The Curtain With or Without? OR Fall in Love with Phish Al
qwertyu4u | earth | 03/28/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The best thing I can REALLY say here is... THIS IS PHISH.
I used to listen to Phish and get a huge smile across my face, even laugh at times because they were just so unbelievably sick... that is what I heard. Well, somewhere along the way, like all good addictions, the music seemed to lose some of it's luster for me and not coincidentally, the band was going through their various issues. Let me just say that listening to this made me smile and yes, even laugh again, with pure joy at the what these 4 guys were able to create, and share with all of us, taking pain-staking measures to perfect every nuance in this set list, with such a limited fan base at the time. If you want to fall in love with Phish ALL OVER AGAIN and are looking for that spark(le) all over again, just like it was the first time, this is it. Buy. Listen. Remember. Enjoy. Thank you guys..."
The Roots of Phish
Andito Toquito | Colorado | 09/26/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This album is a gem for people who appreciate everything the band has done over time. These are recordings made when they did a handful of gigs in Colorado after driving from Vermont with the band and all their gear in a U-Haul type truck. Keep in mind that they were still a bar band on these recordings, which makes it a hell of a trip to consider that about five years down the road, they'd be playing many of the same songs at arenas. It blows me away to think about what a treat the drunkards in the audiences of these shows were in for. I'm sure the handful of audience members are now the people going, "Oh yeah, Phish, I saw them with fifteen people in a dinky little bar when they were totally unknown." Considering that these are re-mastered bootlegs, the sound quality is pretty good--at least good enough to clearly pick out what everybody is playing even if the levels of each instrument aren't ideal. The biggest feeling I got from listening to them is that if you compare these performances to other bands you'll see in these types of settings, it's obvious that they were destined for greatness."