Phish: A Live One
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
I can’t think of this album without thinking of my 1995 girlfriend, to whom I gave this as a birthday gift if not on the day she broke up with me then like the day before. Not that I can blame her…looking back at the 20-year-old me, it’s amazing I even got laid. Still, the album comes with a lot of unhappy associations.
And this is just a stubby, informal review anyway, since I’ve only got the first of the two discs.
It’s pretty good, though. One of the biggest problems with Phish, in my opinion, is that there compositional style grates and stays in a rut too long, particularly in the sterile studio environment. It’s more fun live, though, with that extra energy, and the grooves are more on the hypnotic side, as opposed to the boring side.
Non-keepers: “Stash,” “Montana”
Keepers: everything else
Filed Between: Phish’s Hoist and Billy Breathes