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Phish - Junta Audio CD

A fair review of the Phish "Junta" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Phish reviews here, or go back to the Phish tabs.

Phish Band: Phish
Title: Junta
Rating:
Release Date: 1992-11-10
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Fee 2: You Enjoy Myself 3: Esther 4: Golgi Apparatus 5: Foam 6: Dinner and a Movie 7: Divided Sky 8: David Bowie 9: Fluffhead 10: Fluff's Travels 11: Contact 12: Union Federal [Live][*] 13: Sanity [Live][*] 14: Icculus [Live][*]

Must Own!
Perfect display of great lyrics and Jam music. If ever a Phish music compilation one should own, You "Junta" have this one. Great playlist from start to end. Love it!.


Came out swimming
The band was already brimming with a technical prowess so lethal they hardly knew what to do with all the energy. Certainly the adventurous jammer's zaniest noodling, and one of the more impressive rock debuts in general. .


Essential owning of the first Phish CDs (there are two, not one)
No matter. Phish's first "official" release came after they'd already cut their chops and were becoming well-known, so this self-recorded two-CD set may duplicate some later work. Junta captures Phish as it was in the beginning -- loose, jammy, and experimental.

Yes, the CDs became slicker (and in time, more boring), but Junta is essential owning for any potential phan (and there will be more, now that the band's second hiatus is over and they are performing together again!). I'd recomment this, A Picture of Nectar, definitely Lawn Boy, and A Live One (also two CDs, of various live performances and the CD that essentially put them "on the map" at THE live band of the 1990s).

Is there some aimless noodling and wandering? Of course, Junta's a picture of Phish in search of its voice. The audio is fine, although it's not as "slick" as later productions. But no matter, this is fun stuff and a great place to start off exploring who (and what) Phish is/was and why they developed such a rabid fan base.

It's primitive, but in a very, very good way! Enjoy, phans!.


This is why they became so popular
If you're new to the band and decided to listen to Phish because of what you may have heard about them, now that they are no longer touring, I think it's best to approach this album with an open mind. It's easy to write how good this album is from a fan's perspective. Phish's reputation and hype has a way of preprogramming someone with an opinion about the music without listening to it objectively. In context of the times in which this album was made, the late 80's, when overproduced corporate electronic soulless pop and over the top hair metal smear music ruled, this album was a complete oddity. Strange, funny and senseless lyrics on top of complex fugue arrangements. Songs lasting longer than the typical 3 and a half minute pop song were a throwback to the experimental music from the 60's and 70's that were long gone by the 80's. As a whole I felt the album was familiar in it's sounds but completely novel in it's sense of adventure and composition. Eclectic without being weird for weirds sake or art for arts sake. Serious musicianship, strong melodies and a sense of humor. The collection of songs on Junta encapsulates an era in their career that I think really defines their spirit and daring that made them so engaging. To me, every album since Junta is something of a variation of it. Not to say they didn't go on to write other interesting and original songs or even better albums (the production on Junta has a more low budget sound) but Junta seems to me to be as much a musical statement as a great collection of songs. With this album, I hear a band commited to song writing as an art form, to performance and to the listeners who are willing to explore with them.

.


Masters of tonal and atonal melody
It's their first officially released album, but their third unofficially. This is probably my second favorite Phish album, although it sometimes is my first favorite when I'm in the mood for it, just beating out Rift. Nevertheless, what you hear on this album are the defining staples of Phish.

Many of the songs are quite long on this album, and usually, when performed live, end up becoming much longer. That is because a lot of this album is instrumental. Instrumentally Phish really is unsurpassed, and by the time they recorded this album they had already developed their chops to a point where they were instrumentally unapproachable by most of their peers.

Styles are diverse. While most of the songs can be described as prog rock, or jam rock, you also have elements of southern rock, country, psychedelic, and classical, particularly 20th century classical, like Stravinsky.

Phish experimented successfully with atonal music, and as a result it comes across as sounding quite beautiful throughout this album. Their secret was combining atonal melodies and harmonies that often build up slowly until finally reaching a tonal climax. I don't think any other band came close to pulling this off as well as Phish did, and this album, with it's many lengthy instrumental tracks, showcases this excellently with a polished studio sound.

Calling this a "jam album" is a bit of a misnomer though, since all of the songs are obviously meticulously composed with some room for improvisational soloing. The only exception is the bonus track "Union Federal" which was entirely improvised during one of their infamous Oh Kee Pa Ceremonies. The remaining live bonus tracks also showed how unpredictable and amusing Phish could be in concert.

The rest of the album is masterfully composedwell thought out practiced to precision. But most importantly, the music is simply beautiful. While the lyrics and vocals my seem nonsensical crazy to some, it is simply shows Phish's refusal to take life seriously, even though it's clear they take their music very seriously. And the lyrics do make sense at a very simplistic, yet at the same time, very philosophical level. It is one of the reasons Phish is such a great band. This album is definitely a must have for any student of music.


You can see a complete list of all Phish discography, or go back to the Phish tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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