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45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
best since Rift!, May 18, 2000
While this album is definately "song phish" as opposed to "live phish," this may be their best "song" album to date. After playing epic (or mind numbing, depending on your perspective) 10 to 20-something minute long versions of songs like "sand," "piper," or "gotta jiboo," it is pretty amazing to me that the band managed to break them down into bite-sized gems that can accomodate the attention span of my 10-year-old, boy band loving little sister. While most people complain that the rest of the band just stepped back and let Trey take the reins, I could care less; the songs speak for themselves. "Farmhouse" and "Bug" have a singer-songwriter quality to them that few other phish songs have achieved. "back on the train" is a look back to the summer '99 shows; "Heavy Things" is blissfully sugar sweet, yet equally satisfying. The subtle horn arrangements are perfect for a grooving "Gotta Jibboo," and the string-enhanced "Dirt" reminds us of "fast enough for you" or "if I could." The acoustic "sleep" and "josie wales" are delicate and sweet, and they manage to set off the dynamic "sand" and "first tube" from the rest of the album. "first tube" and "piper" sound so live that, as with junta or lawn boy, you may forget you're listening to a studio album.While my favorite thing about phish will always be Trey's epic but intricate compositions like "guyute," "divided sky," "david bowie," "yem," etc, this album will be remembered in my mind as the one where phish finally managed write a cohesive album based not on extensive jams or compositions, but on songs.
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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
SNOBS, July 2, 2005
Man, phish phans are such SNOBS!!!! They are willing to pan their favorite band, not for the music on this record, but because so many non phish phans actually enjoy it. Personally I have a few phish albums and have been to a few shows. For me, it's all about the music, and the music is good. It's good in a 30-minute jam and it's good in a 3.5 minute pop song. But the deep phans pride themselves on being bigger encyclopedias of phish lore in order to be bigger and bigger snobs. You people remind me of the comic book guy on the simpsons. "Worst album ever!" If you are just a music lover, don't listen to the snobs, just buy this record and enjoy it.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fun disc! Adds another dimension to multi-faceted group., May 19, 2000
This disc continues in the studio tradition of "Billy Breathes" & "Story of the Ghost." The songs are short (longest one at about six minutes), there is an irresistable pop hook, and the band shows that they're more versatile than just monster grooves in concert. I think its nice to have two totally different aspects of the same band: 1] Amazing live band that does incredible improv (and thankfully releases splendid live albums) & 2] Band that is beginning to mature in the studio. I like the shorter studio stuff on recordings. Studio jams get old after a while, plus its nice to have a disc where you can finish 4 or 5 songs while driving to work!My first reaction when I head "Farmhouse" was that I couldn't believe how pop-ish it sounded. But I think we have to realize that pop-ish for Phish is quite different than the pop market in general. And even if it does crossover, is that so bad? (This argument has been going on since "Hoist" and if you notice they're still not on the radio, MTV, etc.) If a band is great, then people are going to find out! Something as great Phish can't be a secret forever."Bug," "Dirt," "Heavy Things," & "Twist" are catchy, but good (the two can co-exist...even Frank Zappa had catchy songs.) "Gotta Jiboo" captures a lot of the old-school Phish silliness (always a plus)...and "Piper," "Sand," & "First Tube" just have the groove! I like the looping effects they use too, its nice to see those outside of the concert stage (I've seen Phish over 20 times since the early 90's for those of you that are wondering.) Its not the greatest Phish album ever (which is tie amongst the following: "Rift," "Billy Breathes," & "Lawnboy"), but it does have an incredibly varied group of well crafted songs. I commend Phish for their studio efforts!
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