#16775  by weedar
 
Phish, hmm...I've listened to some Phish and told myself
that I like it. I mean, it's not bad. But for some reason
The Dead touches me in a way that keeps me going back.

Guess now is the time to listen to a few phish shows again. I
didn't like the Dead at first, either.

 #16785  by nicolasalk
 
weedar wrote:Phish, hmm...I've listened to some Phish and told myself
that I like it. I mean, it's not bad. But for some reason
The Dead touches me in a way that keeps me going back.

Guess now is the time to listen to a few phish shows again. I
didn't like the Dead at first, either.
Exactly That, but i really enjoy listening some phish tunes anyway like: you enjoy myself, fee, fluffhead, cavern

 #16790  by China Cat
 
Thank you tiger and crazy 9.5 fingers for posting, i love phish as well and i knew there had to be some people on here who like them.

if you listen to phish expecting to be the kind of "jamband" the dead were, youre gonna be disappointed, because they are way different. if you listen openmidedly you may realise that they are great musicians playing their own kind of great music.

i was lucky enough to get trey tickets for christmas and while i never saw phish, trey blew me away. he's a great musicians who puts a lot into what he does and truly loves it, so at the least respect him and the rest of phish for that

 #16791  by FretfulDave
 
As many are saying in this discussion, I don't get it. The Grateful Dead I get and I call myself a Deadhead, but Phish is just ok I have grown to like a bunch of their stuff and their live performances (thanks to Gone Fishing on Sirius radio) but not all by any means. Their acappella vocal voicings drive me insane, for example. Can't handle it.

The other guitarist I jam with is a Trey nut. So naturally we have learned some Phish songs. We kinda pick and choose and do the jammier ones and like we do with Dead music, we interpret rather than re-create (except for his part of the final movement of "Divided Sky"). It is fun and provides a opportunity to explore other musical and sound fabrics.

I agree completely with those folks who have said that they have more mainline stuff that is real good. It is excellent work. Trey can play the hell out of a guitar. I like his stuff he has done solo recently and when I saw him sit in a set w/ Phil and Friends and also heard the now infamous snow concert in NY. Great stuff. No doubt. I saw their second to last concert ever at the Tweeter in Camden. Liked a lot of the tunes, but I think the crowd turned me off a bit and there was stuff I just didn't understand. But I am glad I saw them.

So I figure live and let live just as the Phish heads in the little band I jam with say about the Grateful Dead. There is something to be liked in all music and something to be learned.

Dave

 #16792  by navajo
 
it took me 5 years to get into phish. i don't understand why i didn't enjoy it earlier. it might take a lil' bit of time for y'all to get into them too. really great stuff.

 #16794  by chinacat503
 
Phish is amazing! I was definitely hesitant to get into them when one of my buddies first started playing them, but after a few listens and gained familiarity, I now love their music. If you are expecting to hear the Dead when you start listening to Phish, you may be dissapointed.....however, when you start to realize and appreciate some of the differences everything changes. Songs like: You Enjoy Myself (or YEM, which someone already mentioned), Mike's Song, Tweezer, Weekapaug Groove, Harry Hood, and Velvet Sea are irresistable! Phish definitely gets weird at times(playing the vacuum) which may be off-putting to some, but they have so many different songs in different genres and styles that there is almost surely something for everyone....I only liked a song or two at first, then, slowly others started infiltrating the playlist....I think it helps to have a friend who is into them and knowledgeable of many of their songs (and of your personal musical tastes) so they can help pick and choose songs which are better for newbies....

 #16825  by broomhead
 
I'm from Rhode Island and had many friends up north, so I was able to see Phish in '88 for the first time. They were a very talented band, good songwriters, creative etc. I saw them perform a couple dozen times and always enjoyed myself. Yet I remained sorta lukewarm about them.

During that time there were other bands, some better and some worse. Phish really struck at the right moment in the right place offering younger "deadheads" something of their own, something they were in on in the beginning. and to top it all off they had the chops to back it up.
jb
 #16850  by Laytonco
 
I had been so enthralled with the Dead since the late 70s that Phish came out without me really noticing. I do like them though. Sometimes I get tired of Trey's compressed tone which can sound the same from song to song. But I give them credit. They are fantastic musicians and have turned a lot of people on. Maybe that in and of itself makes them great? Who knows. I'm playing with an extremely kind fella now (Hey Sailor!) and we're playing a Phish tune and I really like it. Back on the train....

