Last week’s contest seemed to be fun for the whole family, so let’s get in one more round before tour starts next week! The rules, re-posted from last week, are as follows:
Phish’s jamming has often been described in layman’s terms as ‘type I’ (contained jamming that adheres to song structures and chord progressions) and ‘type II’ (open jamming that leaves any semblance of the song it came from). Today’s game centers on Phish’s open jamming. Below are ten audio clips – each a few minutes long, and here is the task. You can gain 3 points per audio clip – 1 for identifying the year, 1 for identifying the song, and 1 for identifying the date – for a total of 30 possible points. The winner will win their choice of a “TAB and the Tabernacle” CD or Mike Gordon’s “Moss,” to be delivered in the near future. Please email your entries with ten numbered lines, one for each guess. All entries must be emailed to mrminer@phishthoughts.com by 7 pm pacific on Friday (tomorrow) night. If multiple entries nail a perfect score, the earlier entry will take the prize. Without further ado, here are the audio clips. Good Luck!
9.30.1995 Shoreline Amp Mountain View, CA < Torrent asap
Shoreline ’95 (T.Mosenfelder)
Fifteen years ago today, on Trey’s birthday, Phish visited Shoreline at the front end an extensive fall tour that would end in Lake Placid in mid-December.
I: My Friend, My Friend, Cars Trucks Buses, White Rabbit Jam^, Reba, Uncle Pen, Horn, Run Like an Antelope, I’m Blue, I’m Lonesome*, Sample in a Jar
II: Runaway Jim, The Fog That Surrounds, If I Could, Scent of a Mule, Mike’s Song > Keyboard Army, Weekapaug Groove > Suspicious Minds** > Hold Your Head Up, Cavern
^band chess game introduction, * acoustic, dedicated to Jerry Garcia, **debut
E: Amazing Grace, Good Times Bad Times
Source: Unknown
Last week’s contest seemed to be fun for the whole family, so let’s get in one more round before tour starts next week! The rules, re-posted from last week, are as follows: Phish’s jamming has often been described in layman’s terms as ‘type I’ (contained jamming that adheres to song structures and chord progressions) and …
Keeping in line with the musical theme of the day, this show from New Haven Coliseum during Fall ’98 features a rather large “Ghost,” as part of a powerful, set-opening “Ghost > Halley’s > Tweezer” triumvirate.
I: Down with Disease, The Moma Dance, Ginseng Sullivan, Stash, Brian and Robert, Limb By Limb, Sample in a Jar, Tela, Chalk Dust Torture
II: Ghost> Halley’s Comet > Tweezer > Possum, Wading in the Velvet Sea, Character Zero
E: Suzy Greenberg*, Tweezer Reprise
*w/ Dude of Life on vocals
Source: Schoeps CMC6/MK41 > Apogee AD1000 > Sony TCD-D8
===== Jams of the Day: Here are two scorching and under the radar, first-set “Ghosts” from Fall ’98. 11.15.98 Murfreesboro, TN *** 11.19.98 Winston-Salem, NC ====== DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY: 11.24.1998 New Haven Coliseum, New Haven, CT < Torrent 11.24.1998 New Haven Coliseum, New Haven, CT < Megaupload Keeping in line with the musical theme …
With a haunted gallery of 99 possible cover albums and a wild-goose chase with the infamous “Save the Date” map, Phish put together elaborate guessing-games for their fans to hype up Halloween 2009. This year, we have heard nothing at all. The silence around Halloween – the band has made no official announcement as to their intent for the show – has caused some people to question whether Phish will be covering an album at all. With a similar ticket time as the other two Atlantic City shows and billed as a “very special Halloween show,” fans have been left to their own devices to figure out what Halloween will bring.
Halloween 1996
Conventional wisdom – and tradition – dictates that Phish will cover an album during the show’s second set. With nothing stated to the contrary, one would assume business as usual. In addition to fun and mystery, last year’s fanfare around Festival 8 was – in large part – a marketing campaign to get east coasters to Indio. But it was also an aberration. Aside from the fan balloting in 1994 and 1995, the band didn’t made a lot of noise about their Halloween plans in the past, and with a $3 price increase to pre-order the show on LivePhish, the band has all-but confirmed a three-setter. Thus far, fans have stuck with more classic rock hypotheses for Phish’s likely musical costume with Led Zeppelin’s “Physical Graffiti” leading the charge. Will Phish stick to their path of covering classics, or might they step to a more contemporary record as suggested by several of last year’s finalists? Might they take a stab at the long-time fan favorite, “Thriller,” test the rock and roll fantasy of “Ziggy Stardust,” or honor New Jersey’s native son with “Born to Run?” Would they really try to play Radiohead as rumored was the orginal plan for Indio? The questions abound, but there have been no clues leaked as to the answers.
