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Phish.net's database still has 185 public US shows that are unrated but downloadable. We're discussing 7 each week, aiming to have all shows rated by next July.We hit 63 in previous instances of this thread (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9). This week's shows are selected for being in the vicinity of past Halloween shows:
4/14/1989 - The Base Lodge, Johnson State College, Johnson, VT - download
4/20/1990 - Ramskellar, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO - download
11/2/1991 - Lory Student Center Theatre, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO - download
12/15/1989 - Ukrainian National Home II, New York, NY - download
10/3/1991 - Mabel's, Champaign, IL - download
6/1/1990 - Cotton Club, Atlanta, GA - download
You needn't have attended, or remember the show. Grad the downloads, carry them with you, and report back here to encourage others to play along!
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hummmm.... 6/1/90 or 4/20/90? I'm fixin' to head off to lunch; I'll also take some time to give one of these a listen. The coin says... 6/1/90. I kind of wanted the other, but whatever... 6/1/90 it is.
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Why choose? Listen to 'em all!/fly-by bumpage
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Bump
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quick before-the-new-boss-shows-up bump
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I'm re-listening to 6/1/1990 right now. I'm loving this whole rating under rated shows thing, I did one of them a few weeks ago, I just don't have a whole lot of time on my hands to do one every week. But you're a super cool dude @Lemuria, hopefully see you around at MSG (:
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Wish I could make it, Patata - I'll be in Hotlanta, and had been hoping NYE would be in FLA.
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4/14/89 - A note before I begin with the review:Dear Dude Yelling "CONTACT" 22 Years Ago,
Once they actually start playing Contact, there is no need to continue to yell "Contact! Nice!" Thank yeeewww.
This show is on the money, both musically and humorously. Page takes a moment at the end of the Time Loves a Hero soundcheck to welcome everyone to the soundcheck. Just about every song in the first set is above average or unusual, especially Foam, Fluffhead, and Halley's > Antelope. There is some amusing post-contact banter which culminates in the line "And there's nothing better than getting it in the end every once in a while," and Halley's has some bizarre vocals in it.
Set II starts with Trey shouting "YEM!!" and he repeats "YEM!!!" during YEM, which is an excellent YEM even without much of a vocal jam. Sloth has an ending I've never heard before, almost It's Ice-ish. If I Only Had a Brain contains lyrical gems such as "Oh...Oh....Oh...," "Life would be a dingleberry," "And then I'd sit and shit some more," and "::cough:: ::cough:: ::coughing fit::" Sublime. Weekapaug is also above average, and even though the Esther is shaky in spots, it is also fairly unusual.
First set I think is a bit better than the second, but overall this is an excellent show and I think it's a solid 4 stars. Take a listen and enjoy!
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@Lemuria - FYI looks like the mediafire folder for 11/2/91 is empty. D'Oh!
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@TheEmu said: @Lemuria - FYI looks like the mediafire folder for 11/2/91 is empty. D'Oh!Imagine what was played in 90 and again in 92 and figure somewhere in between
jk.
I'll get back to this next week me thinks been busy lately. and I have been on a Phish break as well.
More of a bump than anything here.
just ignore it.
Whateva!!!!!
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4/2/90 - OK, so musically, this sounds like a pretty decent show. Ya Mar is funny, with lyrics centered around the phrase "Napkin Pa," and I always like hearing the original "Brothel Wife" lyrics to Cavern (although "Penile Erector" makes me giggle). There's a trippy intro to Caravan, and fairly smokin' versions of La Grange and JJLC. Oh, and an old style Rift taboot.Now, the other side of the coin is that the quality of the available recording is pretty terrible, especially early on in the first set, although it improves to tolerable by the end of the show. I usually make an effort to keep sound quality out of the equation when I'm rating a show, although it has a tendency to influence my ratings subconsciously. But is it totally unfair to take the that into account? In a sense, the purpose of ratings is to offer some (albeit subjective) guidance to people looking for shows to download. It's one thing for later shows that have a variety of sources, especially 2.0 and 3.0 shows which are all available for purchase in SBD quality. But what about these older shows where you may only have one existing recording to choose from, and it's crappy? I don't know, I keep going back and forth on it. In this particular case I had originally thought about marking this down to two stars based on sound quality, but I think it improves enough and there is enough good, listenable music to merit 3 stars anyway. So I'm punting on that question for now. But if anyone has thoughts about whether it's fair to take recording quality into account when rating a show, I'd love to hear 'em.
