What Phish Album Are You Listening To & Why?

Phish Albums
#126

^“until I have your full attention… i’ll be anything but me…”

so the “other” he is speaking to… lets say his wife, girlfriend, friend… (many of the songs here have a strong connotation connected with unrequited love… or a sense of wishing to connect with the other but not receiving the same feelings back) so the other is not acknowledging or giving full attention to his feelings, his heart-felt love or whatever… this obviously is a downer… making him feel less than whole and to feel complete he needs her full attention, warmth… so wherever she directs her full attention, her full awareness, is what he wishes he was… a shooting star, a “tidal wave”… a satellite… so he is "anything that she pays attention to and can’t be fulyl himself until/if she directs her full awareness at him. Its pathetic really but so vulnerable that there is a piece of this we can all relate to… we have felt that stark loneliness at one time or another… and thats what makes the lyrics on this album so brilliant… it is so subtle and deeply affecting those hard to reach places. It’s art.

but i get what your saying… he’s not really taking responsibility… but i don’t see that as the point… its really just affecting that bare feeling or emotion… maybe later, after a few beerz the guy is like “ah screw it I’m fine!” but in those quiet moments in the middle of the night we feel the coldness of ABM. so we work to find happiness, resolution, connectedness, we try to free ourselves of faults, try to love more, try to be less selfish. in these ways we ward off loneliness and try to find meaningful relationships… we try to feel content and fill our heart. right? especially after we “fucked up”, ruined relationships… For most of us “fucking up” comes pretty naturally lol but we strive to learn from our mistakes and make the world a better place mostly.

the great thing about art is it doesn’t have to make total sense, is up for interpretation and moves us in some way… usually in a way we can’t quite put our finger on. RR is full of it.

#127

Awesome, thanks for your insights. Makes better sense to me now.

#128

Very well put…What’s your hourly rate? :laughing:

#129

^&^^ oh good, you’re welcome. at the time RR came out i was at a true turning point in my life and really listened to the album many times, many hours… now i can barely listen to it lolo but at the time it provided some comfort, perhaps some clarification… i definitely connected and appreciated the maturation expressed here… course trey fell apart soon after and was not surprising. we all have to grow up sometime. it was nice to hear a few select RR tunes live in summah of 04’… the splendid SPAC WOTC and mansfield waves and mexican cousin come to mind.

2/28/03 gin also got listened to a zillion times during that period… that gin is still my #1 fave jam. the entire jam barely has a wasted note, no noodling here, and the last 5-6 min are sublime. that 03 guitar tone is in full effect … at times in PH it is grating but here its part of what makes this gin shine.

#130

I just put on Undermind, cuz I don’t know, I’m not feeling too great about things, and it’s a good album for feeling like that. In general I think I like it more than Joy & Party Time, and maybe a couple other studio albums. Maybe it’s down to Tchad Blake, I don’t know. I don’t even know exactly what I like about it. It’s certainly not my cup of Phish on the whole.

#131

I put on this ‘Live Ones vol 5’ compilation I made a while back. It’s like, Hoist/Billy Breathes era material that didn’t make it to studio albums. A pretty fun listen.

Live Ones Vol. 5

  1. Leprechaun (7-31-1993)
  2. Ha Ha Ha (5-16-1995)
  3. Spock’s Brain (5-16-1995)
  4. Acoustic Army (10-02-1995)
  5. Glide II (5-16-1995)
  6. Simple (6-14-1995)
  7. Keyboard Cavalry (10-02-1995)
  8. Strange Design (5-16-1995)
#132

I got Party Time on the turntable right now. I’ve said it before, but I’m happy to report that it is STILL getting better w/repeated listens. Ain’t no Junta of course, but it’s a cool album with just a couple less favorable moments. I like many of the songs a lot, despite it not being my favored style of Phish music.

#133

Billy Breathes on in the car yesterday. Eh, this album still sounds like a band with a sudden sense of identity crisis, to me. Not my favorite.

Still though, since I rarely listen to this one, it was nice to hear it. And I had it good and loud too, so I really listened good. Started from Theme, and listened all the way thru Caspian, wondering if there’ll be a blank LP side.

#134

Junta on the turntable today. Side E. I did not mind one bit.

#135

This is kind of a pushy thread title, isn’t it?

