From: Charlie Dirksen
10/11/95 Compton Terrace, Amphitheatre, Tempe, AZ There should be some great tapes of this show out there from
Tascam PE-125s (thank PickyBastard and Downer - Men for dubbing off their DAts). The second set of this show is crazy.. a
keeper for sure. The opening segment is wholly standard. Trey jams away in the tramps segment, though, leading me to believe
that he wasn't on the tramps (again). The off-key sustained stuff is usually all he can manage when bouncing up and down (and
turning!), which of course most people couldn't do in time even with a god damn lollipop in their hand. The tramps jam isn't that
exciting, though, really. No theme is found. Trey does jam, but not nearly as fiercely as many other Fall versions. Tramps jam
closes at around 6:10. The post-tramps jam is more typical of Olde.. opens in an especially dark manner, and by 7:30, slides
steadily into what can only be described as an almost Floyd-like Spacey Mysterious Bullshit Mode. Some neato effects from
Trey, though, around 8:20, I must confess. Ok, to be fair, this is harmonious in a very strange sense.. Fish keeps a steady,
almost military/march sort of rhythm. At 9:04, Page teases the Star Trek theme, using some weird effect on the keyboard (he
just stumbles into the theme, and then plays it *once* .. just a taste of it.. there is no "Star Trek Jam" in here so don't get excited
all you Klingons out there). The jam is still in this semi-unfriendly spacey groove at 11 minutes. Spacey effect city from Trey.
Mike just plucks along with Henrietta on this military-esque/march beat (some cute snarework from Fish...). Trey starts
chording around 11:30 as if to go somewhere, but, no. This jam is still in a verrrry spacey, kinda "where the hell do we go from
here, you guys" sortof mode, when at 12:13 or so, as if on cue, Fish starts coo-ing (actually, this could be Trey.. hmm.. my gut
says Fish, though.. nooo.. sounds too good.. Trey) when at about 12:27 or so, McGrupp's magically segued in. Really good
timing, I might add. This spacey jam just wasn't going anywhere particularly. Made for a pleasant segue, though, I suppose, if
you get into Phish's spacey jams. This was likely their intent all along, of course, but permit me to humiliate myself.. McGrupp's
is not as great as it could be.. a little bit too soft in places for me (this is an exceptionally delicate, arguably shaky version, in the
intro verses). I still love this song. If you don't like McGrupp's, then don't trust anything I say about anything, because you'd
undoubtedly harbor beliefs completely contradictory to my own. Well, you can trust me on THIS point... ;^) ... but then again..
Mike starts soloing to start the Weekapaug.. at around 21:30 or so. Very unusual, spacey ending to McGrupp's, fwiw.. Mike
just cuts in with some bass licks to kick off the Weekapaug. Mike's opening ain't at all special. Definitely below average.. very
repetitive, laid back (not that upbeat). Fish comes in.. Fish is screwing around with the rhythm in a HUUUUUGE way in here,
fwiw, he subtly picks up the beat and slows it down again a couple times in the opening two minutes. This is kindof cool, but
discomforting to hear if you are a drummer (it is very subtle.. I hope most of you could pick this up). This slight picking up of the
beat -- and slowing it down again -- doesn't seem to phase Trey Mike or Page. Demonstrates their control. The jam segment is
fine in the opening. What you'd expect from Trey at first, but instead of trying to find a theme and vigorously dancing
over/in/on/around it, he really chords a lot on the typical Weekapaug chords until about 24:50, when he finally opens up. He
starts jamming very nicely in here, and teases Llama at around 26:05. He lets that drop, though, and picks up Weekapaug
Groove again. At 27 minutes or so, the jam behaves as if it will drop into a quiet mode, but it doesn't.. Trey plays the Suzy
Greenberg-esque jam segment sort of chords (as usual in this segment).. At around 28:15 or so, though, Llama comes in
strongly. That's it. An extremely smooth segue into Llama, but there was no ending to the Weekapaug... I mean, the jamming in
the last minute of Weekapaug really wasn't that stellar (average). Well, this Weekapaug was awesome, but awesome, as
everyone knows, IS AVERAGE for Phish. The Mike's Song also wasn't that impressive, to me, although people who enjoy
Spacey Phish should check this out -- there is a harmonious fog, of sorts, in the spacey section, which we aren't always blessed
with. It was quite nice to get McGrupp's sandwiched in here, I must confess. But still. A mere awesome rating for this
MikeSGroove.. B. two cents
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