Umphrey's McGee - Anchor Drops

Year of Release: 2004
Label: Hanging Brains Music/Sci-Fidelity
Catalog Number: UM0006
Format: CD
Total Time: 64:41:00

This review is excerpted from Clayton's October 31, 2004 The Prog Life column found here. To refresh your memory, every CD that [was reviewed in the article received] a score in each of five categories: Songwriting, Performance, Vocals, Recording Quality, and Packaging. The scores are from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, unless you count 11, which you can't because the scores can only go up to 10. -ed.

Songwriting: 8
Performance: 8
Vocals: 8
Recording Quality: 9
Packaging: 9

Saving one of the best for last, Umphrey's McGee are pro all the way, from the excellent recording to the masterful packaging. In general, this group plays modern rock with a slight prog flavor, but tracks like "Miss Tinkle's Overture" and "JaJunk, Pt.1" are prog with no "slight" about it. Lots of cool guitar riffs, inventive rhythms, and tasty production carry this disk through a set of songs that range from rocking to funky. A band they might compare with is Dreadnaught, at least the style of music Dreadnaught performed on their second and third albums. (Umphrey's McGee is nothing like the current Dreadnaught, which have moved on to an almost avant-garde sound.) When you need a break from the current crop of 1,000-note-a-second progressive rock, Umphrey's McGee is one classy way to go. A great album. (The band is currently on a national tour, so if you get a chance, pick up a ticket to one of their shows.)

Also released by InsideOut (IOMCD 199) in 2005

Tracklisting:
Plunger (6:01) / Uncommon (2:51) / Jajunk Pt I (3:19) / 13 Days (4:27) / Jajunk Pt II (3:44) / Walletsworth (4:37) / Anchor Drops (4:59) / In The Kitchen (3:59) / Bullhead City (4:31) / Miss Tinkle?s Overture (5:37) / Robot World (5:00) / Mulche?s Odyssey (4:58) / Wife Soup (7:43) / The Pequod (2:55)

Musicians:
Brendan Bayliss - guitar, vocals
Jake Cinninger - guitar, Moog, synthesizer, vocals
Joel Cummings - keyboards, vocals
Andy Farag - percussion
Kris Myers - drums, vocals
Ryan Stasik - bass

Discography:
Greatest Hits Volume III (1998)
Songs For Older Women (1998)
One Fat Sucka (2000)
Local Band Does O.K. (2002)
Local Band Does Oklahoma (2003)
Anchor Drops (2004/2005)
Safety In Numbers (2006)
The Bottom Half (2007)
Live At The Murat (2007)

Genre: Jam Band

Origin US

Added: October 31st 2004
Reviewer: Clayton Walnum
Score:
Artist website: www.umphreys.com
Hits: 2644
Language: english