I just listened to Siket Disc. Working my way backward thru their albums, vinyl if I’ve got it. Wondering if this will ever get vinyl’d. Also wondering why I’m so dismissive of it … certainly it’s a Phish album, no?

I guess it’d be a cool looking record, because it’d be three songs on side A (what’s the use is disproportionately long compared to the other tracks) and six on B, I reckon.

a
My Left Toe 4.47
The Name Is Slick 3.59
What’s The Use? 11.19
~Total: 20:05

b
Fish Bass 1.11
Quadraphonic Toppling 1.58
The Happy Whip & Dung Song 5.29
Insects 3.11
Title Track 1.00
Albert 2.18
~Total: 15.07

#136

Siket Disc

Slow day at work, being able to catch up on random things.

Background music.

#137

Rift

It’s one of my favorite studio albums right along with Picture of Nectar. Rift was the first dosage of the Phish for me and the first album I listened to in it’s entirety (I had heard a few tracks off Junta)
It’s always in my car, but tend to slack at times on their studio albums… Not sure why… Cause them im reminded, why don’t I listen to these more

I think Sparkle and Weigh in hindsight would of fit nicely on Hoist.

Im also listening to Billy Breathes as it is also always in my car. Great album, and a good choice for when you really aren’t in the mood to listen to music, but at the same time you are :shifty:

#138

Does Trey’s new album count? I guess not…

#139

I got Party Time on at work. This album’s pretty strange, but not really strange musically. It’s like Joy 2. But like, straight to home video.

#140

I am now listening to Party Time at work as well, thanks to your post this morning.

Came to the realization I think I have only listened to this 2-4 times. Not sure why, but I plan on finding out now.

#141

OK, so there was definitely some throw away on that album.

But Gordon dominated in my opinion.

Only a Dream & Can’t Come Back need the Phish live treatment.

#142

I stand by the Trey stuff, and I’m not much of a Trey apologist. He had his Treyday. His Trey in the sun.

It’s “In A Misty Glade” I don’t dig. The rest of it has definitely grown on me. The pair of Page tunes on there are great. I don’t see why Windy City isn’t played once in a while.

#143

Came to the realization I think I have only listened to this 2-4 times.

I’m the same. It’s kind of an “outtakes” album but it’s official rather than just some tape that got circulated like the Billy Breathes sessions that had those cool studio versions of stuff like Funky Ghost and Fog That Surrounds. It didn’t help that it took forever for the band to ever have the album available on its own since it was stuffed as part of the Joy box set for so long.

I dusted off Traveler the other day. Still really dig that album.

#144

I thought the other day that maybe I’ll catch up on Trey’s solo work eventually. Somehow have managed to follow Mike’s studio output, but not Trey’s or Page’s. I have a couple Trey albums and one Vida Blue CD.

I listened to Party Time again today, at work. It’s like you say Steve, it’s kind of an outtakes album, and it started as the unsightly Siamese twin of the Joy album, yet it’s its own album.

Two other Phish albums are like this; the ‘White Tape’, and Siket Disc. All three are totally Phish albums but they each kind of … don’t count … in their own special way.

Party Time has the additional issue of conflicted album art.

#145

Two other Phish albums are like this; the ‘White Tape’, and Siket Disc. All three are totally Phish albums but they each kind of … don’t count … in their own special way.

See, the White Tape “kinda counts” for me since it’s really the “real first album” since that’s what they handed out at shows and stuff. So that feels more “real” to me. Siket Disc is clearly just a throwaway album of leftover stuff…I think I remember it was even sold at a discount at their store.

I also feel the same way about Trey’s 18 Steps which is just Bar 17 outtakes…and given how I was only lukewarm on Bar 17, I’m about the same about 18 Steps. One Man’s Trash FEELS like an outtakes album since it never felt like a “serious” solo effort by Trey…it’s got some weird tunes and Trey just put it out there and didn’t tour for it or anything. Even though it’s his “first solo album” I don’t feel like it counts either especially since a few tunes off that were re-recorded on his self-titled album.

Horseshow Curve also doesn’t feel like a “real album” and plays like more of a jam session to me. It’s quite good but obviously isn’t the same. For me, I’m big on Traveler, Shine and the Self-titled one and Bar 17 and Paper Wheels gets second billing. I’m also holding out for the “Let Me Lie” greatest hits which will be an album of all 20 versions of Let Me Lie that have come out over the years.

I will also say that Original Boardwalk Style is a sick live album…some badass jams on that one.