If anyone has his previous solo effort "Abulum", you'll like this one.

I've heard about 75% of the songs and they are great!!

I hope it does decently well for him --- good guy, excellent writer and performer.

I was actually on his page earlier today after not looking at it for a while. I guess I was thinking about all that rain in Santa Barbara. I hope that he does another DVD-A for the new disc. I really enjoyed the Abulum DVD Audio.

he opened for counting crows when they were here last june. he was awesome. shitty part was, the concert started at 9 and there's a city ordinance that says it can't go past 11. glen was on for 30 minutes or so then it took another 15-20 to set up for cc, so they were only on for about an hour. what a rip off.

So I guess that rumored Toad reunion isn't going to happen...

I've got his last album on DVDA and CD. Thanks for the heads up.

Phillips is wonderful. I can't wait to hear this new album. Does anyone download any of his shows from archive.com? There are some great concerts there to tide you over until this hits.

No, but I have gotten lots of stuff off of comebackdownload.com. I got an entire show in Philly that has almost all the new songs on it. Great stuff!
He's great live - pulls people up to sing parts of the older Toad songs that I'm sure have gotten a little boring for him to play. He's very engaging with the audience.


I never heard the rumor, but I do know that they released an official Toad live CD in January; it was recorded right after "Fear" was released and apparently sounds pretty excellent.



I miss Toad

That live CD is excellent! They sound great. Toad did a few shows a few years ago. Was lucky enough to catch them. Not as great as when I saw them before (Dulcinea tour), but still excellent (and better than most other bands).

From Amazon:

Glen Phillips has been making music for two decades, starting as the 14-year-old front man of Toad the Wet Sprocket. During that time, he’s accumulated a sizable body of work comprising seven albums with Toad (which collectively have sold close to 4 million units) and three as a solo artist. The latest, Winter Pays for Summer–his first for Lost Highway–is at once the most richly melodic and the most intensely personal album of his career. Phillips says this musical inspiration was a handful of albums "that really ripped my heart out as a kid"–classics like the Waterboys’ This Is the Sea, the Replacements' Let It Be, Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden, XTC’s English Settlement and Peter Gabriel’s So. "I guess I wanted in some ways to make an ’80s record that had aged really well. Listeners will pick up distinct echoes of the indigenous SoCal singer-songwriter tradition that is as much a part of the Santa Barbara native’s artistic makeup as it was with antecedents like Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon and Lindsey Buckingham. Producing was John Fields (Switchfoot, Andrew W.K., the Honeydogs), who doubled on keyboards and guitars in Phillips’ world-class studio band, anchored by bassist Jim Anton and drummer Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello, Los Lobos). Among the contributors are guitarists Michael Chavez (John Mayer), Greg Suran (Goo Goo Dolls) and Jon Brion (Fiona Apple, Aimee Mann, Rufus Wainwright), along with vocalists Andy Sturmer (Jellyfish), Kristin Mooney and Ben Folds. Former Semisonic front man Dan Wilson co-wrote three songs and played on another. From a thematic standpoint, Winter Pays for Summer reflects the sort of grown-up concerns one would expect from a thoughtful and articulate young man preoccupied by keeping a long-term relationship on course, raising a family and making a living in the first decade of the 21st century. Phillips and his wife, who’ve been together for 15 years, have three young daughters. "When I'm at a low point," he says, "I use songs to ask myself the questions that help me get back out. So it’s a pretty serious album; even the love songs are not ‘Baby, you’re so sweet,’ love songs. They’re about the love that happens when you’ve been with somebody for a while, gone through good times and hard times and come out of them recognizing that you have something deeper and better." In this sense, the album serves as both an intimate reflection on the artist’s own ups and downs and a sort of a postmillennial survival guide. "I like melodies that take you somewhere you might not be expecting. At best, they enhance the lyrics instead or merely supporting them. It's also not a bad thing to be a little infectious, if possible." When he decided to title the album, Phillips explains, "I was thinking of balance–pain and joy adding up to something whole and complete. I'm learning that I can’t avoid the difficult times or stop them from happening, but I just need to handle them more wisely. I don't want to trust in some intangible concept; I just want to figure out how to see what's in front of me more clearly." "I used to say with Toad that my songs are just for me; if other people get anything out of them, fine. But since Toad, I’ve understood how important the music was to some people. I try to work on the big questions through song. If other people are asking those same questions, they might be able to use the song as a tool the same way I did and get something out of it. There’s so much materialism and cynicism these days, and the music that’s always moved me has been about heart and spirit. That’s what I hope I can provide, too." Heart and spirit: Glen Phillips’ music has plenty of both –not to mention delectable hooks – as Winter Pays for Summer so captivatingly demonstrates.

I love Glen. He's great. I've been with them since Pale, and caught them on every tour since Fear, including the reunion stuff. Plus a bunch of Glen solo dates.

I'm glad he's giving us another album. He's one of the only artists left that I really crave to hear material from.

He rules. Can't wait to hear what he's going to offer us.

The new album, Winter Pays for Summer, is fantastic. I preordered thru Amazon and can listen to the record now. If you haven't seen Glen live, do yourself a favor and go on this tour (dates listed on his website). He's a fantastic entertainer. If you're interested in helping to promote the record, you can email me and I'll send you a link. I am so unbelievably excited about this record. The stand out song to me is Cleareyed. After you listen, let me know what you think. I'm sincerely hoping for a DVD like they did for Abulum -- love that DVD.
-gardenfresh

Todays' the day!

Track listing:

1 Duck and Cover
2 Thankful
3 Courage
4 Released
5 Cleareyed
6 Falling
7 Half Life
8 True
9 Easier
10 Finally Fading
11 Simple
12 Gather
13 Don't Need Anything

http://www.glenphillips.com/

FYI. The entire album is currently available on iTunes for $9.99. This is one of the rare releases I need in atom format.

Thanks for the bump!

Pretty good so far!

I couldn't find this at the best buy nearby.

Yeah unfortunately they only had THREE at my store!

(They also had NO Toad the Wet Sprocket albums -- I wanted the live one -- and only 4 copies of Better than Ezra's greatest hits -- no other albums at all).

Holy good album Batman!

It was like an old friend wearing a new good looking suit; I've heard just about every song acoustically, but these were fantastic.

Feels just a *tiny, tiny* bit too pop for Glen, but after my second run through of the album (been playing it all day at work nonstop), it fits really well.

I hope this album moves and gets him some fundage and some recognition. A really really great album.

Go get it!!

Same here - he deserves it.

The album took a 2nd listen for me too -- it sounded odd since I heard most of it acoustically, but I like it a lot in the studio too.

I can't wait to pick this album up this weekend. I got to see Glen with Mutual Admiration Society this summer and became a big fan of his solo work shortly after that.

You should also pick up his first solo effort, Abulum, which I think is superior and a top album of mine.