Published at 5:25 PM on October 6, 2008

By Steve LaBate

Current Events: Phish for non-phans, a reunion playlist

Ctrl-V

Browse Ctrl-V

Page 1 of 4

An introduction to the loved—and loathed—jamband, on the occasion of its recently announced reunion...

Sure, some of their fans are obnoxious, stoned idiots. Rich-kid runaways strung out on MDMA and just enough misconstrued New Age philosophy to make them unbearably self-righteous. And, yes, the band’s hour-long atonal vamps on a song called “Tweezer” make most people want to take said grooming tool and remove their ear drums.

But as “uncool” as it’s become to like Phish in some circles, in their prime, Trey Anastasio, Mike Gordon, Page McConnell and Jon Fishman were a truly original force in the music world, synthesizing countless influences into a strange musical stew that—especially in concert—pulsed and ebbed, zigged and zagged, imploded and exploded, leaving countless inspired moments and blown minds behind. The members of Phish were wicked improvisers. All the half-assed copycat jambands that came in their wake would've sold their souls for a third of the musical chops and understanding drummer Fishman had in his big toe.

Individually, the members of Phish weren’t the best singers, but together they had a great blend, and they even learned to sing traditional barber-shop-quartet style. They weren’t great songwriters (the lyrics penned by collaborator Tom Marshall mostly sucked, and sometimes the tunes were nothing more than loose vehicles for improvisation). Still, the band transcended its shortcomings with its insatiable musical curiosity, rabid creative streak, absurdist sense of humor and unflagging refusal to take itself seriously.

While Phish was first and foremost about the live experience (its best official release is undoubtedly, 1995’s A Live One), the band’s studio albums were often unfairly slammed. (Rolling Stone called impressive sophomore effort Picture of Nectar “the worst album of the year” in 1992.) I'm going to disregard conventional wisdom here and hypothesize that—for the uninitiated—the less-erratic/more-compact studio versions of Phish’s songs might actually be the best entré into the band’s catalog.

In honor of the upcoming reunion of this legendary group (Phish has announced it will play a three-show run in early March at Virginia’s Hampton Coliseum), I give you the following introductory/reverse-chronological album-by-album anthology...

Phish for People Who Think They Hate Phish

phish_undermind.jpg  phish_round_room.jpg

Undermind (2004), Round Room (2002)
Phish had effectively lost its mojo on these final two albums. There is not much on either that's worth listening to, even if you're a die-hard fan. Let’s move on.


phish_farmhouse.jpg

Farmhouse (2000)
This is what it sounds like when a band as weird and outside-of-the-mainstream as Phish tries to be poppy and radio-friendly. While one of their weaker records, it's certainly not without its redeeming moments; there are plenty of catchy, listenable tunes. Of course, the lyrics—about red worms, cluster flies and jiboos [wtf?])—are odd as ever.
 
Newbies: “Farmhouse,” “Sleep,” “Dirt”
Heads: “Piper,” “First Tube”

 

5 Comments

Click to leave a comment.

Most Read

Most Commented

Most Listened

Most Watched