Steely your face Percy Hill put out a polished, if familiar, record BY SAM PFEIFLE

Percy Hill’s 1999 record, Color in Bloom, took home the Jammy in 2000 for best studio album. They were nearing the top of the jam scene’s pile, up there with Widespread Panic, Deep Banana Blackout, and the Greyboy All-Stars, but then they kind of just disappeared for a while. Drummer Aaron Kratz put out a solo album, they played some shows, but you didn’t hear much from the band.

About a year ago, the buzz started up again, they released a teaser of an eponymous EP about six months ago, and now they’re back properly with After All, a luxurious full-length that’s surprisingly polished for a band priding itself on its live act. Every tone from every instrument is in proportion and balance, to the point that it almost loses a bit of soul.

This is the argument once made against infamous studio dwellers Steely Dan, and After All sometimes comes off as an homage to Fagan and Becker, especially "Door #5." Sure, they acknowledge the Dan as an influence, but the keyboard breakdown that opens this song and recurs from time to time is a fairly shameless knockoff of sounds all over Katy Lied. Change the tone a bit or something. And check the lyrics after the major jam at 5:00: "All out of time, now the final round has ended and I find/ 90 days ahead of me/ Step to the side/ There’s no parting gift or consolation prize/ Nothing more for you to see."

Compare that to "Doctor Wu"’s: "Katy lied, I was half-way crucified/ I was on the other side of no tomorrow." It’s almost too much.

But, hey, shameless knockoffs aren’t horrible if the band have good taste, and the Dan can’t even really knock off themselves anymore, despite their fraudulent make-up Grammy of recent past, so we’ll have to call "Door #5" good taste and leave it at that.

The rest of the album showcases the band’s expert vocals, arrangement skills, and musicianship, and it quite a lot of fun. There is a lot of well-traveled ground covered, but, like the finishing Bruce Hornsby-esque "Dreamer," most of it provides wonderful scenery.

Sam Pfeifle can be reached at spfeifle@phx.com

Percy Hill play a CD-release show at the Rochester Opera House, on Saturday, March 26. Call (603) 335-1992.