So, yeah, 3 stars.
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@TheEmu said: [quote] But if anyone has thoughts about whether it's fair to take recording quality into account when rating a show, I'd love to hear 'em.I agree with you on the purpose of providing a rating - to provide people with guidance on what show to listen to next. So, I think taking sound quality into consideration is totally fair. In fact, I think it's a must. If you can't tell with any certainty what the band is playing it's a bad show, that is, from a bootleg perspective. It is unfair to judge the quality of a performance merely by a bad recording. However, for those of us who were not at the show, it is impossible to go back in time and witness the actual performance. In most instances, the recordings and second hand accounts are all we have.
Listening to a poor quality recording takes patience and an open mind. Written reviews help, but only to a point. Of course, if you are going to rate a show or judge a performance you should be seeking out the best available source. If the best recording sounds awful, it's not going to be a show you repeatedly listen to or recommend.
Who wants to listen to a bad recording repeatedly? I'll listen to any show at least once, but I love Phish because of their ability to musically interact with each other - the weaving of the each individual's part into an amazing whole. If you can't really hear what they're doing, you're missing out. I want to hear and follow what all four members are doing.
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@beach - I'm glad to hear some support on this, thanks. I'm sure some people will come down on the other side (or maybe not - I think many of those would fall into the "why review/rate shows at all" camp) but you pretty much summed up my feelings on the subject.This post will also serve as a "I forgot my flash drive at work yesterday so I don't have a new review to post yet" bump.
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@Potato_Sacks said: I'm re-listening to 6/1/1990 right now. I'm loving this whole rating under rated shows thing, I did one of them a few weeks ago, I just don't have a whole lot of time on my hands to do one every week. But you're a super cool dude @Lemuria, hopefully see you around at MSG (:Is the first set missing? I couldn't find it anyone, at least the link didn't provide one. Maybe I downloaded incorrectly.
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The download links come from The Spreadsheet - best unreleased (Aud, Sbd, etc.) available, though sometimes missing something (a song, a cut, even a full set, argh). I haven't been noting what's missing, but could (and probably should) start doing that.
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12/15/89 - Dear dude who really really wanted to hear Wilson at this show: Fine, yell for Wilson. Yell between every song, whatever. But don't yell DURING the songs, DURING the quiet parts of Contact, DURING quiet parts of David Bowie. You're a schmuck. Had to get that off my chest.Mostly a pretty good show here. I thought the Mike's Song was pretty good, as was Good Times, Bad Times. The start of Possum is pretty messy. I'm not a big Blues Traveller guy, but Popper can definitely rip on the harmonica and it works well on Funky Bitch (which had some alternate lyrics I've not heard before) and Jesus Just Left Chicago. The banter before Funky Bitch is pretty funny as they set up a prank on their old lighting dude to make him think that not only can CK5 run the light rig better, he can wail on harp, too. Trey is sinister.
Overall there's some decent playing and a little sloppiness here and there, nothing too amazing, nothing too bad. Three stars.
