Live at Madison Square Garden New Years Eve 1995

Phish | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 20, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 3
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B000BU0CA2
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #71,777 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect., January 4, 2006

By 

Chad (Baton Rouge, LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live at Madison Square Garden New Years Eve 1995 (Audio CD)

Again, Phish has managed to amaze me.

I've had an audience copy of this show for 3 or 4 years, and I chose to never listen to it because I knew that they would officially release this at some point - and here it is. Gotta say, it was well worth the wait.

Short & Sweet -

Packaging (Who cares??)
They did a good job with the packaging. Nice insert booklet with lots of decent pics.
The essay was pretty comical...

Sound (5 Stars)
This release blows the LivePhish releases that I've heard out of the water as far as sound quality goes. There's nothing really more to say. They nailed it. I've been very happy with Rhino's re-mastering work as of late.

Performance (25,000 Stars)
I won't dive into the play-by-play in this review..I think that it's better left to one's own interpretation.
Simply put, this was Phish at their best. If you're new to the whole Phish thing and are unsure of what the hooplah surrounding these guys is all about, or if you were wondering what this band was actually capable of musically, then search no more.

Overall (5 Stars)
23 bucks well spent. Sit back, relax, and enjoy!!!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the wait..., January 2, 2006

By 

Andrew Schutz "andrew_1024" (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Live at Madison Square Garden New Years Eve 1995 (Audio CD)

For those that don't know, this show has long been a favorite of both the band and its fans. You'd be hard-pressed to find a Phish fan that wouldn't rate this show in their top five or ten. I've had audience recordings of it for years, but I had always wanted a nice, clear soundboard recording. With over 20 shows already officially released, the fact that this one hadn't been among them had always seemed like a glaring ommission, so I was really psyched to hear that they would finally release it for the 10th anniversary of the show.

Thankfully, the band was apparently waiting so they could give this show the release it deserves. It's very obvious that they spent a lot more time putting this one together than with any of the 'Live Phish' series. The 'LP' releases sound good, but this one has been given the full multitrack mix treatment and includes a nice booklet with an essay on the show and plenty of pictures.

The sound is comparable to A Live One (that is, fantastic), but that's not the reason this show is famous. The energy is through the roof the whole time, and there are all-time great versions of so many of the band's most beloved songs; the jams in Reba, Drowned, Runaway Jim, Mike's Song, Weekapaug Groove, and You Enjoy Myself are all among the best ever. Sure, there are arguably slightly better versions of many of these songs, but the sheer quality and consistency of the playing in this show is what puts it among the band's best. Virtually every jam is worthy of a mention on the all-time Phish highlight reel, and the non-jamming songs are extremely well played as well.

The only downside I can think of with this release is that they could have mixed the crowd mics a bit higher to better capture the audience reaction in some spots. I miss hearing the crowd going completely nuts in certain parts on the audience recordings. But overall, this is a relatively minor complaint, and shouldn't deter you from buying it. Basically, if you're a Phish fan, there's no reason you shouldn't pick this one up, and if you're not, it's definitely not a bad release to start with.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Stellar Live Performance by Phish, October 19, 2007

By 

L.A. Scene (Indian Trail, NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live at Madison Square Garden New Years Eve 1995 (Audio CD)

If there has been a band that has had the most success of being an "underground" band, it would have to be Phish. Phish has long had the reputation of being a band with an "open audio taping" policy and as a result they built up a great following - especially as a live act. . In fairness to the quartet, this is a band that produces some of the most innovative music anywhere on the music scene. Phish's reputation both as a studio band and a live act really took off in the mid 1990s. Phish would release three live albums in the 1990s - 1994's "A Live One" ,1997's "Slip Stitch and Pass", and 1999's six CD collection, "Hampton Comes Alive". Excluding the "Live Phish" series that would begin to be released in 2001, Phish would not release another live album until after their breakup in 1994. In 2005, Phish would release "Live at Madison Square Garden - New Year's Eve 1995". This would be a three CD set that would feature this New Year's Eve concert in its entirety - and once again continue to legacy of Phish as one of the great live bands of all-time.

