Phish — At The Roxy
As most of you already know, Phish’s 8 disc set spanning the historic Roxy run of ’93, called At The Roxy hits stores and retailers today. I found Rolling Stone‘s review interesting, as it received 4/5 stars:
Recorded in 1993 during a three-night run in Atlanta, this mammoth eight-disc box captures Phish right when they were putting a spit-shine polish on the live improvisation that would make them kings of the Nineties jam-band scene. At the Roxy is a must-have for one reason: the second show on February 20th, where Phish unleashed their most experimental set to date. On Disc Five, guitarist Trey Anastasio, keyboardist Page McConnell, bassist Mike Gordon and drummer Jon Fishman play for 60 nonstop minutes, weaving sharp funk grooves (“Tweezer”), virtuosic bluegrass-esque ditties (“Glide”), mellifluous instrumentals (“I Am Hydrogen”) and goofy covers (Kiss’ “Rock and Roll All Nite”) into one big, glorious mess. There are moments of genuine transcendence: Dig Anastasio’s soaring solo on the modal jam “Reba” and the effortless way Phish weave “Tweezer” into the organ-powered groove of “Mike’s Song.” Phish tried to pull off a similar feat the next night, with a set anchored around the bebop-inspired “Stash.” But that performance never reached the same heights — proof that the best jams are the most spontaneous ones.
Click here to purchase At The Roxy.
Jambands.com:
Do you need this set? To start, let’s assume you’re like me, since that will make things easy, and since I’m betting that my Phish experience level is somewhere near the average for this site. In that case, you saw the band for the first time in 1994, and got the soundboard of their February 20th, 1993 show at Atlanta’s Roxy later that year but haven’t listened to it in a long time, and have seen and collected many other shows but never bothered to track down the other two nights from this three-night run.
Phish must also be assuming that you’re like me. Like their previous mega-box, Hampton Comes Alive, this set comes in a minimalist package, without any Rolling Stone testimonials about the music’s place in history. The informed fan will notice many signifiers by the end of the “Loving Cup” opener, though. There’s the crowd noise at the start, reminding us that these were the days when Phish played to audiences numbering in the high hundreds or low thousands. There are some licks from Page McConnell, evidently still excited to be on his first tour playing a grand piano. There’s Jon Fishman and Mike Gordon, playing more on the front edge of the beat than they would later in the decade. And there’s Trey Anastasio, who sounds far less self-conscious about most things, including the amount of notes he plays, than he would later become. (more…)