Gil

 #16864  by strumminsix
 
I really dig Phish! In my top 5!

But I didn't like what the scene turned into.
Whinny, bitchy, beggars so fucked up on drugs.

If I never watch another N02 faceplant again it'll be too soon.

Man, When I think of uplifting spirited music, Phish.
They take what I loved in say Shakedown St & Parliament and mixed it together with uptempo weirdness that the GD used to do in the 60s. Or something like that but needless to say I love all the pieces and the sum of the parts.

 #16866  by shakedown_04092
 
strumminsix wrote: But I didn't like what the scene turned into.
Whinny, bitchy, beggars so fucked up on drugs.

If I never watch another N02 faceplant again it'll be too soon.
You ain't kiddin' (not that there's anything wrong with d-rugs.... :D )

But I love Phish. I think I've seen around 25 shows, and some were mind-blowing, some good, some mediocre, and one bad (Coventry). But what can you do? I'm sure some of you have seen some poor Dead shows. But even at their worst, they're still pretty damn good. Trey is a musical genius, up there with all the other great ones.

But in a weird way, I'm kinda glad it ended (or at least took a break) when it did. It was getting out of hand and I think it did EVERYBODY (band, crew, fans) good to take a breather.

For those who don't like Phish, open up a little bit and find something you DO like about them. As someone else stated, it'll snowball and pretty soon you'll find yourself liking more and more, just as you did when you first heard the Dead.

Our band does a bunch of Phish/Trey along with our Dead songs, such as:

Mike's Song
Timber-Ho! (actually a "Traditional" cover)
Suzy Greenburg
AC/DC Bag
Bathtub Gin
Birds of a Feather
Sweet Dreams Melinda
Drifting

 #16871  by smile_smile_smile
 
phish is okay, but anyway i thought this was a dead message board so i'll bring it back to that....phil does not need trey as a friend, i went to a few phil shows where trey came out, just garbage, phish is a whole different part of the jam band beast, and him with phil sounds lousy....just my opinion but we may not agree about phish but i shall defend your right to say it(voltaire i think) just not on a grateful dead message board

 #16884  by Erictw83
 
Why does phish tend to be such a polarizing topic? Seems people either love 'em, hate 'em, or compare them to the dead. To me the similarity between phish and the dead is confined to their respective cult like followings and their label as emmiment "jam" bands. However, musically to me they have just about nothing in common except improvisation.

It took a bit for phish to grow on me, (and the dead for that matter), but I love their music. Unlike others, I particularly like their complex fugue song structures, time changes, organized chaos song writting styles. It definately works when trey has the chops to play. Early recordings he's on point but I have heard some later (post 2002) recordings where he absolutely butchers songs, for example like the arpeggiated intro to YEM.

For the record sadly my has age precluded from on getting on the even phish bus for live shows let alone the dead. Have seen some post-phish Trey, which i enjoy, but its far far cry from phish. Phil and trey was sweet, but listening to trey now he definately doesnt have the chops he once did.

 #16887  by shakedown_04092
 
smile_smile_smile wrote:phish is okay, but anyway i thought this was a dead message board so i'll bring it back to that....phil does not need trey as a friend, i went to a few phil shows where trey came out, just garbage, phish is a whole different part of the jam band beast, and him with phil sounds lousy....just my opinion but we may not agree about phish but i shall defend your right to say it(voltaire i think) just not on a grateful dead message board
I just don't get the "Phil doesn't need Trey as a friend" comment, but to each his own. Obviously Phil sees Trey as a good musician (which he is) and that's why he plays with him. And I respectfully disagree with the summer jams w/ Phil & Trey - I saw 3 shows, as well as 2 more at Vegoose, and thought they were fantastic. I couldn't wait for Trey to come out for the 2nd set of those summer shows, wondering what kind of sick jams they were gonna get into and being giddy about what songs I'd get to hear Trey interpret. I don't know what you were listening to, but I was having some great times!

 #16891  by chinacat503
 
agreed shakedown....

 #16892  by BlobWeird
 
Erictw83 wrote:Early recordings he's on point but I have heard some later (post 2002) recordings where he absolutely butchers songs, for example like the arpeggiated intro to YEM.
How is the intro to You Enjoy Myself butchered? That is an awesome intro and is played very fluent.