Phish: What Are You Listening To?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by B-Mike, Jul 27, 2015.

  1. bmoregnr

    bmoregnr Forum Rezident

    Location:
    1060 W. Addison
    De gustibus non est disputandum, but I think he is brilliant and one of the key reasons I love the band. His style, his tones, his rock-solid time keeping throughout the many gears, I really can't find a thing wrong with the guy; plus the outfit, what's not to like.
     
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  2. zakyfarms

    zakyfarms White cane lying in a gutter in the lane.

    Location:
    San Francisco
    I agree. In a band of very talented musicians, he is clearly the best.
    Phish would be nowhere without Fish.
     
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  3. bmoregnr

    bmoregnr Forum Rezident

    Location:
    1060 W. Addison
    I was debating that with myself recently. I think people tend to go with the guitarist like one tends to vote for a quarterback as MVP, but I agree with you. Tied for best at the minimum. The other two are not far behind and have improved/broadened their already pretty formidable chops over the years.

    An added appeal of the band for me is how pretty equally talented and contributing all the members are.
     
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  4. Finch Platte

    Finch Platte Lettme Rundatt Bayou

    Location:
    NorCal
    That's cool, I appreciate your take. I'll listen a little differently next time.
     
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  5. BigCypress99

    BigCypress99 Member

    Location:
    Atlanta
    Listening to 10/26/2010... A random setlist, stellar second set with Light being quite interesting towards the last 5-6 minutes with a sick Trey improv with all others band members integrated perfectly. Reggae tribute to Gregory Isaacs is fun to hear LOUD! Mango>Llama Reprise is ridiculous.

    Just stumbled onto this one, don't listen to as much 3.0 lately.

    Verizon Wireless Arena, Manchester, NH

    I
    After Midnight, The Sloth, Alumni Blues > Letter to Jimmy Page > Alumni Blues,
    Mellow Mood, Access Me, Llama, All of these Dreams, The Curtain With > Scent of a Mule,
    A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing, It's Ice > Walls of the cave

    II
    Possum > Light > Mike's Song > Simple > Makisupa Policeman > Night Nurse > Makisupa Policeman >
    The Wedge, Ghost > The Mango Song > Weekapaug Groove > Llama Reprise
    E
    Show of Life
     
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  6. zakyfarms

    zakyfarms White cane lying in a gutter in the lane.

    Location:
    San Francisco
    I just love that Makisupa > Night Nurse > Makisupa.
    Have spun it many times.
     
  7. B-Mike

    B-Mike Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
  8. budwhite

    budwhite Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.

    My favorite jam vehicle is Dark star. What Phish song would you say is their equivalent?
     
  9. brew ziggins

    brew ziggins Forum Prisoner

    Location:
    The Village
    Based on the Prince Caspian(!) the other night, ANY Phish song can be Dark Star on any given night. But I think Tweezer is the obvious analog here.
     
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  10. bmoregnr

    bmoregnr Forum Rezident

    Location:
    1060 W. Addison
    That is an interesting question. I was listening to Divided Sky from Amsterdam this morning, I am going to nominate that song.
     
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  11. JAG

    JAG Forum Professor with Tenure

    Location:
    Northeast USA
  12. B-Mike

    B-Mike Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    I would say that Tweezer has been their most consistent jam vehicle over the years, but they don't really have a single "Dark Star" (or Other One, or Playin') equivalent. YEM, David Bowie, Mike's > H > Weekapaug are also good jam songs. (The vocal jams in the middle of YEM can get tedious.) Runaway Jim (see Star Lake 98), Reba, Bathtub Gin, Chalk Dust, Antelope all get jammy. The jams aren't as confined to a relatively small handful of songs as is the case with the Dead.
     
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  13. bmoregnr

    bmoregnr Forum Rezident

    Location:
    1060 W. Addison
    Interesting, I did not think about it in pure jamming/improvisation-vehicle terms as much as peaks, valleys and a few key turns of phrases. I think it is safe to say the jamming of Phish is quite different when compared to a generally open canvas and wide open exploration that is a Dark Star; I find Phish is more a few twists off of, or short veers away into jam/feedback and a sharp as a tack turn back into a very intricate structure that was always written to be there-- it is about pulling off the changes vs. creating something whole cloth. I love them both mind you.
     
  14. Crispy Rob

    Crispy Rob Cat Juggler

    Location:
    Oakland, CA
    Slave to the Traffic Light has the most similar chord structure and sound to the main part of Dark Star, but in my listening at least there is not as much variation from version to version as there sometimes is in other Phish jam vehicles.
     
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  15. wavethatflag

    wavethatflag God is love, but get it in writing.

    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    Among the four shows I saw in 2014, there were two Harry Hoods played, each with wildly different jams. I'm thinking of the Hood on 10/24/2014, clocking in at 14:58, and then the one on 10/28/2014, weighing in at an impressive 19:09. Is it like "Dark Star"? No, not really. Is it an ever-becoming jam vehicle? Definitely. "Dark Star" in spirit perhaps, but I don't really like the comparison between "Dark Star" and any Phish jam vehicle. It's apples and oranges to me when you focus on a comparison of two very different song platforms for jamming by two very different bands. But, I do agree with the sort of macro sentiment that "any Phish song can be Dark Star on any given night".
     
