[bpj87]

Quote:

NIce!  The funk jams were always my favorites.  Any other recommendations for good sets to get for someone who doesn't own any of the official live phish?

 
Download the Phish Destroys America compilation.  It is all SBD quality and highlights many of the best moments of the fall '97 tour, which is arguably the best of the funk era.  
DISCS 1 & 2: http://www.sendspace.com/file/ryfyd4
DISCS 3 & 4: http://www.sendspace.com/file/ko8li3
DISCS 5 & 6: http://www.sendspace.com/file/27zcmo
 
For access to nearly every live show, the spreadsheet is your friend! 
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0AjeIQ6qQvexzcDhXS2twUC1US3BPMVZuUWdjZmY2RVE&gid=7
 
For a taste of the best, start with 12/31/93, 6/11/94, 6/18/94, 12/31/95, 8/16-17/97, 11/17/97, 11/21-22/97, 4/2-5/98, 7/10/99, 6/14/00.  Those should keep you occupied and showcase the wide variety of Phish styles. 
 

 

[phishhead92]

yeah dude, cactus is pretty much the lead man on strings now, seeing how all trey does is whale call

but oh well, hopefully trey will start jamming soon enough
 
and i didnt know that it got sent somewhere else, but i dig auds usually more anyway

 

[zdkaiser]

I used to collect Phish bootlegs like crazy in college. I started with obtaining as many SDBs as possible. Then I discovered bt.etree and I started downloading everything, AUDs included. And I have to say, AUD recordings, imo, are a waste of time. Every now and then, I come across a real gem, but mostly, they sound boomy and distant.
 
But anyways. I too am really enjoying the mixes on the 2010 SDBs. I am especially enjoying the 24bit FLAC SDB releases through my Maverick D1 DAC/AMP>AKG K702s. Just fantastic. Although, any other poorly mixed SDB would probably annoy me with the AKGs because they just are too detailed and easily show weaknesses.
 
Mike Gordon is playing flawlessly this tour. He is what makes the band so solid. He is by far my favorite of the group. You all should check out his two albums he released with Leo Kottke. They too are fantastic. Especially their renditions of "Ya Mar" and "Sweet Emotion"
 
As for my favorite recordings: Slip, Stitch and Pass is phenomenal. The sound quality and the playing is just top notch. Especially their rendition of ZZ Top's "Jesus Just Left For Chicago". And the "Mike's Song" is splendid as well. I listened to that show today through my KSC75s and was just grinning from ear to ear.
 
I also enjoy the 97 tour a lot. I am a fan of the funk and also Trey's experiments with the loop pedal. 12-7-97 stands out for me, as does 11-17-97. Both top notch shows. But, anything in 97 should be a good start.
 
I am also a big fan of Phish's spacey jams. Mostly in the 2000 and up era. I love getting lost in those textured and loose jams. Especially on songs like 2001 and the ambient section of YEM.
 
I enjoyed the second night of Alpine from 2004, 6-26-04 (i believe?) as the second set was just perfect. Boogie ON>Alpine JAM!!!>Ghost, with Piper and Hood to come and a nice Possum closer. PERFECT!!!
 
7-6-98 from Prague is also one of my favorites. I love the version of MAZE and GHOST and CITIES. And the crappy, washed out VCDs I have for that concert are always a treat to watch.
 
and 12-29-2003 is great as well. THe opener, "Piper" is the best version I have ever heard. It gives me the chills every time I listen to it. EVERY TIME! I may be biased because I was at the show, but you can just hear the crowd erupt from the energy. It is so intense and amazing and I tear up every time I hear Trey rip into that first series of high notes. And Gordon is just so solid underneath with his lines, it is just.... Bliss. UTTER BLISS>
 
I highly recommend everyone to listen to that version of that song.
 
Phish is one of my favorite bands and I could blab about them for days, but I don't want to bore ya'll.

 

[zdkaiser]

i also enjoyed their run in Japan from 2000.

