Episode 5 — Analyze Phish Episode 3

[unicornery 1]

Agreeing with Scott, Adam, and other posters who have said they enjoyed "Hairy Hood." Reminded me of parts of "Tales from Topopgraphic Oceans." Harris I know you mentioned Yes in episode one, do you like TFTO? Overall I thought this was a great episode, very funny and dirty.

[Skeevins 322]

Hey Scott, who's Alexander Graham Bell?

[kingsley_zissou 2]

INTERNET HISTORICAL TRIVIA CORRECTION!

[Brock Samson 1]

you can hear Harris let out a single almost silent clap of excitement when Scott says he "kinda enjoyed" Harry Hood.

Oh and this is the greatest podcast ever.

[Treipod 0]

Good show, nice choices Harris! I love your plan overall. Loved Adam Scott on here, he's awesome and helped to dampen some of Scott's hate.

[Brandi 0]

Nice work Harris, good song choices !!! It was quite a treat to have Adam on the show to balance out the 'love and hate'. Buy Scott a ticket to see Trey play with the LA Philharmonic in March (show just announced)....see you there !

[spwal 0]

When is Phish episode 4?

[Daniel J 0]

Having listened to the whole podcast now, glad to hear that Harris has found some stuff that Scott digs. I think the show will help fill in the gaps, they're all about the live experience.

[spwal 0]

Fun idea for a series and I think you should keep it going.

I suggest that you stop skipping around with the songs, just let a few songs evolve and blossom in their entirety. Right now it is like jumping around in a movie or only showing a part of a painting and expecting someone to appreciate it (or even more unlikely) like it. Maybe even edit out the music on the podcast then just tape the commentary after you all have listened (in a less stuffy location than a soundroom ffs -- find a nice couch!). You can link the phish fans to what you played so they can follow along if you like (and spare the non-phish fans so they don't have to endure it).

For example, Slave to the Traffic Light is all about the gradual buildup and textual layers ultimately exploding in glowing confetti -- that can take 10 minutes or it can take 30 minutes depending on the alignment of the stars.. taking any part of it out of context is depriving the listener of the full phish pan-sensual experience.

In the end, passion is contagious and open-minded people will explore the things that you love to see where all this positive energy is coming from inside you. Even my mom bought a few albums when she wanted to find out what was so great about this band that had me running all over the country in 2009 (30 shows in 10 states I think). She found it noisy (liked the ballads though) but "got" the whole music of the moment improv thing and in her own way saw the magic that these four musicians create when they take the stage together.

[misslaurathomas 42]

Still hate Phish, but love this show. Best combo of brogs in a room ever.

[Bucho 188]

What a goddamn treat and a halph getting this episode with its bonus Adam Scott content!
 
Some of the jams, with the striving for tension and release on a grand scale reminded me of what John Butler does with his one man jam "Ocean" which he plays differently at every show -

[esophagus 7]

Re S W: The live shows in New York are in December so I'd guess a month away.

Great show guys. I got so wrapped up in the Chili Peppers discussion I was totally caught off guard when Scott mentioned how off the rails things were. Good talk, brogs.

[ben mcd 127]

Thanks to this show, my wife and I both verbalized our tacit hate of Phish to one another. Thanks, Harris!

[holdensquared 16]

Hey, just wanted to stop by and say that Harris has convinced me. Prior to these three episodes, I was a skeptic. Now, I'm a fan.

[EarlDarnhartd 0]

The link below takes you to The SDB Project's "best-of" jams page.
The 76 songs (broken into 4 different torrents) in this compilation are widely considered some of the best Phish tracks ever recorded.
Enjoy!
http://www.phishauds.com/2011/01/leaked-sbd-tracks-project.html

If you just want a great show to listen to: 7-6-1998 Prague is one of my favorites.
http://www.mediafire.com/?7mi819zfuz2df

[dcardello 0]

So I hear a lot of talk about needing 'context', and I had an idea.. One of the things that got me into Phish back in the day was listening to a 'Gamehendge' show. If you don't know what Gamehendge is in detail, then you have no business trying to get your buddy into Phish. Send your buddy the link to this show (can listen on youtube), make him smoke some pot and enjoy it. I think Tela is a natural choice.

Also, don't talk so much during the music! A lot of what makes Phish so great is based on subtlety and nuance, not to mention their ability to listen to each other and improvise as a unit as opposed to following Trey. There are so many aspects involved which take a great deal of listening time to fully absorb.