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Gotcha, Lemuria. Just wanna say that I love this idea and will gladly participate each and every time, hoping to productively contribute, not ever expecting to enlighten yet to give a general idea as to whether one might want to give the show a listen. That said, I've used The Spreadsheet before; usually it indicates if something is missing. I guess I could, thus, begin my review by informing you all that the first set has been lost, perhaps collecting dust in the archives or forgotten among somebody's tape collection. A shame indeed, as the first set seemed more interesting, at least to me:
Take the 'A' Train > Reba, Colonel Forbin's Ascent[1] > Fly Famous Mockingbird, Bathtub Gin, David Bowie, Lawn Boy, Bouncing Around the Room, The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony > AC/DC Bag
Never the less, the recording contains the whole second set:
Rocky Top[2], Uncle Pen[2], Run Like an Antelope[3], Mike's Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, HYHU Hold Your Head Up[4] > Fee[5], Terrapin[6] > HYHU Hold Your Head Up, Possum[7], Fee, Big Black Furry Creature from Mars[8], Contact
Touching briefly upon the issue of sound, it is my belief that the quality of the tape should not impinge on the criteria one uses to asses the band's performance provided that, for example, certain technical and emotive aspects of their playing can be clearly appreciated. With regards to this particular show, although the sound becomes muddled throughout and there are frequent cuts, the quality is tolerable. In terms of the setlist, I wouldn't say that any particular version is outstanding, with the exception of the Antelope, a frenzied guitar circus. According the the phish.net's setlist, the "reverend" Jeff Mosier makes a guest appearance on Banjo, as well as Oteil on bass. I'm convinced, however, that Colonel Bruce didn't miss out on the fun, rocking the mandolin and later skatting; I also wonder if Jimmy Herring finds his way into the jam (listen to the end of Antelope, there seems to be another guitar with a distinct tonality,?). Anyway, the Antelope begs a listen and, by itself, secures the show/set a three star rating. Also, for those interested in banter, this show provides an additional lure. Clearly the venue was small, resulting audible tidbits of crowd conversation. Of course, you get your "fee", "play fee", "contact", "play contact", "suzi", etc..., but you also overhear some early tapers talking about the shows they've seen and the tapes they've acquired. I think that later in the show, during I am Hydrogen, one says the other:
-"I'm see some serious shit"
-"What are you seeing?"
-"Visuals up the ass...", and goes to elaborate around the 46th second, but I'm not so bold as to take a stab at what is said, despite having a vague idea. What do you guys think? In addition, the band teases the crowd with Fee. It is pretty funny, and you can hear one person say, "they're making fun of us."
Give it a listen! As I said before the Antelope is great and the crowd banter interesting. 3 stars.
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I'm pretty much going to be repeating a lot of what @mangobrain said, but since I drove all the way out to the library to post this review, what the heck...6/1/90 - Only the 2nd set was available. Sound quality wise it is up and down, with some big level jumps, especially during Antelope and Possum. When the levels are up, it's pretty good, though. Rocky Top and Uncle Pen with Rev. Jeff are nice, of course. When they brought Oteil in I certainly wasn't expecting an Antelope (neither were some of the fans, apparently). The main Antelope jam is nothing too amazing, as you can't really hear Jeff and Oteil through Trey's playing. But the pre-Rye Rye Rocco section is damn sweet. Oteil's soloing is great, and I swear it sounds like Trey that is scatting along with Oteil's playing. Not sure how that is possible if it was actually improv - could it have been a song they were teasing? Or was it not Trey singing along? Dunno. The Antelope is definitely worth a listen. The fan acid trip commentary during Hydrogen is amusing. "Visuals up the ass," and later, "Are you seeing the same shit? Oh, God!" Heh. Weekapaug is pretty good. Getting Fish to attempt Fee is damn amusing as well, and the trombone solo in Terrapin is kind of whacked. There must have been some vacuum problems; after Terrapin, Fishman says "That was called the vacuum cleaner-bone fake." Possum is also a decent version, with a quiet jam at the start. And I'll say this for the chatty crowd - as annoying as I find the repeated requests for Golgi, Suzy, Contact, Fee, etc. they certainly do a good job of shutting up at several points while the band is playing (i.e. Contact). And the crowd is kind of funny at points..."I'll pay you $5 to play Suzy twice"..."Play Reba! (Trey: We already played Reba) Play a Reba jam, man. I heard it already but I like it." "Play Fee" "No, it's Possum, shhhh!" etc.
I'll go three stars on this, but I do recommend giving the Antelope a listen. And if you need a lol, the crowd banter.
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10/3/91 - Not much to say about this one (2nd set only). Decent 'Paug, interesting outro on Coil. Most of Terrapin was missing. 3 stars.
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