I love it all. I agree with Vernixx that it sucks when people discount anything before 94 as inferior. To me, the flipside of that coin is that it also sucks when everything post-Cypress or post-hiatus gets the same treatment. But I loves me some 80’s Phish for sure.
they are far from boring - i rocked my amy’s farm tapes even after i had taped them back together 
Great Zoot…now I’m gonna go dig out my Amy’s Farm cassettes to listen to in the car today. Thanks a lot! ;D
Phish was constantly changing, and the band they were between 93 and 04 will always be better to me than Phish between 83 and 92. I have listened to some early shows, and to me they are very interesting as evidence of where they came from. It’s great to hear early versions of songs I love, but I usually love them as much for where they go improvisationally live as the composed sections themselves.
I personally don’t own a lot of 80’s Phish, but I enjoy the shows I’ve got. The early years were clearly Page dominated, but as the others grew into the meld they kind of took over more, trey mostly. There really isn’t a year that I couldn’t find some killer shows from (except years when they didn’t play of course, like 01 and 05). i just love this band so much.
i wouldn’t even get bored with an oh kee pah ceremony.
the original version of hood, with the trail off hood vocals before they kick in the jam, just makes the song more complete. it segues more smoothly into the outro build up jam. check out 5-28-1989.
the original tela is also a rare gem. the intro is different along with the “tela was born…” verse. the flow of the song is just beautiful. check out 8-27-1988. (Great Went Archives Show - http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=19212 )
I don’t know. Phish music is easily like wine vintage to me. I like all their periods for the nuances of “flavor” that they hold. Take a Weekapaug, for instance. I love the fiery, wanton flavor of the early 90s versions of this song, as opposed to the slower, more deliberate later versions. On the other hand, I though Mike’s Song matured well over the years, yielding a much more resilient feeling that the seemingly chotic 80s and early 90s vintages.
So I tend to enjoy each Phish period for their stengths of expression. I also tend to be decidely prejudice for the period that I first heard Phish live, in my case 98-99.
i have to comment on the first post here, i picked up the 4/29/87 show at a Trey show in Boston in '05, some guy selling cd’s off his hood. 10$ for 3 discs, no complaints. It’s still the earliest show i have and I love to give it a listen every so often to see how much they evolved. There were some great moments from that show, Peaches opening up the 3rd set was tight.
Can’t believe i never got in on this thread. 80’s Phish does need more discussion. I mean i can’t believe i didn’t start a thread like this cause i have alot to say about 80’s Phish. It’s actually hard to believe this thread is not 70 pages or so cause 80’s Phish is something we all need a better dialouge about. 90’s Phish gets talked about so much it’s refreshing to have a thread where i can let down all my inhibitions and just talk about 80’s Phish. And i really want to get to the heart of things. Leave no stone unturned and no subject void of debate i say!
^You’re talking a lot, but you’re not saying anything.
say something once, why say it again?
^I’m not even sure what i meant there, but i figured quoting TH in an 80’s thread was appropriate.
triple post.
BRING BACK WILD CHILD!!!
People. You can never change the way they feel!
Fast Sanity and Shaggy Dog.
I like’em.
Kinda wish i heard’em.
oh yah, and Wild Child.
I really got into '80s pheeesh back during summer tour '98. My tour mate had TONS of early phish and we rocked out during the wee hours of the nights trying to get to the next stop. There was soooo much developing during the 87-89 era. I feel like some of the best improv phish did was during these years. The early 90’s saw them really tighten up and ditch the jamming. K. thats it for now.
98 is when i was starting to get some great sounding 80’s stuff as well. My fondness for the fasanity is well documented on the board and you are correct to crave it sir!
Not that big of a fan of 80’s phish.
It’s kinda like getting a BJ from a girl in the 8th grade.
At first your like, this is awsome.
Then a few years pass and you get more from older girls.
You realize that that one back in 8th grade really wasn’t that good.
Not that any BJ is bad, its just that you know that they got better later.
Exactly. any blowjob is better than a kick in the nuts!
There are just too many good shows from the '80’s and I don’t have nearly enough of them. What’s everyone’s favorite '80’s show?
05-28-89
Sunday, May 28, 1989
Ian McLean’s Party, Connie Condon’s Farm, Hebron, NY
Set I: Divided Sky, Run Like an Antelope, Colonel Forbin’s Ascent > The Famous Mockingbird, Fee > Slave to the Traffic Light, Esther, Suzy Greenberg, You Enjoy Myself
Set II: Fire, Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, Bathtub Gin, Sanity, Ride Captain Ride, Peaches en Regalia, Take the ‘A’ Train, Possum, Contact, Funky (Breakdown) -> The Price of Love, Funky Bitch, Split Open and Melt, The Mango Song, Harry Hood
Set III: Jam -> La Grange Jam, The Sloth, Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley > Ya Mar, Jesus Just Left Chicago
Show Notes: Trey dedicated the Divided Sky opener to “the spirit of the pig.” This YEM featured the infamous “Poop Vocal Jam,” followed by a set-stopping keg run. Antelope included the word “spliff” instead of “spike” in the lyrics and Mike’s Song included a tease of the HBO theme song. Funky (Breakdown) and Price of Love featured guest appearances by Ninja Mike (vocals) and Magoo (guitar). Fishman intermittently played trombone and vacuum during the latter.