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Live Phish Vol. 20: 12/29/94, Providence Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island

Phish - Live Phish Vol. 20: 12/29/94, Providence Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island Audio CD

A fair review of the Phish "Live Phish Vol. 20: 12/29/94, Providence Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island" 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.

Band: Phish
Title: Live Phish Vol. 20: 12/29/94, Providence Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island
Rating:

Release Date: 2003-05-20
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Runaway Jim > 2: Foam 3: If I Could 4: Split Open and Melt 5: The Horse > 6: Silent in the Morning 7: Uncle Pen 8: I Didn't Know 9: Possum 10: Guyute 11: David Bowie 12: Halley's Comet > 13: The Lizards 14: Cracklin' Rosie 15: Good Times, Bad Times 16: My Long Journey Home 17: Sleeping Monkey

all five stars for the bowie
if you are a fan of the psychedellic intense spacey years of phish, this david bowie is going to blow you away, the most amazing experimental phish jam i think i have ever herd, this jam really takes you to some eerie and psychologicly intense places, this is what 94 is all about, there are some other great jams on this show like; split open and melt, runaway jim->foam, haleys commet, possum, guyte, and the lizards, but the david bowie is simply epic, if you have never herd this version of the song and youre a phish fan you owe it to yourself to check this out, its legendary .

4.5 Stars... Excellent Addition to the "Live" Series
20 in the "Live" series of Phish concerts, and boy, is this a good one. This is No. "Live 20" (2 CDs, 17 tracks, 145 min. ) features a concert from December, 1994 at the Providence Civic Center. Things start off with a blast, "Runaway Jim->Foam", you can just tell the band is on fire that night. Other highlights on CD1 include the gentle "If I Could", and "The Horse->Silent in the Morning".

But the true highlights (for me anyway) are found on CD2, starting off with a 35 min. , shall we say, workout (mostly instrumental) of "David Bowie". It's probably not for everyone's taste, but I think it brings out the genius of Phish. But "Halley's Comet->The Lizards" is equally delicious. The Neil Diamond cover "Cracklin' Rose" falls flat (poor vocals) but Trey & Co. fire back with a great "Good Times, Bad Times" Zep cover. The encore of the traditional "My Long Journey Home" and "Sleeping Monkey" put the "!" on a great show.

This particular show reminds me of how much Phish owes to the motherlode of all jam bands, the Dead, with quite a few "traditional American"-sounding tunes (in particular on CD1--check out "I Didn't Know" with the delightful "Luke Skywalker" interlude). In all, a great addition to the on-going (I hope?) series of the "Live" recordings. Highly recommended!.

One of my Favs
Die-hard Phish fans may like the abstract non-melodic David Bowie, but I prefer the harmony of Halley's Comet. This is one of my favorites of the Live Phish series. Trey gives us some really tasty guitar work on Possum. And Sleeping Monkey is a great wrap-up.

The range of musical styles on this release is incredible. If I Could is more mellow than is typical of Phish, but comes off well. Good Times, Bad Times is more heavy metal than is typical, but it comes off well too. Split Open and Melt is discordant at times, but then finishes with one measure of strong guitar cords. My Long Journey Home has a country/bluegrass feel to it. And The Lizards tells a story about a knight in shining armor.

Their sense of humor is displayed with "Luke Skywalker on the Electrolux," and many of their songs have amusing lyrics, if you think about them in the right way.

The more I listen to it the more this release grows on me. But, personally, I skip over David Bowie.

A review for the casual fan...

I purchased A Live One a few weeks back. Keep in mind that I have not quite earned the right to call myself a Phish Phan; I am merely a casual listener who cut his teeth on the Grateful Dead and am just beginning to dive into the sea of Live Phish. Actually I re-purchased it, I had owned it once before but never gave it a thorough listen to and wound up selling it a few years back.

That album was great, but it didn't quench my thirst for some new live music, so I picked up few sets from the Live Phish series. Volume 20 was one of those sets.

While there are certainly some high points on the disc, the disc also contains some parts that are just downright troublesome for me. The most notorious being the several minutes of whistles and calls for Lassie toward the end of David Bowie. They turned an otherwise intense improv into a bad joke. I could barely finish out the song.

Crackin' Rosie, however, is a great joke, and the band effortlessly walks the fine line betwen musical genius and parody. Good Times, Bad Times is right on. Sleeping Monkey is kind of out there; but how else would they end such a bizarre show?.

I lost my mind just a couple of times that evening in Prov..
We all know this show is worth buying for the Bowie alone, so I won't repeat the obvious. yeah, I was there but it was only my 3rd show and have little memory of it. I would like to point out, however, that while there aren't any particularly standout improv moments besides Bowie, there are some really tight versions of other songs that serve as good '94 reference material. I'm not a huge fan of Runaway Jim these days, but this opener is a fun jam - listen closely for the "Dueling Banjos" tease that Trey plays VERY slowly - and not only is the jam fun, but the segue into Foam is killer. . . and the Foam is AWESOME. I mean, just listen to Trey's jazzy, scat-like guitar work during the quiet part of the jam. Good stuff.

The Uncle Pen is very tight and it's good to hear a mid-90s version on a crispy soundboard. The Possum rages too, with some evil chords from Trey right before the orgasm.

In set 2, I thought the Lizards was just about as solid and energetic as it gets. Great piano solo from Page. Good Times Bad Times is also killer, with a great tease of another Zepp tune in there. And in the encore you gotta love the acoustic bluegrass rendition of Long Journey Home. . . their vocal harmony is great here. I feel Page's vocal peak was in the mid-90s. . . not like that was the only thing that peaked in the mid-90s. . .

Summing up, yes you must listen to the Bowie until you can hear it in your sleep because it is one of the best head-trips ever provided by these guys - but don't overlook the overall tightness of the show as a whole. Guyute fans beware, though, this early version is pretty rough around the edges.

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.