Anchor Drops by Umphrey's McGee

Anchor Drops, the third studio album from Umphrey's McGee, came out on SCI Fidelity Records on June 29, 2004, and it's the first one with Kris Myers behind the drum kit. The South Bend, Indiana, band had toured hard and, since 2002, headlined and run their own Summer Camp Music Festival, and this is the record where they try to squeeze the whole sprawl onto one disc.

The base is progressive rock, but it keeps swerving: acoustic folk here, loose jam-band grooves there, a blast of heavy metal, a flicker of electronica, and on "Wife Soup" a horn section with Karl Denson in it. "In The Kitchen" is the one the countdowns picked up. Even the sleeve shows off, with an overhead shot of Chicago and the city's name spelled out in maritime flags.

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