Glen Phillips: Winter Pays for Summer

Just as Darius Rucker will always be Hootie to America, Glen Phillips will forever be "Toad" of Toad the Wet Sprocket fame. But, I'll be honest, I tihnk that's ok, because this guy has, in my opinion grown out of the "Toad the Wet Sprocket" shadow. Or, as much shadow as the band had.

After seeing Glen Phillips, Kim Richey, and Griffin House, I was convinced to purchase this solo album of his first, mostly because there was no Richey or House albums available at Newbury Comics. And it was a good 12 dollar purchase.

The lead off track, Duck and Cover does a great job of getting you into the album, and for the most part, setting the pace. It's a mostly upbeat, moving, enjoyable collection of 13 tracks.

Released is a sweet sounding, emotion-provoking tune. The simplicity of his voice and guitar, and the minimal backing insturmentation draw you into the track something fierce.

The closing track, Don't Need Anything, is a sweet and honest tune where he proclaims he "don't need anything that i don't have." For some reason, this track vaguely reminds me of Paul Simon's "Still Crazy After All These years." Except simpler. Just House and his Piano. Its really quite wonderful.

In the end: This is a truly enjoyable album, and, as such, I think it will appeal to a vast amjority of people on one level or another. And he's a smaller artist, so he deserves some support. He's "teh r0x0r."

On the web: You can get bootlegs of both Glen Phillips and his work with Richey/House at www.archive.org/audio .
Glen Phillips | The Weekly Review Traveling Road Show

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