 

[phishhead92]

im gonna have to say that i disliked most of phish 2.0 (03-04) i felt their playing was sloppy, slow, uncreative and so on. what you listed are some gems, but if you want some real space, go for 95, its when they started doing ambient psychedelic jams. if you talking about loops in the backround (late 98 to 04) this is better. imo of course.  its just that starting in 98 is when trey admitted to starting the "hard drugs" so its when things got sloppy and uncreative, dont get me wrong there are obviously some really good moments up until their heitus but phish 2.0 just doesnt do it for me.
 
if you want some real phish jamming, like some MONSTERS i say to everyone 92-97 is prime time,  94,95 being the highlights (and 97 close runner up). just pick your options from those years and you probably will be gettting a good show that the worst, but most are just amazing.
 
and on the topic of aud, you clearly arent listening to the right ones

sbds sound to sterile imo

 

[rhythmdevils]

I would have to agree about Trey.  I think Phish's best moments are when he isn't soloing trying to play as many notes as possible.  The best moments are when it isn't about any one member, but the 4 headed beast as they say.  I remember seeing some footage- maybe in that documentary, of fishman I believe during a setbreak turning on trey really upset and saying "too many notes".  The funk jams aren't good IMO just because they're funky, but just because trey can't solo.  He's a great guitarest and all, I just sometimes think he forgets what makes Phish so special.
 
I love the quiet spacey part of Harry Hood.  A Live One has a great one. 
 
What's the best resource these days for downloading high quality shows?  Is it legal now that the official releases are out?  I remember being on nugs.net and there was some photographer who posted shows too.  I can't remember his name now though, it's been a while. 

 

[phishhead92]

well the live releases arent legal, but go to bt.etree.org
 
they have all the auds, im an phish archivist, so i jsut have RSS download it all, but when i want to listen i go for A/B all the sources, then choose which one i like, also try to lean towards 24bits, but some 16s sound just great.
 
i mean im not talking about that, there are plenty of songs where thats fine, like david bowie for instance, that stuff is HEAT right near the end. its really just the synergy in the jam, how they talk to each other (with their instruments) like its just great hearing a nice and tight jam. one that just amazes me is the clifford ball bathtub gin, that one is rediculous. (1996-08-16 set one)
 
im talking about lately trey hast been so hot, (he has to relearn how to jam while sober) oh well we have been getting some tastes of some nice jams in the past couple shows, hopefully he will snap out of it and just bust out with some tastey grooves

 

[regal]

I listen to my 1.5TB Dead collection at least 90% of the time,  built my whole system on reproducing what I remember Jerry sounding like.
 
Three things:
 
1.  Jerry's guitar requires tube amplification
2.  Grado RS1's or MS-Pros
3.  HDCD for official releases
 
#1 makes sense in that his guitar effects were a tube product,  #2 took me a while to figure out,  with a lot of the SBD's Jerry always sounded too distant on my Senns,  the Grados brought him back up front,  #3 if you don' have HDCD you really don't know what you are missing on the official releases,  to me it makes a huge difference look for a DAC with a PMD100.
 
Glad I'm not the oly deadhead audiophile on here,  grate thread.

 

[Spelaeus]

 
Quote:

I listen to my 1.5TB Dead collection at least 90% of the time,  built my whole system on reproducing what I remember Jerry sounding like.
 
Three things:
 
1.  Jerry's guitar requires tube amplification
2.  Grado RS1's or MS-Pros
3.  HDCD for official releases
 
#1 makes sense in that his guitar effects were a tube product,  #2 took me a while to figure out,  with a lot of the SBD's Jerry always sounded too distant on my Senns,  the Grados brought him back up front,  #3 if you don' have HDCD you really don't know what you are missing on the official releases,  to me it makes a huge difference look for a DAC with a PMD100.
 
Glad I'm not the oly deadhead audiophile on here,  grate thread.

Just curious for #2, do you find the RS1 or the MS-pros preferable? While I certainly listen to many other artists, I mainly had the Grateful Dead in mind when I got my MS-1i. I won't have the funds to upgrade for quite a while, but when I do I plan on going for either the  RS1 or MS-pro.
 

 

[regal]

I can't say,  just know that the MS-pro can be had a lot cheaper than the RS-1s if buying new. The MS1-is aren't shabby either,  they do a fine job with GD.  
Quote:

 
Just curious for #2, do you find the RS1 or the MS-pros preferable? While I certainly listen to many other artists, I mainly had the Grateful Dead in mind when I got my MS-1i. I won't have the funds to upgrade for quite a while, but when I do I plan on going for either the  RS1 or MS-pro.
 

