Episode 2 — Analyze Phish Episode 2

[sarahride 83]

Also, Pulp dominates both Oasis and Blur in the Britpop genre.

[Butt Park 85]

Ok first of all I have to agree with everyone who said that Harris calling chalk dust torture before the chorus was counter-productive. Anyway, here's what I think he should play for Scott. First of all studio versions only. Live versions are for people who already like the band and the songs.

The Wedge - good groove, lyrics are meaningless but don't sound stupid

Weigh - Music is interesting and sounds different from what Scott has heard. No Trey vocals. Lyrics can't really be considered "bad" (imo)

Split Open And Melt - One of the best phish songs ever, couldn't hurt to try it.

Horn - I think if Scott hears the whole song including guitar solo, he might like it. I just doubt he would sit through the whole thing during the podcast. Maybe play it for him off the air.

Axilla - Doesn't have that happy phish sound that Scott doesn't really like

Haley's Comet - How can you not like this song?

Scent Of A Mule - I think if Scott weren't already biased against phish, he might like the lyrics to this one.

[dogwater 0]

sweeeet! i'm not a Phish fan, but i loved the first episode of this. can't wait to listen!

[benk 257]

harris and scott's responses in these comments have made me laugh giddily. almost to a point where it has become sad.

[zmaxwellmusic@gmail.com 0]

Harris...I love this show and thoroughly enjoy listening to it, so please don't take offense when I say that you really suck balls at getting somebody to like Phish. I'm so glad you said you would play the jams on the next episode because I kept shouting to myself..."why don't you play some freakin jams!?!?" For reals. Phish is like a steak dinner and the jams are the steak and the songs are the plate that the steak is served on. Stop feeding Scott plate bro! Nobody wants a big mouthful of ceramic plate now do they? Sheeesh.

[PWestgate 9]

@sarah -- I live in the Bay Area, and I was being facetious about Americans not knowing about Blur. I think they are unjustly overlooked by a lot of people. Their catalog is more diverse than Oasis', though don't get me wrong, I do like Oasis a great deal. My favorite Blur album is "13", so if that says anything about my overall musical taste, you can derive the rest.

I was hoping against hope that they would play the U.S. during their 2009 reunion, but clearly demand was not high enough......or, Damon continues to be disillusioned by America in general, and didn't want to play here.

Yes, Pulp is a fine band. I do not know enough of their catalog to speak intelligently about them, but "Different Class" and "This Is Hardcore" are great records.

A friend of mine constantly tries to get me into Suede. He says "Dog Man Star" is the greatest album ever recorded. I like it, but I don't agree.

I tend to prefer my music from the UK in general. Favorites include Blur, Radiohead, The La's, The Clash, Bowie, Beatles, Supergrass, Duran Duran, Arctic Monkeys, The Police, Lily Allen, etc. etc.

[badassmuthafka 0]

Great show guys.
Harris. Scott clearly was getting into Bouncing Around the Room (I maintain that its still a great song). I recommend going with more songs with interesting/atypical drums. Like Rift (esp version from Hampton Comes Alive) (w guitar solo) and Taste (album version). How about some Vultures?
Don't stop believin' bro.
Good luck.
-EL

[ToucheCostMart 20]

OYSTERHEAD

.... Let Scott hear Trey play with a good bassist/singer.

[Miles 0]

Sorry Harris, I love you, I really do, but I'm completely with Scott on this - The vocals are truly awful and the lyrics are just ridiculous. The music is pretty groovy at times and the guitar work is pretty good, but as soon as the vocals kick in, I'm done. If they were an instrumental band, I might like them. But I think the Phish "culture" is what turns me off more than anything. I don't think I could ever get past that alone. I might have been into it when I was 20 and still eating acid, but, you know, I'm older now, and well, I have responsibilities and stuff...

But! That doesn't mean I want this podcast to discontinue. I love it!

[austin_ 0]

Scott, as a 42 (43?) year old man, you owe it to yourself to take molly at the concert. Worst case scenario, you have a sore jaw from grinding your teeth without chewing gum, and it will guaruntee you too go in with an open heart. I mean, they used to give it to couples in marriage counseling to see the best in eachother. You saying a Phish song is pretty probably means you're still closer than a lot of near-estranged couples!

