Happy 10th: Phish, ROUND ROOM

10 years ago this week, Phish released their ninth studio album, an effort which – along with a pair of talk show appearances and the band’s New Year’s Eve 2002 show at Madison Square Garden – served to celebrate the end of the their two-and-a-half year break.

Recorded at the band’s Vermont studio, The Barn, over the course of five days in October 2002, ROUND ROOM has the feel of a live performance, but that stands to reason, given that the final tracks were taken from the band’s unedited rehearsal sessions. Most of the songs were written by frontman Trey Anastasio and lyricist Tom Marshall, but two tracks – the title track and “Mock Song” – were composed by bassist Mike Gordon. The album was released on December 10, the band appeared on Saturday Night Live on December 14 to play “46 Days,” and on December 19 they played “All of These Dreams” on The Late Show with David Letterman.

While ROUND ROOM wasn’t necessarily the most critically-acclaimed LP of Phish’s career, it did cause critics to make note of how much closer the band had come to capturing their live sound in a studio situation.