I intended to wait until the end of Shuke's thousand plus countdown, but with Phish's summer tour kicking off in St Louis this week, the time felt right: Phish wrote and play an inordinate number of songs that refer to organic things (not counting people) either in their song titles or lyrics. I count 55 and, duh, have ranked them from worst to first. If you want an introduction to the band, this could be one way although the first (last) dozen or so songs aren't very good. But someone's got to hold down the left side of the bell curve. I'll post five at a time to keep this thread mercifully short. Enjoy the summer tour, everyone.
Fish Bass (55): Instrumental sound collage of bassy effects on the little known Siket Disc. No melodic structure or anything to really hang your hat on. More like a doodle than any real piece of art. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEs80J0_Uj4
NO2 (54): Seven minutes of “music” that makes you feel like you’re in the dentist’s chair having some serious work done. This would be dead-last on the list save for some live versions which make the effect much more palatable, even musical:
The original if you can stomach it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJuz7UcH_Tc
An example of dropping this in the middle of a jam, to good effect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XvndTknkP0
Snow (53): Only played once, during the Wingsuit set on 2013 Halloween. Abandoned for the album as the song falls flat due to its annoyingly high register that seems beyond the vocal range of Mike, who tried his best. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdkisTu4SqA
Insects (52): The repetitive but inconsistent drumming and guitar riff evoke the pulsing beats of the night sky with its variety of insects. Listenable and not wholly uninteresting like much of the Siket Disc but not the best use of my last three minutes of life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz0WA18IprQ
Stray Dog (51): No matter how cool of a sound Page can coax from his white Kasvot Vaxt organ, it’s just not enough to save this throw-away of a song from the epic Halloween set last year. The tune, the typical Trey guitar solo—this is trite Phish at its best (or worst). Kasvot Vaxt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1_6Aoba20I
Fish Bass (55): Instrumental sound collage of bassy effects on the little known Siket Disc. No melodic structure or anything to really hang your hat on. More like a doodle than any real piece of art. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEs80J0_Uj4
NO2 (54): Seven minutes of “music” that makes you feel like you’re in the dentist’s chair having some serious work done. This would be dead-last on the list save for some live versions which make the effect much more palatable, even musical:
The original if you can stomach it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJuz7UcH_Tc
An example of dropping this in the middle of a jam, to good effect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XvndTknkP0
Snow (53): Only played once, during the Wingsuit set on 2013 Halloween. Abandoned for the album as the song falls flat due to its annoyingly high register that seems beyond the vocal range of Mike, who tried his best. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdkisTu4SqA
Insects (52): The repetitive but inconsistent drumming and guitar riff evoke the pulsing beats of the night sky with its variety of insects. Listenable and not wholly uninteresting like much of the Siket Disc but not the best use of my last three minutes of life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz0WA18IprQ
Stray Dog (51): No matter how cool of a sound Page can coax from his white Kasvot Vaxt organ, it’s just not enough to save this throw-away of a song from the epic Halloween set last year. The tune, the typical Trey guitar solo—this is trite Phish at its best (or worst). Kasvot Vaxt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1_6Aoba20I
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