Harris, I know Scott hates the vocals, but you should really play him the acapella version of Freebird (from Phili in the 90s?). Also, if you go with more covers, how about Rock and Roll with Page singing -- pretty solid and devoid of Trey's voice.

Love the podcast!
Quit blowing it Harris!

[chastityfudge 1]

During listening to the last Analyze Phish podcast, it occurred to me what it is about the bad that makes them unbearable. No matter what they are singing about (which is usually nonsensical), the delivery of the words sounds like children's music. ADDED to that is the actual nonsensical words, and it all comes off as very twee. I don't care how many 'cool riffs' or 'jams' you want to add to that, it still yields the same result.

[chastityfudge 1]

By the way, if you need to get high to think something is good, that is all there needs to be said about whether that thing is actually good or not,

[donosborn 0]

Harris – keep heart! You are doing a very difficult job, like Colonel Forbin dragging his shit ass up the mountain. It is not a quick or easy task to get someone into Phish.

I went through the laborious process of “getting into Phish” in late 2008, before their 2009 reunion. Since then, I’ve seen 11 shows and have listened to countless hours of shows from across their history. I say laborious because it takes many hours of listening to shows to finally “get it.” It is…. work, so to speak. But like many good things in life, things that are worth understanding and enjoying sometimes take work. Over time as I listened to shows some songs started to be the ones that I liked, and others maybe not so much. (and that can strangely change over years of listening, which is also a fun aspect). Then I started noticing how some songs were jamemd out for longer or shorter periods of time in different shows.

For me it is all about the live show. I almost completely ignore the studio albums. Bootlegs, either an audience tape, or official, are where it's at for me. When you played the studio version of “Moma Dance” I thought, yeah, that’s a nice groove. But what Scott might do in trying to get into Phish is imagine being at an outdoor amphitheater with thousands of other tuned up kids. Everyone is waiting for the show to start. They’re buzzing with energy and excitement and probably a few chemicals. It’s summer, and hot. Phish comes on to a swelling, thunderous cheer. And then, they kick into “Moma Dance.” Everyone puts reality as they know it on hold for three hours, and gets the fuck down.

That is what Phish is about. The trick is to surrender to the flow… The musical ride that you go on for any given show could be so different. It could be a party funk fest, or a mind-warping foray into blissed-out musical space (“Down with Disease,” Pine Knob 2011, or the 2011 Gorge “Rock and Roll”). You never know what to expect. If you can open yourself up to the possibility, and get to that place, then you can give them a fair chance.

If you can ever get Scott to a live show and pass a joint, that might be the best chance of him getting it. I don’t know about any drug much harder as the attention might be shifted from trying to deal with the drug effects and away from the experience of the show. And even once he gets it, he still might not like it all that much. And that’s cool.

I very much enjoy the show as a fan of both Phish and Comedy Bang Bang.

Cheers,
Don

[Time 0]

Gotta say, I do love how the same complaints about Phish are recycled over and over again by the people who say they're awful. It seems no different than the people who said that George Carlin just swears a lot, and that swearing just isn't funny. The majority only heard those random obscenities, but the rest of us understood that it was part and parcel of the political satire and social criticism of the things that were REALLY obscene. I'd bet that those other people still don't get it. You ain't gonna learn what you don't want to know. That's okay. The cool kids understand Phish.

[fmniv 0]

Thank you so much for this podcast. I had phish fans as roommates for many years, and a band I didn't care for became one that I absolutely hated. It didn't seem to matter how much I wasn't into it, they felt if they just kept playing it one day it would click. As it's been pointed out by Scott and others in this forum, the vocals are a big turnoff. It really does sound like children's music to me, he might as well be singing "The Wheels on the Bus". I understand that the live shows are part of the appeal, not just going to them but listening to the recordings. I've had to listen to way too many conversations about Phish shows, what versions are better, what covers they did, what "teasers" they threw in, and on and on. I get the appeal of that if you're into the band, but it was always explained to me as if that significance would make me like them more. Sometimes you just have to realize that the things you like are not for everybody, there are a lot of people out there that don't like this band. Why do Phish fans think that we can be converted? And I've been to a show, I didn't do drugs but I wish I had because I was so fucking bored.

