What Phish Album Are You Listening To & Why?

Phish Albums
#1

I’ve got Story of the Ghost playing as I sit here in my office not working. “Limb by Limb” is on …

I will forever scratch my head at Hoist & Billy Breathes … those two albums just don’t sit as well with me as all the other ones. I listened to both of them yesterday in fact, just to kinda touch base with 'em, make sure they’re okay, see if one of 'em needs a beer.

Today, SotG is a refreshing change. Their approach to creating songs in the later part of their career certainly shifted. I feel like with this album, the balances between crazy and normal, easy and difficult, became a little more stable.

In a way Farmhouse is the more conservative older brother of zany ol’ Story of the Ghost. I view the two PH albums as having a similar relationship. I guess you could say the same for Hoist/BB too - Hoist is light and a little crazyish, and BB is more serious and straightforward.

Anyway, Story of the Ghost is a cool album. I especially welcomed studio “Guyute” when the album was new, as well as “Limb by Limb”. Felt like they were throwing me a bone, giving us musically busy concert favorites like that.

#2

Okay, I’ll go second.

:wink:

I’m putting on Junta.

Because you should always put on Junta.

Phish
Junta
1988
Original Cassette Running Order
Just To Be Like That

Fee
You Enjoy Myself
Esther
Golgi Apparatus
Foam
Dinner & A Movie

The Divided Sky
David Bowie
Fluffhead
Fluff’s Travels
Contact

I loved that, how side A closed with “Dinner & a Movie” and Side B opened w/“Divided Sky”. Anyone else give two rat’s ass hoots about that?

#3

A couple weeks ago I listened to Undermind, then Round Room, then Farmhouse.

I frickin’ love Round Room.

My favorite out of those three, without a doubt.

I still just can not get the hang of Undermind… just something about it, just… doesn’t sound good to me.

#4

I haven’t heard squat from Undermind, don’t own it, have never downloaded, and don’t really plan to I guess.

RR is great but I like Farmhouse a smidge better.

#5

Alright Negative Nancy, are you not at least curious??

#6

I like Undermind quite a lot. I think I finally accepted that the lean mean quirky progressive Phish was never coming back, and so I was open to it. There are a few tunes that I don’t really like too much, but overall I love the general feel of that album.

Songs I don’t particularly like on Undermind:

Crowd Control
Secret Smile (*this song’s GREAT when your mother-in-law dies and there are no words … for a short time during summer 2004 I thought this song was great.)
SaSS Intro
Maggie’s Revenge

Songs I love from Undermind:

SaSS
The Connection
Undermind
Two Versions of Me
Nothing
A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing
Tomorrow’s Song

I think that leaves “Army of One” & “Grind”, which somehow don’t affect me as strongly as I’d think they would. So I’m more or less indifferent to those.

But what am I saying, I’m not listening to ANY Phish album right now.

#7

i’ve been delving into the earlier stuff over the last few days. Junta and Lawn Boy. really diggin Lawn Boy alot too. i forgot how much i love the studio versions of Coil, Reba, Gin and Bouncin. Antelope dosen’t really translate well on the album, i don’t think.

i have to agree almost completely with your opinion of Undermind, hose. except i do enjoy SaSS intro and i love Grind as well. what a weird, phishy way to close out the final album.

#8

Yeah man … Grind is a sweet recording anyway. I’m just not terribly into the tune itself. But it sure sounds great.

Lawn Boy just rules. It was my first Phish music, that CD. There was no internet, and I couldn’t get my hands on any live tapes at the time … and that was their only available product cuz Junta was out of print, and they hadn’t recorded Nectar yet. So I’m totally biased. How about that studio Melt? I love that so much that I have trouble digging it live.

#9

Some of you may remember this monumental project I tackled a while back … I took all of Phish’s original tunes that did NOT wind up on a studio release and compiled 7 unique, chronological “albums”. Here at work, I’m listening to the final installment of those, which of course is Vol. 7.

