I just listened to Undermind again tonight, and really i think it represents everything and everywhere phish was staring a permanent break-up in the face. Looking back on what I know now about the breakup and everything that happened, I thought Undermind was really great this time around.
I put this on my Xmas list.
I hope I get it, and even if I don’t, I may buy it anyway. I think I’ve said I was going to get it like 15 separate times, just never did.
Like JEMP said, it clearly represents a dark time in the band’s life. Like the Beatles Let It Be.
I love undermind…I think haters of it subconsciouslly dont like the fact that none of the songs are jam vehicles(except asihtos)…I think its very deep lyrically, represents where the band was at when it was recorded and compliments the rest of the phish catalog very nicely…
I’ve given this accolade before on Undermind. At the time it was released, it must have been emotionally harder for most fans to accept because it was ripe with dissolution throughout most of the music. Undermind is a sad album of music, and for it, represented one of their best efforts at expressing where they actually were. Their playing was also much more cohesive in Undermind than in their previous 4 or 5 releases.
I would be the first to admit that there were undoubtedly better songs that appeared on those previous albums, but as a selection, or snapshot in time of their musical evolution, a “setlist” of songs that expressed Phish as a whole, as were at that time, Undermind does that perfectly. Love this album for its negativity.
Love Joy the same way for its postivity.
I guess without Undermind’s negativity, we couldn’t truly appreciate Joy’s positivity.
Undermind is a great fall/winter album. It’s dark, and we all know the story of where the band was mentally and emotionally at that time. The album reflects that dark emotional state they were all in.
I think it’s a shame that they don’t play more stuff, more often, off of Undermind. The album is nowhere near as bad as people on Phish internet boards make it sound. I’ll also say this, if Undermind is considered the bottom of Phish’s discography (generally), then that’s a testament to how strong their material has been over the years, because Undermind still has some darn good material on it.
Darker better album to reflect where Phish was when it was done… I am glad they did this album for sure though!
Keep meaning to watch the DVD that came with my copy, but have never done so since the first viewing when it came out. The images of Trey were really disturbing to me, because not only did it look and sound like the band was not going to make it, I thought for sure Trey was going to go the way of Jerry and Jimmi, and that was something I didn’t want to see a second time.
Think I’ll watch the Hoist video too. I love seeing Number One playing trombone on Julius.
100% agree, I was hoping Trey would not take the same ‘trip’ so to speak as well…