[soupcrusher 1]

these remind me so much of when my brother tried to get me to listen to phish in the early 2000s. i had the exact same issues with them that scott does.

I cannot stand listening to trey sing. i'll admit they are good musicians that play well together, but stylistically it's not my cup o tea. the "jamming" comes off as masturbatory (and don't even bother trying to masturbate while listening to "fikus"). Then there's the lyrics. oh my sweet buttered balls the lyrics!

wittels sir, i wish you luck. hotsaucerman, trust me, it doesn't get better.

[dmendel 1]

Scott and Harris -- I would like to know what you guys think of the Grateful Dead. Honestly, they are the real deal. Phish, not so much.

[lamuella 2]

I think my problem with Phish is that they're good ingredients (apart from Trey's vocals) in a recipe I don't like. I absolutely appreciate their musicianship, but the end result of their music is just something I don't find appetizing. I don't think it's a question of me not getting it, but rather me not liking it. I'm reminded of the line in Community about Paul Rudd: I can see the appeal, and I would never deny them to anybody, but I also would never queue up for them.

Plus, there's something about the lyrical style and the way the lyrics are sung that just take me out of the musical experience entirely.

[OGRastamon 4]

Please don't kick out the jams, motherfuckers. Jams are the reason I'm on Team Aukerman. It's not that I don't appreciate the great musicianship in a Phish jam but I could listen to two Ramones albums in the time. That said I think Harris has done a fine job and I have enjoyed what I've heard enough to give them a listen and search out the gold.

P.S. You really don't need to dig any deeper into Neil Finn's catalog for a lame, head-scratching lyric than his biggest hit. 'Now I'm towing my car, there's a hole in the roof. My possessions are causing me suspicion but there's no proof.' Granted Neil sings this line as beautifully as the rest so you may miss it.

[lamuella 2]

If you keep with the Finn lyrics, on probably his second biggest hit you get the line "Julius Caesar and the roman empire couldn't conquer the blue sky".

The difference for me is this: Neil Finn sings with a sincerity and beauty that makes abject nonsense sound meaningful. Trey sings with kind of an inner smirk, like he's just blown away by how whacky he's being right now.

[lamuella 2]

this has probably been mentioned, but here's my biggest turn off when it comes to Phish: Phish fans.

I know there are some Phish fans in this thread, and I'm sure most of you are fine, but some of you pull shit like insisting I listen to a live album from 1997 when I was perfectly happy reading a book, and glare at me if I start reading again. I have a couple of friends who are Phish fans who fulfill the Winston Churchill definition of a zealot: "someone who can't change his mind and won't change the subject". At this point they run up against my inner obstinacy. At a certain point of continued overenthusiasm it stops being "I don't really like this because it's not my kind of thing" and becomes "I don't really like this because fuck you."

I should stress, this isn't all Phish fans, but it's been more than a couple.

[jarett 0]

i've never met a Phish fan that hasn't been to a live show - seems like every fan i know became a fan after seeing them live

[Bronson 0]

I would pay $3.99 to hear Scott record himself do drugs in public. That's gotta count for something, right?

[platereverb 0]

 

 

[platereverb 0]

I love Harris and he is a brave man for doing this.
That said, if phish took a more interesting percussive angle ( can, silver apples, suicide) or used non-traditional or maybe eastern influences they way the Beatles did , their sound wouldn't be a mushy hash of Zappa and the allman brothers. Try bonzo dog band for humor! And don't get me started on the "it's cool" Phil Lesh school of singing. Im sure at any given jam band performance ( none of these bands are known for their vocal chops and there don't seem to be any women, hmm... (try cold blood or shocking blue)) any number of audience members could easily put Trey or any of the jokers who warble for these outfits to shame. I chalk it up to cynics who realized that because of the dead, they could be musically lazy and still be a draw. Once Jerry died many bands of this ilk lined up to be poor imitations of a band that actually did do something original.

Everytime Harris talks about jams I think about
The justified ancients of mu-mu, and I'm sad he's not gonna play them instead.