 

[zdkaiser]

I think, like any year, they have some good shows and some bad shows. I have found a lot of really good versions of songs from 2003 and 2004, and very good shows as a whole. The Piper from 12-29-03, the YEM from IT is excellent, and I really enjoy that show in Camden ??? when B.B. King joins for the entire set. I do agree with you that the earlier material from the mid 90s has some very tight playing. Indeed it does. I just find that I like the song selection from the 1996-2004 era better. I am not a huge fan of a lot of the songs they played in the early 90s with the "Fly Famous Mocking Bird", "Harpua", and the whole "The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday" material (with the exception of "Lizards"). I really can appreciate it all. I can. But some setlists just kind of bore me. Especially any of the material from "Joy."
 
I really enjoy the shows when they have added horn sections, i.e. the 91 tour with the Giant Country Horns (even though the setlists are a bit redundant). I love their jazz covers of Charlie Parker from those shows. And also there were a few shows in 96 with the horn sections as well. One in VT I believe that I really enjoyed.
 
What I like about this current tour is they are playing everything. They are really bringing out a lot of different songs and new covers. I feel like the setlists are quite diverse. I am anxious to see them in August at Alpine.
 
 
as far as Auds go. I have downloaded a good majority of the "Dankseeds" as well as highly praised shows on etree.org. I just cannot get into how distant the band sounds on a lot of them. Once you start listening to 24bit SDBs and you can hear trey's amp hum in the background you cannot go back to AUDs. the detail is overwhelming on SDBs. not to mention, i find that at live shows Page gets drowned out a lot. Most of the time the mix is so Trey heavy that I cannot hear anything else. I feel that once you hear the actual board, or a remastered version of it, is so much more balanced and in line with what it should be. Page is still in the background mostly, but he at least can be heard. I am all for matrices. I do love the crowd noise to an extent, and I feel like you can get that with some of the new SDBs being released. But with any high-end audio equipment, I want the source to be flawless. I especially want Mike's playing to be up in my face, and with AUDs I find them to be boomy at times, and my subwoofer reflects that. I love the crispy SDBs from the early 90s and those 16 track mix SDBs that were released. And  auds with a cassette as the recording media!!! HORRIBLE! Good for archival purposes only. Even Live Phish #9, after being remastered, you can hear the tape hiss.
 
 

 
Quote:

im gonna have to say that i disliked most of phish 2.0 (03-04) i felt their playing was sloppy, slow, uncreative and so on. what you listed are some gems, but if you want some real space, go for 95, its when they started doing ambient psychedelic jams. if you talking about loops in the backround (late 98 to 04) this is better. imo of course.  its just that starting in 98 is when trey admitted to starting the "hard drugs" so its when things got sloppy and uncreative, dont get me wrong there are obviously some really good moments up until their heitus but phish 2.0 just doesnt do it for me.
 
if you want some real phish jamming, like some MONSTERS i say to everyone 92-97 is prime time,  94,95 being the highlights (and 97 close runner up). just pick your options from those years and you probably will be gettting a good show that the worst, but most are just amazing.
 
and on the topic of aud, you clearly arent listening to the right ones

sbds sound to sterile imo

 

[phishhead92]

Quote:

I think, like any year, they have some good shows and some bad shows. I have found a lot of really good versions of songs from 2003 and 2004, and very good shows as a whole. The Piper from 12-29-03, the YEM from IT is excellent, and I really enjoy that show in Camden ??? when B.B. King joins for the entire set. I do agree with you that the earlier material from the mid 90s has some very tight playing. Indeed it does. I just find that I like the song selection from the 1996-2004 era better. I am not a huge fan of a lot of the songs they played in the early 90s with the "Fly Famous Mocking Bird", "Harpua", and the whole "The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday" material (with the exception of "Lizards"). I really can appreciate it all. I can. But some setlists just kind of bore me. Especially any of the material from "Joy."
 
I really enjoy the shows when they have added horn sections, i.e. the 91 tour with the Giant Country Horns (even though the setlists are a bit redundant). I love their jazz covers of Charlie Parker from those shows. And also there were a few shows in 96 with the horn sections as well. One in VT I believe that I really enjoyed.
 