Another thing that bugged me is the approach towards Chris Kuroda's lights. Early in their career the original light operator was sick, and Kuroda had to fill in, unbeknownst to the band. Having spent a great deal of time listening to the band rehearse, Kuroda knew the songs intimately and was able to sync the lights to the music extremely well - in fact, he is so close to 'the boys' that he could even 'improvise' using the lights. This situation has evolved to the nth degree, and Kuroda is widely (and rightly) considered to be a 'fifth' member of the band.

It's easy to see why drugs and Phish get along so well. Not only is the audience member blasted with mind-bending rock and roll, but it is accompanied, in perfect synchrony, with one of the best light shows around.

That is all. Good luck - anyone who doesn't at least appreciate Phish is an impatient, narrow-minded fool, in my professional opinion.

[mr mike 0]

Harris you dickbump!

[Robs 0]

I dont care what the subject is, these three together on a podcast is always gonna be gold.

The Wolfman Jack bit nearly made me cry trying not to laugh at work.

[pickmb 0]

Land Lady... aaaand go!

[elliot1326655057 0]

"anyone who doesn't at least appreciate Phish is an impatient, narrow-minded fool, in my professional opinion."
I'm going to have to hope that you're being a little snarky with that comment, but in response anyway, I'd like to say that I simply don't like how they SOUND. They funkiness, the organ, the vocals...none of it is pleasing to me. But yes, the length of their jamming also pisses me off.
And in case you really do feel that anyone who doesn't like Phish is a fool, please lighten up. I simply love Tom Waits, but I can't expect everyone I know to love him too.

[Greg1326657842 0]

Hey guys, short-time listener, first time commenter . . .

First off, I've really been enjoying this podcast. In fact, it's the first podcast that I've listened to more than one episode of, so I guess there's no need for an "Analyze Podcast" podcast.

As far as the music goes, I'd really like to have Harris throw on the album Rift in it's entirety. It's my favorite Phish album, the thing that got me into the band, and it sounds like it might be up Scott's alley musically. The playing is great (both the band, and the additional musicians), the production is solid, and the concept is something that everyone can relate to.

If you do decide to go this route, I'd love it if Harris would spend some time explaining the album before playing it - give Scott a really good base so that he can appreciate everything that he's hearing.

I'm interested to hear the podcast after the show, as I have only seen Phish a few times, and haven't been to a show in a few years.

Thanks for the podcast.

[zmaxwellmusic@gmail.com 0]

Harris...you fucking ROCK at Phish and winning at Phish. Best episode yet! can't wait to hear the episode after the show. Although mushies might be a bad idea at a first phish show because if he has never tripped before...a huge arena full of people might bug him out and detract from the music. Stick to goo balls rolled on a hairy fat hippy belly's for show #1.
Favorite pod cast of all time. Once Scott is converted you should keep the podcast going by bringing on another hater and having scott try to convince him that phish is the greatest band of all time...which they are.

[artimus60 0]

I'm glad you finally brough the Dead into the equation. When ScottA was voicing what he was hoping for in a Phish song (less 'forced silly stuff', better vocals, etc.) I thought he was describing the Dead. As for Phish, I respect what they do and I see how one could become a fan of theirs, but I've never warmed to them.

Very funny show, btw.

[jerrbear1993 0]

Funny show! Phish is one of my all time favorite bands. I've seen them 3 times and have never taken drugs in my entire life and I still enjoy their music. Bands like Phish and The Dead influenced me as a bass player to improvise during preformances and to not care about being a Billboard chart seeker. I think people should a least respect what they do even though they may not like the music. I don't really like Sublime, but I somewhat respect what they do. Personally I don't think Scott should take any drugs for the concert and Harris should have played an entire Phish song in order for not only Scott, but for the listeners to understand somewhat what Phish is about.
http://youtu.be/g1JqpdmsTno
Also here's a cool quote about bands like Phish:
"I think that it's a mistake to attribute the origin of the "jam" to rock and roll. The ORIGINAL "jambands", The Grateful Dead and The Allman Brothers Band were influenced by JAZZ to start doing long jams. I think that the more background that you have in Jazz, the less likely your jams will devolve into boring noodling. It's called IMPROVISATION!"
- Oteil Burbridge
Phish was influenced by jazz heavily in their music and people who usually don't like them tend to be the one's with little to no attention span (no offense to anyone here) because most artists have short songs, so people aren't used to it.

[njs85 7]

This episode was great.

The best part about this idea is that it seems like Harris could pick the same songs for every edition and Scott (as well as some of the audience) would never commit any of the jamming to memory.