As mentioned, excluding the live Phish series, this is the fourth live set by Phish. 1994's "A Live One" was a good introduction to Phish and showcases Phish's jams in top form. "A Live One" was a double CD set with only 12 songs, but contained 131 minutes of music. "Slip Stitch and Pass" does a great job at showcasing the live improvisational skills of Phish while performing an an intimate setting. At the same time, the mid 1990s saw Phish emerge as one of the great cover bands in a live setting. Covering other artists' songs would be a natural extension of the improvisational skills of Phish. "Hampton Comes Alive" would not only showcase Phish's jam and improvisational skills, but would also continue to showcase Phish covering other artists. "Hampton Comes Alive" would feature two separate Phish concerts on back to back nights. For "Live at Madison Square Garden", this would feature also feature a Phish concert in its entirety from 12/31/05. The big difference between "Hampton Comes Alive" and "Live at Madison Square Garden" is that the "Hampton Comes Alive" contains some of Phish's more interesting covers (i.e. "Gettin' Jiggy With It", "Rock and Roll Part II", and "Tubthumping"). On the other hand, while "Live at Madison Square Garden" is not short on covers, it is stronger on jamming and contains more of the longer jams that Phish fans have become accustomed to.

Here are ten facts about this collection:

1-Phish performed three sets on New Year's Eve 1995 at Madison Square Garden. Two sets are played before the welcoming of the New Year. 1996 rolls in at the beginning of the third set and Phish ushers in the year with the playing of "Auld Lang Syne".

2-There is a great deal of material from the bootleg Phish album called, "The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday". This was a concept album focused around the land of "Gamehendge". Songs include "The Lizards", "Colonel Forbin's Ascent", "Fly Famous Mockingbird", and "The Sloth". It also includes other songs that are considered to tie in with the "Gamehendge" theme. These songs include "Punch You in the Eye" and "Axilla Part II".

3-At the beginning of the third set, Phish appeared as Mad Scientists working on a recipe for time during "Gamehendge Time Phactory" as they count down to 1996. However this didn't translate well to the CD collection as all the listener really hears is a bunch of uninteresting sound effects. Still I give Phish credit for including this as part of the concert, thus keeping the listening experience authentic.

4-Phish performs two outstanding covers by The Who's Quadrophenia album - "Drowned" and "Sand and Sea". While they are not played back to back ("Drowned" is on set 2 while "Sand and Sea" is on set 3), they still are good covers. In fact, "Drowned" might be one of the strongest covers ever done by Phish - providing all of the intensity of the original.

5-Other covers include Collective Soul's "Shine", the Barber Shop Quartet-like "Hello My Baby", Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein", and Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" as the finale. Longtime Phish lyricist Tom Marshall has lead vocals on "Shine". It is "Johnny B. Goode" that stands out.

6-Phish shows how they can incorporate a calypso-beat during the performance of "The Lizards" - proving to be one of the outstanding songs of the night.

7-Perhaps one of the best songs is the opening track, "Punch You in the Eye". Phish shows a wide variety of musical styles in this song. I love the progressive rock opening to this track, yet later in the track there is an outstanding Latin infusion on the track.

8-"Mike's Groove" takes on a different look at this concert. "Mike's Groove" normally consists of "Mike's Song", "I Am Hydrogen", and "Weekapaug Groove". Here we get a 20+ minute version of "Mike's Song" wrapping up the second set. The third set begins with the "Gamehendge Time Phactory" countdown and "Auld Lang Syne", followed by 17+ minutes of "Weekapaug Groove".

9-Other long jams include 16+ minutes of a terrific version of "Runaway Jim" and 25+ minutes of the longtime favorite live track, "You Enjoy Yourself". Also worth noting are a 10+ minute version of "The Squirming Coil" and 12+ minute version of "Drowned".

10-The beginning of the second set features Phish conceding a chess match with the audience. Throughout 1995 Phish engaged in a chess match with the audience throughout their tour. At the end of 1995, Phish and the audience had each won one match.

The liner notes include a write-up on the concert by Parke Puterbaugh. Overall, this is a terrific set and preserves Phish's reputation as one of the great live bands of all time as well as provides for the full concert experience. Highly recommended.