Seis de Mayo

Amazon.com
It wasn't long after the recording of this, Trey Anastasio's third--and most warmly idiosyncratic--solo album, that the Phish frontman/guitarist announced that his improvisation-fueled, cult-fave band would record no more. Longtime Phish-heads (or admirers of Anastasio's previous free-form jazz excursions with Les Claypool and Stewart Copeland and more conventional solo work) may find this ambitious, if occasionally precious, immersion into instrumental concert music proper both familiar (it includes mature arrangements of several previous Phish tracks, including the expanded, 66-piece-strong orchestral centerpiece "Guyute") and insightfully intriguing. Though he is better known for his adventurous, improvisational bent, the recordings here argue that Anastasio's is a more precise musical soul than the occasionally madcap antics of his band might suggest. It would be too easy--and ultimately unfair--to describe these eclectic outings as cinematic. Indeed, they draw on influences that suggest more than a passing acquaintance not only with American classical icons such as Ives (the nervous, colliding melodies and pan-tonalism of "Coming To," the skewed string quartet of "All Things Reconsidered") and Copland ("Guyute"), but also more recent national treasures such as Van Dyke Parks ("Andre the Giant"'s playful Caribbean rhythms, the neo-baroque stateliness of "Prologue") and Randy Newman (the pastoral grace of "The Inlaw Josie Wales") as well. --Jerry McCulley

Product Description
Trey Anastasio has built a career of extraordinary stylistic scope as the singer and guitarist of Phish and as a solo artist of wide horizons. Now Trey shows yet another side with Seis de Mayo, an album of instrumental pieces. Anastasio has been writing in this vein throughout and even before his career with Phish. That will likely come as no surprise to hardcore fans who know that a number of band favorites were composed pieces that the other members learned from Anastasio via stacks of notated staff paper. Trey imagined that he might someday compile an album of these pieces as performed by the sorts of ensembles - string quartets, brass quintets, small and full orchestras he’d originally had in mind when he composed them. Seis de Mayo is that long-anticipated labor of love.

Seis de Mayo,Trey Anastasio,Elektra / Wea,Experimental Rock,Instrumental Rock,Jam Bands,Pop,Rock,Rock/Pop

Seis de Mayo

Average customer rating:

Not Quite
Great original music
Incredible Music
Surprisingly very good
going back

Seis de Mayo
Trey Anastasio
Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Rock Jam Bands | Jam Bands | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Trey Anastasio
Plasma
Bar 17
Shine
One Man's Trash

ASIN: B0001HAIKE
Release Date: 2004-04-06

Tracks:

Andre The Giant
Prologue
The Inlaw Josie Wales
All Things Reconsidered
Coming To
Discern (Intro)
Guyute (Orchestral)

Amazon.com

It wasn't long after the recording of this, Trey Anastasio's third--and most warmly idiosyncratic--solo album, that the Phish frontman/guitarist announced that his improvisation-fueled, cult-fave band would record no more. Longtime Phish-heads (or admirers of Anastasio's previous free-form jazz excursions with Les Claypool and Stewart Copeland and more conventional solo work) may find this ambitious, if occasionally precious, immersion into instrumental concert music proper both familiar (it includes mature arrangements of several previous Phish tracks, including the expanded, 66-piece-strong orchestral centerpiece "Guyute") and insightfully intriguing. Though he is better known for his adventurous, improvisational bent, the recordings here argue that Anastasio's is a more precise musical soul than the occasionally madcap antics of his band might suggest. It would be too easy--and ultimately unfair--to describe these eclectic outings as cinematic. Indeed, they draw on influences that suggest more than a passing acquaintance not only with American classical icons such as Ives (the nervous, colliding melodies and pan-tonalism of "Coming To," the skewed string quartet of "All Things Reconsidered") and Copland ("Guyute"), but also more recent national treasures such as Van Dyke Parks ("Andre the Giant"'s playful Caribbean rhythms, the neo-baroque stateliness of "Prologue") and Randy Newman (the pastoral grace of "The Inlaw Josie Wales") as well. --Jerry McCulley

Album Description

Trey Anastasio has built a career of extraordinary stylistic scope as the singer and guitarist of Phish and as a solo artist of wide horizons. Now Trey shows yet another side with Seis de Mayo, an album of instrumental pieces. Anastasio has been writing in this vein throughout and even before his career with Phish. That will likely come as no surprise to hardcore fans who know that a number of band favorites were composed pieces that the other members learned from Anastasio via stacks of notated staff paper. Trey imagined that he might someday compile an album of these pieces as performed by the sorts of ensembles - string quartets, brass quintets, small and full orchestras he'd originally had in mind when he composed them. Seis de Mayo is that long-anticipated labor of love.