  1. Bittersweet Motel (8-16-1998)
  2. Jennifer Dances (12-05-1999)
  3. Windora Bug (9-08-2000)
  4. Mozambique (9-26-1999)
  5. Meatstick (7-08-1999)
  6. Spices (7-10-2003)
    7. Spread It 'Round (7-15-2003)
  7. Discern (7-18-2003)
  8. Never (10-17-1998)

This material is pretty decent on its own. A song like “Spices” might not be as instantaneously exciting as the early stuff, but it’s an intense tune in its own right. Sneer at “Jennifer Dances” & “Spread It Round” if you will, but they don’t really bother me. Maybe if they’d made a studio release I’d be more critical of them. But as it is, it just feels like extra.

#10

I am a little bit, I guess. I suppose one day, eventually, I will get my hands on it.

#11

i made a studio mix for this musician dude in one of my classes because i feel he might enjoy the phish. if he does, i’ll kick it up to some live stuff and destroy his facial area. here’s the track listing:

free
rift
squirming coil
soaMelt
connection
fefy
axilla 2
limb x limb
ghost
the wedge
divided sky
farmhouse
sample in a jar
moma dance

should do the trick. i mean, who could resist?

edit: except i haven’t given it to him yet due to the fact that i can’t quite stop listening to it. i love the studio phish.

#12

Yeah!

I’m due for some studio Phish. Putting Lawn Boy on right now.

The muscles flex, the mothers ring.

#13

What’s with this thread, anyway? I gotta have a reason to be listening to a Phish album?

Right now I’ve got Siket Disc playing. I really like this disc, but for obvious reasons don’t consider it a regular Phish album.

I have a similar problem with the ‘white tape’, in considering it a regular Phish album. In a slightly different way though. I mean, it’s got classic Phish songs on it, plenty of vocals and stuff … but it’s just harder to listen to than a lot of other Phish stuff.

Siket Disc on the other hand is an easy listen, but mostly just segments of jams instead of actual song craft of any kind.

Since I usually forget about this album I figured I’d give it a few spins this week.

Currently on my favorite track, “What’s The Use?”

#14

lawn boy, b/c i want to

nah in all seriousness i haven’t put on a album in a few months, but usually i go to lawn boy first, then junta, then rift, then pon, then sotg, then hoist or billy breathes, sometimes i’ll bust out the farmhouse/RR, but not so often

#15

I haven’t really listened to a studio album front-to-back recently either.

I went for a long run this past weekend, that would have been a perfect time to do it.

Maybe I’ll throw on Farmhouse this afternoon.

#16

I just put A Picture Of Nectar on the ol’ Winamp. Two reasons, the first is that I had “Magilla” stuck in my head, and the second is that I don’t want to get burnt out on Metallica!

Picture of Nectar is one of my favorites. In my top three Phish studio albums. I was so so excited when that album was new … to get studio versions of these live staples was so fantastic at the time. I couldn’t get live tapes back then, so all I had was whatever I could remember from the concerts I saw! “Stash”, “Cavern”, “Landlady” & “Guelah” were all songs I was familiar with … finally I could just listen to 'em at will.

#17

^I just came here to post almost exactly what my LAST post says.

Playing A Picture of Nectar, currently on “Glide”.

#18

I put in A Picture Of Nectar a few days ago to listen to Guelah Papyrus. I’ve been going back to it again and again. The Mango Song sounded just right this morning on the way to school. (Sometimes I listen to one song over and over.) Then Llama was perfect as I drove home with the windows down on an incredible sunny day. (I like the mental image of the mountains and the war and the messenger birds and the explosion.) Tweezer and Tweezer Reprise are a great pair. I like how Reprise starts with Trey and then Page joins in very strongly. The piano sounds perfect. I am going to open up here and say that Chalk Dust Torture is a meh Phish song for me. It has good lyrics and music and energy, but it just doesn’t thrill me like most other Phish does. The Landlady outside of Punch doesn’t sound right.

#19

I got used to Landlady long before I ever heard Punch. Probably because of this, I have the opposite feeling - it sounds all wrong in the middle of Punch like that!

Chalkdust is an awesome vehicle for them. But I’m with you - it’s kind of mediocre as a song overall. I do love the guitar solo on the studio version. I can take or leave the funny voice effect.

#20

Since the announcement, I’ve gone back to Billy Breathes, and cannot stop listening to it.

It’s the album that got me started, and is one of my favorite albums. Starts of with a bang, and them becomes very hypnotic toward the end, it’s one of those albums that is best if you hear it complete in one sitting.