The newest studio effort from Umphrey's McGee, titled Safety in Numbers came out this Tuesday. I had a terrible time finding it in a store, though.

Now that I've had a couple of days to listen and soak it in, I have to say that I'm really pleased with the release. The songs on the album are varied in their styles, but the album is put together very well, so that none of the songs seems at all out of place.

The CD opens with Believe the Lie, a rocker, if ever there was one. The ironically titled Rocker follows. I knew BtL from hearing it live and from other concert recordings that I'd listened, so I knew what to expect. Rocker really surprised me. It's a beautiful and heartfelt remembrance of a friend of the band's who was killed by a drunk driver. Umphrey's used strings for the first time that I've heard, and it really works.

Next is Liquid. The first time I heard it, I thought, "This sounds like the 80's!". It's short and sweet, and at the end it dissolves into noise, and dovetails directly into Words, another fine tune that features odd meters, and that has a fairly complex form. There's not a lot of material that gets repeated on Words. Nemo comes next. It's a good song, but it's not my favorite.

Women, Wine and Song features Huey Lewis (sans The News) on harmonica and backing vocals. It's a straight-up blues-rock anthem, which makes for a great pallette cleanser in the middle of the album.

After Huey exits the studio, Intentions Clear, my favorite track on the record, starts up. It's got a tight groove, great guitar work, and features Joshua Redman on saxophone. If you've never had a chance to hear Redman play, GO DO IT NOW!!!! He's one of the smartest, most soulful* sax players out there. When Redman finishes burning up the record, we get a false ending with End of the Road, an instrumental song that sounds like its title. It soothes and relaxes you as you listen to it. You can almost feel the tension leaving your body.

Passing follows End of the Road and leads into Ocean Billy, which is another great live tune that Umphrey's has been doing for a while. It starts slowly, and build in intensity all the way up until it suddenly ends. Because of the way the band creates tension in this song, I think Ocean Billy is one of their most effective songs.

Safety in Numbers ends with The Weight Around which, to me, has some Stone Temple Pilots in it (a la Pretty Penny). It's a great ending track that makes you want to hear more even as the record is ending.

As a record, Safety in Numbers is really well done. It's a Complete Work. As mentioned above, none of the songs seem out of place. That's step one. But you could also say that all of the songs on Anchor Drops, Umphrey's McGee's previous studio album.

What sets this new effort apart is that it's difficult to imagine any of the songs being any place in the order but where they are. Further, taking any one song away from the rest and putting it by itself would diminish the effective that song, and the songs before and after it (at least in the context of this recording - live performances are a different animal). None of those songs would be nearly as effective. That isn't to say that the songs can't stand on their own merits, but it's clear from listening that these songs Belong Together (BFF!).

Finally, it's nice to hear a recording by a "jam band" that isn't just them in the studio jamming. While the jam bands that last do figure out at some point that the studio is NOT the place to noodle, Umphrey's seems to have figured that out early in their career. Safety in Numbers is a collection of tightly produced musical nuggets. There are certainly moments of improvisation, but they're very well controlled, and they don't get tiresome. Kudos to the producers and editors on that note. Well done!

So then, the moral of the story is this: Buy the record. It's a great effort from a hard-working band. And if you get the chance to go see the Umph in concert, go do that, too. I hear they'll be opening a few shows for Dave Matthews Band this year. Maybe you can catch a twofer there...

*In my attempt to reform the English language, I considered using the work "soulfulest" here. It's currently the "wrong" way to express the idea of "having soul" in a superlative form, but it's fewer characters, and would help standardize the way we do superlatives in English.

**For another example of a Complete Work, check out the album Dogman by King's X, which is one of my all-time favorite records. It has all of the same things about it that make it a really Great Record.