Joy (Deluxe Version)

Editors’ Notes Phish’s fourteenth studio album is more of a birthday party than a reunion. The band was only “broken up” for five years, but the bubbling opener “Backwards Down the Number Line” celebrates Phish’s 25th anniversary with the lyrics “Happy happy oh my friend/ Blow out candles once again.” And the closing number “Twenty Years Later” reflects on their journey. Working with producer Steve Lillywhite for the first time since 1996’s Billy Breathes, most of Joy plays with an optimistically buoyant bounce. Many lyrics deal with deeper issues like Trey Anastasio’s battle with hard drugs, and “Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan” grapples with losing his sister to cancer. The title track is a nostalgic serenade for a muse named Joy, who may be the personification of Phish fans. “Time Turns Elastic” is the album’s golden opus. Over more than thirteen minutes this nouveau-prog epic takes more turns than a mouse in a maze, and what’s even more amazing is that after having recorded 278 takes, it still bursts with the life and excitement of a new song.