Customer Reviews:

Not Quite.......2005-08-02

Being a huge Trey fan, I'm sorry to report that this CD is highly disappointing. I would describe this music as "pleasant", at best. After two listens, I'm fully bored.

"Seis" deserves some credit since it's neat to hear orchestral versions of Trey/Phish songs (All Things Reconsidered; Guyute). Inlaw Josie Wales is nice, but can be found on Phish's far-superior "Farmhouse".

Additionally, the 29-minute length (!) makes this CD a rip-off at full price.

If you're just dying to hear Trey in this orchestral format, I'd recommend borrowing "Seis" from the library.

Great original music.......2004-05-15

I just bought this CD today and I love it! Anastasio is an amazingly versatile musician - you'd never expect soothing, airy orchestral music coming from a rock guitarist, but that's exactly what this CD is.

About half the tunes on this album are new, while the other half are Phish tunes reworked for orchestra. While most orchestral arrangements of rock tunes sound extremely cheesy (or just flat-out stupid), Anastasio has managed to pull this transformation off quite well, probably because he composed and arranged both versions himself. Some tunes (namely "Guyute") even seem to lend themselves to the orchestral format.

For those who are familiar with Anastasio's first solo album, think of "Ray Dawn Balloon" or "At The Gazebo." That's what all the tracks on this album are like.

The only reason why I rated this four stars instead of five is because the album is very short (only about 30 minutes of music). There's only 7 tracks and with the exception of "Guyute", they're all under 4 minutes long. I love all the material on here, but I wish that there was more to listen to.

Other than that, this is a really nice album. If you know Phish, you'll appreciate the orchestral versions of their tunes on here, but you certainly don't need to be familiar with any of those tunes to enjoy this. I wish there were more musicians out there today who did stuff like this :)

Incredible Music.......2004-04-19

I can't really stand reading the reviews of people who purchased this cd simply because it was a Trey Anastasio release and complaining about it. If you honestly can't take the time to take a look at information about the cd before it is released, it's your own fault.

That out of the way, the music on this cd is just incredible. Though Guyute was done for the "Sharin' In The Groove" cd, it's still great to hear another version of My Friend/Guyute orchestrated. The musicianship, and through listening to this song, as well as the other Phish songs (including Prologue, which is great to listen to as Trey originally composed it).

Those who know Trey Anastasio know of his musical genious. If you don't, please, do yourself a favor and pick up The Phish Book. The reason I give this cd four stars is simply because of the price of the cd for the amount of music you get. Other than that, this cd is excellent. Though, if I had the choice, I would love to have heard Divided Sky orchestrated above anything else.

Surprisingly very good.......2004-04-14

I was pretty happy with this CD. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars because I didn't feel that I got enough music for my money (it's a pretty short disc) but the stuff that's on this CD is great. Transcribing something from rock to orchestral is not easy. It usually ends up sounding corny, and doesn't work for many bands. (Pink Floyd, Yes, and Metallica are the few exceptions.) It almost sounds like Trey had orchestra in mind for these compositions back when he wrote them. Guyute is the best example of this.
Trey Anastasio is very versatile. Of course, if you know about this disc, you probably already know that. But this is just another example of his talent and willingness to try new things. He's definitely the driving creative force behind Phish and his solo efforts have proven it.

going back.......2004-04-11

i admit that i am a big phish and trey anastasio fan -- have been for 14 years. what prompts me to write this is; on yahoo.com, someone reviewed seis de mayo with the comment that hippy jam bands suck so don't bother with this album. yes, anastasio is the leader of the biggest "jam band" so so speak and i won't carry on about the sometimes unfair "jamband" label.

a lot of trey's music is influenced by jazz hence the free form it takes -- everyone has a part in inprovision yet comositions based the structure of classical music like rivel is the basis for a lot of the early phish work. a song that sounds like "noodling" is actually played the same way everytime regarding measures and variation, with only minor variations -- a lot of which are tonal.

seis de mayo simply takes a handful of anastasio's best compositions and presents them in the way they were originally written -- without the "rock n roll" but with string quartets and symphony orchestras.

this is a beautiful album and yet anastasio is often dissed for wanting to explore many musical paths -- this should be commended. i would have given it five stars but i do agree it is a bit short but i only paid $12 so........

strip yourself of the stereotype, sit back, and enjoy.

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