Live at Madison Square Garden New Years Eve 1995 by Phish

Live at Madison Square Garden New Years Eve 1995

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Live at Madison Square Garden New Years Eve 1995

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If there has been a band that has had the most success of being an "underground" band, it would have to be Phish. Phish has long had the reputation of being a band with an "open audio taping" policy and as a result they built up a great following - especially as a live act. . In fairness to the quartet, this is a band that produces some of the most innovative music anywhere on the music scene. Phish's reputation both as a studio band and a live act really took off in the mid 1990s. Phish would release three live albums in the 1990s - 1994's "A Live One" ,1997's "Slip Stitch and Pass", and 1999's six CD collection, "Hampton Comes Alive". Excluding the "Live Phish" series that would begin to be released in 2001, Phish would not release another live album until after their breakup in 1994. In 2005, Phish would release "Live at Madison Square Garden - New Year's Eve 1995". This would be a three CD set that would feature this New Year's Eve concert in its entirety - and once again continue to legacy of Phish as one of the great live bands of all-time. As mentioned, excluding the live Phish series, this is the fourth live set by Phish. 1994's "A Live One" was a good introduction to Phish and showcases Phish's jams in top form. "A Live One" was a double CD set with only 12 songs, but contained 131 minutes of music. "Slip Stitch and Pass" does a great job at showcasing the live improvisational skills of Phish while performing an an intimate setting. At the same time, the mid 1990s saw Phish emerge as one of the great cover bands in a live setting. Covering other artists' songs would be a natural extension of the improvisational skills of Phish. "Hampton Comes Alive" would not only showcase Phish's jam and improvisational skills, but would also continue to showcase Phish covering other artists. "Hampton Comes Alive" would feature two separate Phish concerts on back to back nights. For "Live at Madison Square Garden", this would feature also feature a Phish concert in its entirety from 12/31/05. The big difference between "Hampton Comes Alive" and "Live at Madison Square Garden" is that the "Hampton Comes Alive" contains some of Phish's more interesting covers (i.e. "Gettin' Jiggy With It", "Rock and Roll Part II", and "Tubthumping"). On the other hand, while "Live at Madison Square Garden" is not short on covers, it is stronger on jamming and contains more of the longer jams that Phish fans have become accustomed to. Here are ten facts about this collection: 1-Phish performed three sets on New Year's Eve 1995 at Madison Square Garden. Two sets are played before the welcoming of the New Year. 1996 rolls in at the beginning of the third set and Phish ushers in the year with the playing of "Auld Lang Syne". 2-There is a great deal of material from the bootleg Phish album called, "The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday". This was a concept album focused around the land of "Gamehendge". Songs include "The Lizards", "Colonel Forbin's Ascent", "Fly Famous Mockingbird", and "The Sloth". It also includes other songs that are considered to tie in with the "Gamehendge" theme. These songs include "Punch You in the Eye" and "Axilla Part II". 3-At the beginning of the third set, Phish appeared as Mad Scientists working on a recipe for time during "Gamehendge Time Phactory" as they count down to 1996. However this didn't translate well to the CD collection as all the listener really hears is a bunch of uninteresting sound effects. Still I give Phish credit for including this as part of the concert, thus keeping the listening experience authentic. 4-Phish performs two outstanding covers by The Who's Quadrophenia album - "Drowned" and "Sand and Sea". While they are not played back to back ("Drowned" is on set 2 while "Sand and Sea" is on set 3), they still are good covers. In fact, "Drowned" might be one of the strongest covers ever done by Phish - providing all of the intensity of the original. 5-Other covers include Collective Soul's "Shine", the Barber Shop Quartet-like "Hello My Baby", Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein", and Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" as the finale. Longtime Phish lyricist Tom Marshall has lead vocals on "Shine". It is "Johnny B. Goode" that stands out. 6-Phish shows how they can incorporate a calypso-beat during the performance of "The Lizards" - proving to be one of the outstanding songs of the night. 7-Perhaps one of the best songs is the opening track, "Punch You in the Eye". Phish shows a wide variety of musical styles in this song. I love the progressive rock opening to this track, yet later in the track there is an outstanding Latin infusion on the track. 8-"Mike's Groove" takes on a different look at this concert. "Mike's Groove" normally consists of "Mike's Song", "I Am Hydrogen", and "Weekapaug Groove". Here we get a 20+ minute version of "Mike's Song" wrapping up the second set. The third set begins with the "Gamehendge Time Phactory" countdown and "Auld Lang Syne", followed by 17+ minutes of "Weekapaug Groove". 9-Other long jams include 16+ minutes of a terrific version of "Runaway Jim" and 25+ minutes of the longtime favorite live track, "You Enjoy Yourself". Also worth noting are a 10+ minute version of "The Squirming Coil" and 12+ minute version of "Drowned". 10-The beginning of the second set features Phish conceding a chess match with the audience. Throughout 1995 Phish engaged in a chess match with the audience throughout their tour. At the end of 1995, Phish and the audience had each won one match. The liner notes include a write-up on the concert by Parke Puterbaugh. Overall, this is a terrific set and preserves Phish's reputation as one of the great live bands of all time as well as provides for the full concert experience. Highly recommended. Comment | Permalink | function showYesNoCommunityResponse(uId,result,value) { var msgLayer = getElement("thanks" + uId); if ( result == "SUCCESS" ) { msgLayer.innerHTML = "Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided to other Amazon.com readers and reviewers. Your vote will be counted and will appear on the product page within 24 hours."; } else { showVoteErrorResponse(msgLayer,result,value); } } (Report this)

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