side.” Well done, gents.

While “Halfway” is a bit heavy, the next track opens with a light-touch guitar riff from Trey Anastasio. “Winterqueen” almost sounds like a Grateful Dead tune; it has that ethereal, earthy quality about it. With smooth bass from Mike Gordon and heavy, tribal drumming from Jon Fishman, this song ultimately launches into orbit. It’s a nice song, though only time will tell how this Trey-penned tune finds its way into Phish sets.

Through a distorted driving bass-riff, “Sing Monica” hits the ground running. It’s a light-hearted, upbeat song, with back-and-forth vocals and tension-building stop-and-starts. I can envision a tune like this opening a set, getting things rolling with a bang. The studio version features a timely guitar solo, but, overall, the song feels very generic. It’s a good jam, but it doesn’t necessarily have that Phishy sophista-funky quality. Still, this song is sure to get the crowd going live.

The next number, after 554 of course, is “555.” Couldn’t resist that joke. The song, which was released a few days ago, is expertly supplemented by horns and backing vocals. The Gordon-penned composition is swampy, a heavy jam that has the band digging through their cow funk licks to get things going. Listen to “555” below:

“Waiting All Night,” a slow-moving spacey jam, comes up next on the album. Getting down to the end, Phish slows things down and gets a little cosmic. Here, it’s Gordon’s bass that really shines through the soundscape. While Anastasio is running down a minor scale and McConnell is holding out long, organ chords, it’s Gordon that glues the track together with free-flowing basslines. The sentimental tune builds and builds, but never really reaches that climactic peak, as the band instead opts to take the song’s conclusion into a mellow, open refrain. Listen below:

Perhaps one of the highlights of the Halloween performance was “Wombat,” a funky jam tune that was only enhanced by the presence of Abe Vigoda and “the Abe Vigoda dancers.” The album version of this song is a bit less riveting than its live predecessor, with a filtered guitar that doesn’t quite pop as it does in the original. The vocals are muted, lacking the energetic enthusiasm of the performances. The keyboard tone like something out of a 1980’s video game, furthering the song’s peculiarity. It’s as if the band ran the exciting song through the wash, and the colors faded a bit. It’s still a funky groove, but it isn’t until the end that this song is slightly redeemed. Once those backup vocals and horns hit, the song takes on a bit of energy, but the tempo could stand a few more beats per minute.

And finally, the band closes things off with the original title-track, “Wingsuit.” A slow rolling song, it’s one of those where you’re waiting for something to happen, and, it happens, but you’re almost too tired to care by the time it does. McConnell really does a great job filling out those slow sections, showing off his masterful musicianship. The ending is exhilirating, as Anastasio absolutely destroys the guitar solo. After a final refrain, the album cuts into nothing.

So there you have it. Fuego. It’s a great album certainly worthy of a listen or two, but the real testament to this music will be its ability to inspire both the band and the audience members in the live setting. These songs certainly have some potential, so let’s see what the band can do with them! Summer tour kicks off July 1st at the XFinity Center in Mansfield, MA.

-David Melamed (@DMelamz)