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Date:    Mon, 31 Aug 1998 15:48:27 -0500
From:    Christian McKee 
Subject: 7.1.95 Stash Review (long)

hello folks,
        so, over the course of the next few weeks, i'm going to try and
post reviews of all my favorite jams and tunes.  just 'cause i feel like
it :)  so, while i wait for the tape to get to stash, let me tell you
about the show:

I: Ya Mar, Llama, If I Could, All Things Reconsidered, It's Ice, Prince
Caspian, Split Open and Melt, Bouncing Around the
Room, Chalk Dust Torture

II: Wilson, Maze, Theme From the Bottom, Uncle Pen, Stash->Strange
Design, Acoustic Army, Harry Hood, Suzy Greenberg   E: Funky Bitch

this is one of my favorite two set shows.  i really like the list
overall, and my tapes are good, too.  the If i could has the extended
guitar intro that doesn't get played that often (according to the
manual, only at this show...) the SOAMelt is huge, maybe i'll review
that later :)  the chalk dust is charged (good version, but still just
chalk dust.)
the second set opens with wilson and maze.  these are about the only
phish originals that i do not like.  i just get sick of the maze "jam"
(fish's pounding on the snare gets old fast.)  wilson?  never caught my
ear.  after that though, THEME!!!  wow, this song sounded really great
that night.  trey's solo slides all over the place, and the ending is
extended, relative to current versions.  the uncle pen that follows
theme is well played, and i love bluegrass, so no complaints here.
also, the HH later in the set is _big_.  i like it a lot more than
12.30.95, and if you like that version, you should really give this a
listen, they are very similar.  funky bitch encore, dedicated to the
tour heads :) all in all, i think an above average show.

Stash, 7.1.95 Great Woods, Mansfield, MA

0:00  i'm no stash expert, but this intro sounds pretty standard to me.
the crowd clapping as is to be expected.  i wish they would stop that
and let john hit the wood blocks.    trey plays this without any
major flubs, verse at 1:20 something.  his singing isn't that great
here.

1:56 YUCK!  trey is crying to his cohorts, and his vocal line is really
a *lot* faster than the tempo of the song.  it's pretty obviously almost
a full beat ahead.  ugh.  strange, because he's _playing_ is fine, but
his singing is way off the first time around.  the playing that follows
the "cohorts" segment is good, again with no big noticeable flubs (i'm
on a dfmsbd/2)

4:08 "maybe so, maybe not".  mike sounds good on the vox here (i think
it's mike, i've never seen this live, and it doesn't sound too much like
page.)  this is really quiet, all across the board, instruments and
vocals.  at

4:50 trey starts to solo gently and quietly behind the singing of the
band.  he is playing a really cool line under the vox, in the lower
reaches of the 'doc.  great playing from him in here, some of the best
"straight jazz" type of playing i've heard from him.  mike has some good
licks in here, repeating, ascending three note lines.

6:14 this is not a normal stash jam.  it's still relatively quiet and
subdued.  by six and a half minutes, there is a lot of sustain from mike
and held/trilled chords from page, giving the groove a constant feel,
it's harder to pick out the downbeats.  trey is still soloing, but it's
really in co-operation with the rest of the group (he's not wailing) and
this is mid-range stuff.

7:50 page is playing some really dense chords that come to the fore
nicely here, all on the piano, of course. at

8:30 this sounds more like the stash jams we know and love, but really
hectic.  trey is still soloing, and hits a really dark line at nine
minutes that leads him into something that sounds like it could take
them to the climax of the tune...  no.

9:30 repetitive grooving, with slight variations from all, and a little
resolve here and there.  this whole entire song features some great back
and forth play between page and trey.  i can't recommend it enough.  i
wish page had been this prominent at lemonwheel...

10:00 page is now in control of the jam.  he's got a real sparse set of
chords that he's laying down, and the whole band sounds really great
behind him, especially john, whose accents play very nicely against
page's.  mike is droning, and trey is starting to take the lead back by
about a minute later.  he's back and forth between two pitches
(essentially) for a while, and then the  whole thing starts to build and
climb and build and climb and climb until...

12:08 trey comes flying over the top, and we remember that this is
stash.  instead of taking the opportunity to end it though, he comes
right down off his peak, and takes the song back to where it was four
odd minutes ago, right down in the puddles, and the muck.  he keeps
teasing the listener with repeated peaks that never *really* resolve,
but just sound like they could take the thing home. this stuff will
really frustrate you if you prefer versions of stash that move from
point A to point B in a straight line (machine gun trey versions like
11.28.92. . .)  great exploratory soloing from trey, and the band is
great behind him :)

14:00 dark and scary stuff here.  it's like the band was trying to push
him to finish the song, and trey didn't want to.  john's beat was
standard "end-of-stash" but it didn't seem to make a difference.

14:40 it all starts to fall apart, slow down and get lower.  at 15
minutes, over a very solemn, peaceful groove from the band, trey is
playing some midrange, gentle solo notes.  mike keeps the pitch
constant, and page is using the wah effect i love so much for some
chords that seem to stretch over the entire arena.  john sounds like he
might be a little unsure of himself, but keeps the beat constant, adding
some interesting bass drum stuff later on...

17:00 dissonant, disorienting stuff from trey over a quiet, mellow
(almost beautiful) sonic bed of soil at this point.  the difference
between trey's playing and the band's is striking.  the juxtaposition
leads to some unsurity on my part ("who do i trust here?")  big looped
feeback just before

18:00 when page returns to the piano, and begins to solo, while the rest
of them just fade slowly, and let him direct the show.

18:30 page hits a big chord, and the begins strange design.  a good
segue, smooth and not really *expected*, but with hindsight, it's easy
to see it coming...

Total Time 18:30 rating: subjective.

it took me many listens to cozy up to this version, but with most stuff
that that happens to, i really love it now.  there is SO MUCH to focus
on the entire time.  trey and page are great, and that came through in
what i typed above, i hope.  however, john is great in this, and mike is
mike as always.  there was nothing in particular in the version from him
that really knocked me down, but he sounded good, no doubt.  this is
such a chaotic jam all the way through, i think a good many folks
dismissed it as "crap" because "nothing really happened" or "it never
really went anywhere".  to them i say, enjoy your favorite repetitive
funk groove...  ;)  this really takes a lot of effort to listen to, but
i think if you like their more "experimental" stuff (ALO tweezer, etc),
you should *definitely* give this version a listen.  i think it rocks,
charlie might say it's crap, just like he insulted two of my favorite
Mike's (8.7.93 and 6.10.95).  in any event, the rest of the show should
please *anyone*.

thanks for reading.  first person who mails me, and can send tapes by
tuesday may have this show for blanks and postage.  peace.
--


Taboot, Taboot,

Christian

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Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket    ~
fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who     ~
hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. ~
        -Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953                             ~
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