Halloween 1995
As Fall Tour mail order tickets trickled in over the past couple days, fans began to wonder if the ornate ticket designs – each representing a different Phish song – could be a clue to an alternate Halloween plan. Of six venue-specific designs, four depict Gamehendge-based songs – “Llama,” “Mockingbird,” “Sloth,” and “Punch You In the Eye” – prompting some to theorize that Phish would play Trey’s hallowed musical fable on Halloween…until the last two tickets were discovered to be “Ocelot” and “Dog-Faced Boy.” Others saw an animal theme aside from “Punch” and followed that clue to Pink Floyd’s “Animals.” But having already covered Dark Side during Fall ’98, a repeat artist seems highly unlikely. Like sleuths looking for a needle in a haystack, fans tried to pull any clue from the ticket layout, but, in all likelihood, there are none there.
Per usual, Phish has their fans guessing what is coming next, and that is part of the fun of Halloween. The band has clearly kept their plan under wraps and things will likely remain that way until we walk into Boardwalk Hall on October 31st. And that’s how it should be. While last year’s album elimination brought a lot of fun and the introduction to droves of new music, the essence of Halloween is the unknown – trick or treat? Between now and then, fans will continue to guess what album will fill the second set of October 31st – but if things follow past patterns, Phish will likely surprise us all. “Houses of the Holy?” “Electric Ladyland?” “The Band?” “Lark’s Tongue In Aspic?” “Greetings From Asbury Park?” “Hot Rats?” Your guess is as good as mine…
I: Sample in a Jar, The Divided Sky, The Horse > Silent in the Morning, Sparkle, Stash, Guyute, The Old Home Place*, Ginseng Sullivan*, Nellie Kane*, Chalk Dust Torture
II: Golgi Apparatus, Maze, Esther, Tweezer, Fee> Rift, Down with Disease, Hold Your Head Up > Love You > Hold Your Head Up, Slave to the Traffic Light
E: Foreplay/Long Time*, Tweezer Reprise
* w/ Steve Cooley on banjo
Source: AKG 460 (likely)
With a haunted gallery of 99 possible cover albums and a wild-goose chase with the infamous “Save the Date” map, Phish put together elaborate guessing-games for their fans to hype up Halloween 2009. This year, we have heard nothing at all. The silence around Halloween – the band has made no official announcement as to …
A version made famous by “the note” that Trey holds for almost four minutes, this “Harry Hood” showcases a band locked, loaded and inspired during November of ’96.
In this relative dark-horse from Fall ’98, Trey loops a rhythm pattern and narrates an expressive solo atop his own – and Phish’s – dynamic groove.
***
12.4.09 (Graham Lucas)
Some beautiful music to start the week… *** “Reba” 5.16.95 – Lowell, MA This haunting and exploratory version is one of “Reba’s” most impressive outings. *** “Slave” 11.29.95 II – Nashville, TN (w/ Bela Fleck) A gorgeous collaboration with Bela Fleck on banjo. *** “Harry Hood” 11.16.96 II – Omaha, NE A version made famous …
Taking this week’s “Jam of the Day” theme right through “Weekend Nuggets,” this installment is all about ‘Tweezers.” This Memphis show from Summer ’95 contains the “Mud Island Tweezer,” one of the most extended and iconic explorations of the song in their career. At a time when the band continued pushing boundaries of jam-length and abstraction, this “Tweezer” clocked in at over 50 minutes, but when listening, boredom never comes into play. One of the most famous versions taboot, if you haven’t heard this, clear an hour of your time, sit back, and relax. Phish dropped one for the record books on the banks of the Mississippi.
I: Don’t You Wanna Go, Gumbo, NICU, Mound, Cavern, Possum, All Things Reconsidered, Amazing Grace*, The Horse > Silent in the Morning, Spock’s Brain, Split Open and Melt
II: 2001 > Poor Heart, Tweezer > Acoustic Army, While My Guitar Gently Weeps
E: Simple, Rocky Top, Tweezer Reprise
Source: Neumann RMS 190i
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7.31.09 (G.Lucas)
Type II Trivia Results: With little competition on day 2, “Rippin’” Ross Bellenoit ran away with this contest with a remarkable 26 out of 30 points! Identifying every track and only missing a couple specific dates – what I thought was most impressive is that he only missed one year out of ten. By blowing away the competition, Ross wins his choice of CD: Trey’s TAB at the Tabernacle or Mike’s Moss. Kudos, Ross! Jeff D. put in a a noble effort, nailing half the selections, while Brad P. rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11. The entire results and answers are below. (If your name is not listed, it is because you scored no points. Better luck next time.) Thanks for playing!
Let’s take “Tweezer” week right through the weekend. Here’s the Great Went’s laid-back afternoon funk fiesta for your Saturday enjoyment.
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VIDEO OF THE WEEKEND:
“Tweezer” 7.31.09 – Red Rocks (multicam) Pt. 1
*** Part 2
DOWNLOAD OF THE WEEKEND: 6.14.1995 Mud Island Amphitheatre. Memphis, TN < Torrent 6.14.1995 Mud Island Amphitheatre. Memphis, TN < Megaupload Taking this week’s “Jam of the Day” theme right through “Weekend Nuggets,” this installment is all about ‘Tweezers.” This Memphis show from Summer ’95 contains the “Mud Island Tweezer,” one of the most extended and …
