SOUNDTRACK: PHISH-“The Birds” (MGM Grand Garden Arena, Friday 10, 31, 2014).
In honor of Halloween, these Ghost Box stories will be attached to a recent Phish Halloween show [with quoted material from various reviews].
Known for dawning musical costumes to celebrate [Halloween], Phish broke with tradition last year to offer a set of original music. The Phish Bill read that Phish’s musical costume would be a 1964 Disney album of sound effects – Chilling, Thrilling Sounds Of The Haunted House. But it wasn’t a cover set. Phish played original music set amongst an incredibly psychedelic, theatrical graveyard stage accentuated by zombie dancers and a ghoulish MC. At the start of the set, the stage was cleared before a graveyard came to the foreground. Smoke filled the air, zombie dancers appeared, and music filled the venue. A haunted house was brought to the front of the stage, which eventually exploded, and all four-band members appeared, dressed in white like zombies.
“Some people keep birds as pets in their home. Not you.”
This is a groovy song with some cool pauses with staccato drums and a heavy riff. The song is littered with lots of samples of “They attack!” a sample that has been used regularly since in various shows.
Mike’s got a nasty fuzzy sounding bass while Page plays the organ rhythm. At the end Trey and Mike play each other a solo off (complete with bombastic drums from Fish).
The set’s penultimate song, “The Birds,” showed off what Phish meant in the Playbill when they called Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House one of the heaviest albums of all-time. They feasted on a groove that recalled the best of Traffic, Black Sabbath and Abbey Road era Beatles. All the while, a spoken word sample of “They Attack!!” was worked into the sound. It was on “The Birds” that Mike Gordon shined most as he connected with McConnell and Fish on a dark and dirty progression that Trey shredded over. The song continued with Gordon and Anastasio facing off against each other and dueling it out for a few glorious moments as Page hit his keys for more “They Attack!!” samples. Eventually, [they] hooked up on an intense progression they worked over with Anastasio unleashing a wave of riffs that would’ve made Jimi Hendrix proud.
The ending is some pounding staccato chords with samples of “They Attack!” It’s a very strong ending.
[READ: October 16, 2017] “The Treader of the Dust”
Just in time for Halloween, from the people who brought me The Short Story Advent Calendar comes The Ghost Box.
This is a nifty little box (with a magnetic opening) that contains 11 stories for Halloween. It is lovingly described thusly:
A collection of chilly, spooky, hair-raising-y stories to get you in that Hallowe’en spirit, edited and introduced by comedian and horror aficionado Patton Oswalt.
There is no explicit “order” to these books; however, on the inside cover, one “window” of the 11 boxes is “folded.” I am taking that as a suggested order.
This story opens with a quote from The Testaments of Carnamagos.
John Sebastian had had a debate and argument with himself. He was typically a recluse but he was so upset, he had left his house for three days–an unheard of absence. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 