Phish's delightful second live album, released in 1997; it was recorded at Markthalle, Hamburg, Germany on March 1, 1997. Paul Languedoc, Phish's sound board deity, recorded it; John Siket, who did the mixing on Billy Breathes, took it home and mixed it. And despite Steve Lillywhite's credit as "production consultant," I suspect he had very little to do with this album--it shows none of the pandering that weakened the otherwise great Billy Breathes. This album is a nice introduction to the joy that is live Phish, with just the right amount of well-placed noodling done well, and none of the craptastic sound quality phans have come to expect from bootleg concert tapes. This is the bootleg every fan owns, and an acknowledgements album for Phish--they give a wink and a nod to all of their big influences, and still keep the jams fresh.
It is packed from top to bottom with treats for new and old fans alike. The opener is a Talking Heads cover, a tribute to David Byrne, whom most of the band credit as a huge influence. A track from Hoist to show off their own stuff, which devolves into a long, bass-driven jam section. Mike Gordon, Page McConnell, and Trey Anastasio toss riffs and choppy chords back and forth like they're playing tennis, dragging the beat slower and slower, deeper and deeper, until they find themselves somewhere between Texas, Chicago, and Memphis--ZZ Top's "Jesus Left Chicago" follows, done with every ounce of the corn pone and fried chicken blues that Phish can summon from their New England souls. They finally pause to mop up the applause and sweat, and then dive into Weigh, from Rift. The audience is primed, the instruments are warmed up, the band have established their psychic link. You can almost hear them grin as they unleash their juggernaut with the first four sizzling licks off Trey's guitar--it's even odds whether they enjoy it more than the audience.
It's Mike's Groove. It's three tracks on your CD, consisting of Mike's Song, the creme filling du jour, and Weekapaug Groove. In most cases, the creme filling tune would be I am Hydrogen, a dainty but delicious instrumental with a country flavor. But they're in Germany, where David Hasselhoff and William Shatner are stars, so they fill the gap with Cheese and polyester: Lawn Boy, in beautiful lounge lizard style. This song sandwich is a Double Stuf, though--before they get to Lawn Boy, they tip their hats to Jim Morrisson with a cover of The End, with some less-than-Oedipal dialogue where Jim's famous "kill"s and "fuck"s used to be. But this isn't The End--Lawn Boy fades away with a great jazz chord, and Jon Fishman's drums explode from the underbrush like a snowshoe hare running for cover from a jet-propelled grizzly bear that is Mike Gordon's bass guitar. The band joins in, and the Weekapaug Groove... grooves. This is Phish at their finest, playing a rocking, driving, runaway train of a high-speed jam. Mike's Groove is (as any fan will tell you) far too rare, but you can own one of the best performances of it; these three tracks are almost worth buying the disc.
Hello my Baby--a cappella barber shop as only Phish can do it--delights the Germans in the crowd to the point where it's hard to hear the singing... but they're probably still cheering for the last song. It gives the stage crew time to sneak up and blast Phish's smoldering instruments with Halon before they close out with Taste, from Billy Breathes. It's a great version with a beautiful extended out-jam, and ends the album on a wonderful note.
Unlike Lawn Boy or A Picture of Nectar, you have to listen to this one straight through to really feel the set build. If the setlist wasn't actually in this order, John Siket gets mad props on this one--he has mixed a set that Phish couldn't have chosen better themselves. Because the density of good tracks is so high--and because there really isn't a bad track on the disc--most fans will call this Phish's best live disc, and refuse to compare it with the studio albums. They're right: no matter how much you enjoy The Story of the Ghost, Rift, or even Junta, hearing that thread of musical, nearly-psychic unity as it happens is a notch above anything that gets recorded in a studio.
- Cities
- Wolfman's Brother
- Jesus Just Left Chicago
- Weigh
- Mike's Groove: {{
Mike's Song ~%~
The End ~%~
- Lawn Boy ~%~
- Weekapaug Groove
}}
- Hello my Baby
- Taste
Billy Breathes-=*{Slip Stitch and Pass}*=-The Story of the Ghost