I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: PHISH-A Picture of Nectar (1992).

A Picture of Nectar plays with expectations of Phish somewhat (as many as could be formed after two albums).  This album has sixteen songs, with half of them at 3 minutes or less.  These include the pretty jazz instrumental “Eliza,”  “Poor Heart” which is a slide guitar filled short country-ish romp, “Manteca” thirty seconds of nonsense.  “Magila” is a jazz instrumental which has solos by both piano and guitar.  “The Landlady” is another instrumental, but one that is a rocking guitar workout. “Faht” is a pretty, simple guitar piece with birds playing in the background

After somewhat anemic recordings, A Picture of Nectar feels a lot more full.  “Llama” bursts out of the gate sounding very complete with all of the instruments at the same power and breadth.  “Cavern” has a pretty ridiculous drum sound—very big and echoey and the pace is a little slower than is typical live, but it sounds very good. “Stash” clocks in at 7 minutes and it sounds very similar to the albums (although there are a still a bunch of silly voices like the one who says “Please don’t do that.”  “Guelah Papyrus” (no idea what that name is about) sounds fine here—very much like the live versions, full and fun.

“Glide” features the “glad glad glad” chorus in multipart harmony that makes this song seem like a barbershop number and sounds wonderful.  The longest song on the album is perennial favorite “Tweezer.”  The song is very much like the live versions except that the middle section has a crazy noisy breakdown which is a little disconcerting.  The solo then moves into a typical jam for Phish which really shows what they would do with this song live.  “The Mango Song” is a fun piano based jaunty number that highlights the band’s harmonies.  It sounds really good too.  “Chalk Dust Torture” sounds different because the voice is very different.  It sounds like Trey through a processor of some sort, or possibly somebody else singing.

The album ends with “Tweezer Reprise” because the song is so good it needs a proper ending.  This is another successful album from Phish.

[READ: September 20, 2013] “East Texas Lumber”

I wasn’t sure I would like this story about an unsuccessful guy in East Texas.  But I really did.

The narrator is Brian, a guy who has not been very successful since he got out of school.  He’s trying to save up to be a locksmith, but in the meantime he’s working at East Texas lumber.  And he’s thankful to divine providence for sending a tornado which helped him get the job.

A tornado ripped through their town and because of all of the rebuilding, the lumber store needed extra help, and that’s where Brian came in.  Even though on his first day he crushed some drywall and put a nail in his foot, they kept him on.  He was paired with Jimmy, a goof who had been working there for a long time.  Jimmy liked to smoke pot and go to parties, but he was the only one willing to partner up with potential liability Brian.

On this day their boss has given them a cushy job.  Deliver two loads of shingles to two different locations.  This was easy work—a lot of driving and no lumber to stack.  And it should get them back around 4, which is just enough time to goof off for the last hour, and get to The Hangout by 5 PM.

The Hangout is the local mission for the area youth.  It’s in a church and is meant to keep kids out of trouble.  About a week ago Brian met Angela there. She was pretty, she talked to him and, at the end of the night, they kissed and he even got to feel her up.  He has thought about nothing but her since then.

The trouble is that the last time he went there, Angela was talking to the “mission trippers” from jasper, including this one guy who had his hands all over her (which she didn’t seem to mind).  He had seen her yesterday though and made a plan to see her tonight (it’s unclear that she knows that that is the plan).  And he can’t wait until 5 so he can get there before the Jasper kids and try to impress her with his wit.

But then Jimmy tells him that they are making two stops en route.  Brian can’t argue, so they do.  One is for pot and the other is for sno-cones.  Jimmy likes the sno-cone girl but she’s mad at him because she caught him having sex with someone else.  Jimmy also seems to know a thing or two about Angela and is willing to tell him some details if he dries while he smokes.

The deliveries go okay, except that while Brian is thinking about Angela he gets hit with a bundle of shingles.  Then Jimmy tells Brian some thing about Angela that make him more anxious then ever.  But they get back by 5 and Brian is just about to head to the Hangout when the boss has some other news for them.

I really enjoyed the final line a lot, and I was fascinated by the whole tornado story (we don’t have them in NJ so it’s all new to me).  I found myself rooting for the narrator even though it seemed like a hopeless task from the get go.