Joel Stewart
Joel Stewart
the first time i heard them i was driving thru an electric storm in idaho on the way to a fly fishing spot...i thought they were the new gen's version of Yes
comparisons to the Dead were mute to my ears
the latest phishead response i read online was: "i went to the dead and the music was cool but people were old"....."then i went to phish and they were my age, so i stuck with phish".....
....
i saw string cheese when they were a tiny band with a following of bra-less beauties with hoolahoops.....now that's something the dead didn't think of!!! (the hoolahoops i mean)
to be honest tho....what STI was trying to pull off musically, i'd already seen RTF (Return to Forever) with Chick, Stanley, Al and Lenny, do it in spades 10 yrs earlier, musically, at least. It's hard to watch bands get copied when you've been there and seen the best form......why should I sit there and watch drummers drop beats and guitarists miss notes, when Lenny and Al nail them right and left??
Phish at least has the muscle...gotta give them cred for that. Technically they are up there,(tho they may not try the gymnastics that RTF did, they have their own tricks)....and to be honest, Phish applies a higher level of musical standards than any other so-called "jam band" out there....STI can't take it out there, if you ask me. And, well Phish's outer adventures seem pretty well pre-calculated. Sorry my psychedelic laced parameters have already been set by the guys who took the music outside for breakfast.
If you listen to the whole first day of the recent Phish 3 day gig, it sounds like Trey is the prima donna....and it's tiring. Hey, Jerry, for that matter was the prima donna of the dead, BUT, the dead as always, was working towards a band alchemy, no? THIS, to me, is what draws the line between the dead and so called "jam bands" (aside from the wholly obvious fact that none other than the dead cut their teeth on the kesey acid tests, which, if you know of what i say, draw the line between on and off the bus).
that said, here is what i hear from phish that i like:
surprising technical precision... a bizarre monk/zappa/Yes/ beefheart like format (the world needs more of this kind of musical playfulness)
solid, but non-formulaic (well, to a point) guitar solos....(i've done some research on the band's guitars and if you care, it's worth a detour) let's say this......trey squeezes an awesome, original sound from his carefully feedback controlled guitar. his style is very duane allman-like lyrical. it's obvious he grew up listening to the right generation and he also hooked up with the right musicians to express something vibrant and unique. Perhaps a bit too emoti-music? I can only take the Santana crying feedback guitar sound so long, but he does play well...and not at all Jerry sounding!
other than that (now that i've gotten the shism out of the way, i can freely fly my freak flag for Phish......because i can't get a hard on for seeing the dead without Jerry).
oh yeah...the co-op bubbly, blanquette de limoux 04 was exquisite, mauzac is more dead than chard to phish. rusty rusticity counts over perfection
comparisons to the Dead were mute to my ears
the latest phishead response i read online was: "i went to the dead and the music was cool but people were old"....."then i went to phish and they were my age, so i stuck with phish".....
....
i saw string cheese when they were a tiny band with a following of bra-less beauties with hoolahoops.....now that's something the dead didn't think of!!! (the hoolahoops i mean)
to be honest tho....what STI was trying to pull off musically, i'd already seen RTF (Return to Forever) with Chick, Stanley, Al and Lenny, do it in spades 10 yrs earlier, musically, at least. It's hard to watch bands get copied when you've been there and seen the best form......why should I sit there and watch drummers drop beats and guitarists miss notes, when Lenny and Al nail them right and left??
Phish at least has the muscle...gotta give them cred for that. Technically they are up there,(tho they may not try the gymnastics that RTF did, they have their own tricks)....and to be honest, Phish applies a higher level of musical standards than any other so-called "jam band" out there....STI can't take it out there, if you ask me. And, well Phish's outer adventures seem pretty well pre-calculated. Sorry my psychedelic laced parameters have already been set by the guys who took the music outside for breakfast.
If you listen to the whole first day of the recent Phish 3 day gig, it sounds like Trey is the prima donna....and it's tiring. Hey, Jerry, for that matter was the prima donna of the dead, BUT, the dead as always, was working towards a band alchemy, no? THIS, to me, is what draws the line between the dead and so called "jam bands" (aside from the wholly obvious fact that none other than the dead cut their teeth on the kesey acid tests, which, if you know of what i say, draw the line between on and off the bus).
that said, here is what i hear from phish that i like:
surprising technical precision... a bizarre monk/zappa/Yes/ beefheart like format (the world needs more of this kind of musical playfulness)
solid, but non-formulaic (well, to a point) guitar solos....(i've done some research on the band's guitars and if you care, it's worth a detour) let's say this......trey squeezes an awesome, original sound from his carefully feedback controlled guitar. his style is very duane allman-like lyrical. it's obvious he grew up listening to the right generation and he also hooked up with the right musicians to express something vibrant and unique. Perhaps a bit too emoti-music? I can only take the Santana crying feedback guitar sound so long, but he does play well...and not at all Jerry sounding!
other than that (now that i've gotten the shism out of the way, i can freely fly my freak flag for Phish......because i can't get a hard on for seeing the dead without Jerry).
oh yeah...the co-op bubbly, blanquette de limoux 04 was exquisite, mauzac is more dead than chard to phish. rusty rusticity counts over perfection