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  16. brew ziggins

    brew ziggins Forum Prisoner

    Location:
    The Village

    Tweezer and David Bowie resemble Dark Star in that the actual song component that repeats night to night is short and lyrically terse relative to the improvisational portion of the song. Like Dark Star, you really have no idea what is going to happen in the middle or how long it's going to last. The other Phish songs, and I include YEM here, have too much structure to really compare to Dark Star, as you suggest.
     
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  17. Rev. MIke

    Rev. MIke Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Screw City
    As many have said, back in the old days almost any song could be like a Dark Star, but I would say the big Phish jams are almost more akin to Playin' jams. My first impulse would be to say that David Bowie is their closest to Dark Star where it could be a crazy excursion or simply pedestrian and perfunctory. Starting in '93, rising sharply in '94, peaking in '95, and then peaking again in '97, almost any song was a candidate for a big jam that fully departed from its source. Nearly every night of summer tour '95 had at least one big, exploratory jam, whether it was Stash, Runaway Jim, Mike's, David Bowie, or others. And then again particularly in fall of 1997 almost all bets were off and any song could be huge and weird, and in either set. I am not saying that this could not happen during any other year of their career, but the 90's are most directly analogous to the Dead's most exploratory years. Livephish typically has some free downloads called Live Bait that feature some notable performances, and their archivist Kevin Shapiro did some from the archives shows this past weekend at their festival that featured some great material. Those downloads are probably floating around. I would recommend the Mike's>Simple>jam from 11/16/94 that he played.
     
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  18. Crispy Rob

    Crispy Rob Cat Juggler

    Location:
    Oakland, CA
    Not listening to much Phish lately, other than the David Bowie from the '99 Fuji LivePhish charity release yesterday, but I will be seeing the Oakland Fox Theater TAB shows in November.
     
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  19. brew ziggins

    brew ziggins Forum Prisoner

    Location:
    The Village
    Magnaball Tweezer. Not a mega-version, but some very nice passages in here. Caspian out of this sweet Tweezer-scape is a total buzzkill, but, yowza, talk about redemption! Never thought I'd say Prince Caspian was the highlight of a tour, but this one resides amongst Summer 15s highest peaks.
     
  20. bmoregnr

    bmoregnr Forum Rezident

    Location:
    1060 W. Addison
    So I have been listening to Fishman's playing from the other side of it, what is off about it. I quickly realized I mostly took his lexicon for granted at this point. I am not saying you did not or could not get it, but I think on some level if you don't get where he is coming from yes I agree it all seems pretty odd. I am neither a musician nor a drummer so I can't speak to his technique, but I think he is filling in for a pretty unique role in this band, helping string together quite active tempo changes most bands don't come close to achieving; hence he has a "there one minute, gone the next quality, sitting out a bit, letting things play out and then hitting the next tempo change-- surely it is all pretty non-linear and I can see him getting blamed for that, but I think it is the genius of serving the music which needs that tight looseness.

    Maybe by serving the music or his choice of style but he is a pretty quiet player for the most part, and he never seems to be up in the mix very often; I noticed that the one show I saw this year. So going through the 2-track Live Phish CDs I have, they are pretty good, no real penalty vs. the mixed from multi-track stuff, except the drums, particularly the snare and toms can get lost in the mix pretty easily and his kick drum can get very hard to hear as well. He more often than not he rides the cymbals pretty prominently which then can really dominate perhaps to distraction.

    Listening to the Amsterdam box, which is mixed from multi-track I even picked up the 2/1/97 show, maybe by mic technique or other recording differences, really had this garbled drum mix thing going on and the cymbals dominating in the mix would really build over the listen to something like a spike in the head; it was annoying me anyway. The two July shows from that box were night and day difference, really much more open in the drum mix, you could hear everything nicely with plenty of air around and it was much easier hearing everything he has going on. So all of this is to say I think the right mix has a lot to do with really hearing him at his best, and while I love the band I don't listen to everything out there no matter the sq, and a bad drum mix is usually a recipe for me moving on. Still pound for pound in the multi-tracks I have been catching up with, the Ventura box '97 show highlights him best.
     
  21. Erik B.

    Erik B. Fight the Power

    7/24/15
     
  22. bmoregnr

    bmoregnr Forum Rezident

    Location:
    1060 W. Addison
    I got the Coral Sky '96 and Star Lake '98 downloads so listening to those.
     
  23. fsfang2

    fsfang2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Providence, RI
    Pulled out the At The Roxy box set this long weekend. Started with the 92 bonus disc and then went through the box. Unbelievable run! For those that know the story about the 92 show and to then come back and deliver at such quality is unreal. Easily their best archive release!
     
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  24. Crispy Rob

    Crispy Rob Cat Juggler

    Location:
    Oakland, CA
    I was going to listen to a sick medley of Weasel Face -> Bubble Trouble -> Sponge Head, but instead I settled on the 4/2/98 Stash.
     
  25. Actuarybrad

    Actuarybrad Forum Resident

    Amsterdam Box - 7/2/97 - STASH!!!! Wow...the last fifteen minutes....
     
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