SOUNDTRACK: PHISH-LivePhish 10.21.95 Pershing Auditorium, Lincoln, NE (2007).
In addition to formal live releases and a series of 20 full show LivePhish releases (which were packaged in some horrible goo and have subsequently been ruined), Phish has also released some shows a but more formally as LivePhish archival “releases.” I don’t know if there is any specific reason for the release of any of them, but they seem to put out two or so a year.
There’s a pretty thorough review and essay (with photos) by Kevin Shapiro about the show here. And it provides a lot more context and Phish lore than I can and I’ve quoted some below.
This is another great set from 1995.
It starts with a ripping, quick “Tweezer Reprise,” a great way to begin a set (and the first time they had done so). It’s followed by a rocking “Chalk Dust Torture” and great version of “Geulah Papyrus.” Then comes a fantastic 14 minute version of “Reba.” It’s the first jam of the night and they really explore the song (it doesn’t have the whistle ending). It moves into “Wilson” which is (as usual) a lot of fun too. After the “blap boom ” section Trey has some wild noisy effects on his guitar.
That settles down into a jaunty “Cars Trucks Buses” and the typically weird “Kung” which is a 4 minutes and features a drum solo that leads to a great, long version of “The Lizards” (10 minutes). There’s a piano solo which leads to a pretty “Strange Design.” Unexpectedly for me, next up is “Acoustic Army,” a four-person acoustic guitar song (see it here). You can hear Trey shout Let’s do “Good Times” and they launch into great rocking version of the Led Zeppelin song (with a few nods to “Jessica” and “Reeling in the Years.” I love that you can hear them decide what to play next right on the fly. “Good Times” sounds perfect including the solo. They end the set as they began with a reprise of “Tweezer Reprise.”
Set 2 opens with an audience chess move and then seems to start with “David Bowie” but instead its “2001” which segues into “DB.” Its “only” 17 minutes but there’s lots of parts including a dark part and a fast part with echoed guitars. There’s a mellow “Lifeboy” that winds up with a really long solo. “Sparkle” sounds great with some awesome harmonies in the “laughing laughing fall apart” section.
Then comes the 25 minute “YEM.” It starts with trippy washes of guitars. There’s a lengthy bass solo with a lot of high notes—somewhat unusual for Mike–and then a long funky keyboard solo that segues back into a funky bass section with some trippy sounds and even a drum solo. The last five minutes is a voice jam that ends with snoring. It somehow morphs into Fish singing “Purple Rain” (rather poorly) with a (rather great) vacuum solo.
I love this description of these events:
YEM synesthesiastically blends music theory, reggae, funk and trampolines into a psychedelic prog-rock rite of passage that primes the college Being for exactly that for which the composition is aptly named. Blown away, the lively audience clapped along with a polyrhythmic vocal jam that became a pitch-increasing rotation of sound effects and lights (strobe alert #2) before sinking into a dynamic breathing-snoring exercise. As the snoring subsided, You Enjoy Myself drifted away on cymbal rolls that allowed Trey to slide behind the drum kit while Fish grabbed his vacuum for Purple Rain. Upon arriving center-stage, Fish crowned himself with a glow ring that he wore the rest of the show. It’s a shame the video of this song can’t be released at this time because Fish, looking like a short Jesus or a white Hendrix with his head-ring and running slow motion in place as he guided you to the Purple Rain with an Electrolux solo was a sight to behold. The crowd was spellbound,
When they return to “Harry Hood” they resume some notes of “Beat it.” It proves to be a pretty mellow guitar jam, although during the “Thank you Mr. Minor”, section, there’s some nice full-band improvisation.
The crowd erupted as Trey called Suzy Greenberg. Fish continued the Harry Hood humor into his usual Greenberg commentary, making Trey and Mike laugh as they tore into the last song of the set.
The set ends with “Suzy Greenberg,” more “Beat It” riffs and a Led Zeppelin nod. “As Suzy drew to a close, Trey threw out one last stanza of Tweezer Reprise as a parting nod to the shared magic of the moment.”
The encore is a rocking version of “Highway to Hell.”
Due to licensing, we can’t present the Highway to Hell video at this time, but like Purple Rain it warrants mention. There is a combined glow from watching Fish wearing his head-ring, Mike mysteriously sitting down in a chair during the second verse and Trey in Husker red, pumping his fist and singing like a kid in a candy store. As Highway to Hell drew to a close, the room exploded with lights flashing (strobe alert #5), heads banging and fists pumping in a classic display of arena rock power.
The bonus filler is a 20 minute soundcheck “Dog Log Soundcheck.” It contains teases of You Enjoy Myself (“Wash Uffitze”) and The Landlady. The dog log part doesn’t start until way near the end of the song but the beginning is really cool with lots of trippy synths. As usual, the soundchecks don’t compare to the real show, but as a bonus feature, it’s a nice add. This one is particularly good.
[READ: November 24, 2016] The Murder of Monty Woolley
Madras Press publishes limited-edition short stories and novella-length booklets and distributes the proceeds to a growing list of non-profit organizations chosen by our authors. For this particular book, proceeds to benefit initiatives to cure and control Cystic Fibrosis like the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
This is very short release, unlike all of the other Madras Press books.
The title page shows a screen shot for Colossal Studios Presents Monty Woolley, Doris Merrick in Alfred Hitchcock’s [fake] Death Wears a Beard. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 