posted 02-25-2002 03:05 AM               

Glen Phillips brings his debut solo album Abulum to DVD-Audio, and while the difference in sound quality will likely be unnoticed by all but the most die-hard audiotechnophiles, the disc includes a number of worthwhile extras, plus an album that’s darn fine to start with.

We have discussed Abulum on our Glen Phillips thread, so I don’t want to belabor that point, but it’s worth taking a moment to discuss the album itself. Phillips explores a somewhat broader terrain musically then he did as a member of Toad the Wet Sprocket, but the songs pretty much stay in the folk/rock/alternative area. There are spare ballads and elegies, like “My Own Town,” “Train Wreck,” and “Back on My Feet” along with up-tempo folk or folk-rock songs like “Men Just Leave,” “Drive By” and “Fred Meyers.” Lyrically, he lets even more of his personality through in these songs. “Train Wreck” is full of rambling anecdotes of personal disaster, such as:

quote:

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She was as desperate as a salesman
At a company that’s folding
But they haven’t told the staff yet
That they’re bankrupt and backordered
And they’re funneling the pensions
To the CEO’s back pocket
So in one week they’ll have nothing.

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Keep in mind this was written at least a year pre-Enron. There’s also more humor on this album than on the usual Toad effort, even if that humor centers around deadbeat fathers (“Men Just Leave”), attempted shootings of neighbors’ pets (“Drive By”) or the post-apocalyptic conversion of big box stores to community shelters (“Fred Meyers”).

The DVD extras include the ability to see the lyrics on your TV screen along with, more significantly, 15 live performances taken from two late-2000 concerts and an ‘inside look’ section that features Phillips’ thoughts on music, Toad’s breakup, each song on the album, and more. The inside look is interesting; Phillips is easy to listen to and a pretty good storyteller. Plus I’ll never turn down a chance to hear an artist describe his creative process.

The live performances are probably the heart of the DVD, and they’re both worthwhile and slightly disappointing. They’re worthwhile because in addition to six songs from the album, Phillips performs three Toad the Wet Sprocket songs and seven songs that have yet to appear on any album. The solo acoustic reinterpretations of all these songs are at least solid, and in a few cases they’re outstanding; I may prefer the live versions of “Dam Would Break” and “Train Wreck” to the originals. The new songs are also good, especially “Sake of the World,” “Far Away” and “Easier.” There’s nothing especially remarkable about them, but they’re new Glen Phillips tunes, and that’s a good thing. What disappointed me about the live cuts is that I’m not sure the recording quite captures the energy of a live performance – although that could be chalked up to my stereo not conveying the recording properly – and the cutting of most of Phillips’ introductions to the songs. Phillips is a very spontaneous live performer, launching into stories at a moment’s notice and choosing his set list on the fly. By cutting the transitions, the DVD removes much of that dimension, which detracts from the stated goal of making the viewer experience a live Glen Phillips performance.