What I like about this current tour is they are playing everything. They are really bringing out a lot of different songs and new covers. I feel like the setlists are quite diverse. I am anxious to see them in August at Alpine.
 
 
as far as Auds go. I have downloaded a good majority of the "Dankseeds" as well as highly praised shows on etree.org. I just cannot get into how distant the band sounds on a lot of them. Once you start listening to 24bit SDBs and you can hear trey's amp hum in the background you cannot go back to AUDs. the detail is overwhelming on SDBs. not to mention, i find that at live shows Page gets drowned out a lot. Most of the time the mix is so Trey heavy that I cannot hear anything else. I feel that once you hear the actual board, or a remastered version of it, is so much more balanced and in line with what it should be. Page is still in the background mostly, but he at least can be heard. I am all for matrices. I do love the crowd noise to an extent, and I feel like you can get that with some of the new SDBs being released. But with any high-end audio equipment, I want the source to be flawless. I especially want Mike's playing to be up in my face, and with AUDs I find them to be boomy at times, and my subwoofer reflects that. I love the crispy SDBs from the early 90s and those 16 track mix SDBs that were released. And  auds with a cassette as the recording media!!! HORRIBLE! Good for archival purposes only. Even Live Phish #9, after being remastered, you can hear the tape hiss.

aw man, you dont like the GEMS? haha, the original stuff is my fave just cause its like damn i havent heard this in FOREVER, or i love the man who stepped into yesterday, that story is just so fun, but as far as joy goes, half the album is kinda fun, ocelot, sugar shack, stealing time, kill devil falls, and of course backwards down the numberline (check out the blossom jam on that one it is HOT, and minimal whale calling)
 
and i have every source so i ususally A/B and find a good copy, and i guess i dont have the extremely over the top audiophile stuff, i have the entry level setup so i dont hear ALL the flaws of the sources, also im probably just used to loving that aud feel, kinda like your there

. as far as hearing everything that actually is kinda annyoing, its too sterile, i need to hear aud or else it just feels wrong haha. you know all the offically released SBDs are MTX's? they have set of mics on the stage and on the sbd booth aimed at the crowd for audience
 

 

 

[saitoh]

The mix this summer on the boards is very good. I find Page's keys to be positioned wrong (full on left channel, in my face), but it's a minor beef for what really represents the best 3.0 mixes they have done. I've been listening to a friends copy of the boards for shows I couldn't hit up last month. As a taper who schleps around his gear every show I make it to, that's honestly the highest compliment I can pay. From the current tour, Hershey's Tweezer>Twist has a great jam, and first night of Merriweather's Rock & Roll > something... (I don't remember, but it was well done) as was the Tweezer jam that night. They are starting to stretch their legs. Having suffered through the 46 Days at IT in 2003, I'm ok with the shorter, more concise stuff.

 
For listening, I find that (generally) for tapes made with neumann/milab/akg/beyer/gefell based mics (anything with a presence peak starting around 5khz and rising toward 10/11khz) I like the Denon line or my UM3X (which are nice on the ultra bright milabs mics or the old gefells). I guess the Shure IEM line would also be ok since they have that natural (some say heavy) bass. Most of the schoeps tapes (4V and 41V excluded since they have a presence peak) are too bass heavy on either of those for my tastes, and if I used schoeps, I'd use an AKG701 or MS-i with slightly warm amps in front of them (I think both are too bass shy by themselves). I was really fond of schoeps tapes when I had the ER-6is with the hybrid tube amp and sort of dark tubes in them. My UM3X with the D10 reminds me of that setup.

 

[phishhead92]

tonight was crazy!
 
 07/02
Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Charlotte, NC

I.
Buried Alive > AC/DC Bag, Vultures, Wolfman's Brother, Back on the Train, The Wedge, Mexican Cousin, Stash, Sparkle, Chalk Dust Torture

II.
Drowned > 46 Days* > 20 Years Later, Lizards, Carini, *** Your Face** > 2001 > You Enjoy Myself^

E.
A Day In The Life

*with vocal jam
** Last Time Played 1987-04-29  (1412 shows)
^ with Proud Mary (Fogerty) & Get Back (Beatles) in the vocal jam