Customer Reviews

Live Phish Vol. 9: 8/26/89, Townshend Family Park, Townshend, Vermont

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Here is some real old school Phish for you. First off, be warned - this is not the same quality recording as the other releases in the Live Phish series, it was taped by a bootlegger, and later given to the band to release. This show is from 1989, and has such classic Phish songs as Colonel Forbin's Ascent, The Famous Mocking Bird, and TMWSIY. These songs tell a sort of story; they were written as such because they WERE Trey Anastasio's senior project at Goddard College. In any case, the result is that throughout the concert (mainly on the first disc), Trey narrates the adventures (with background music) of Colonel Forbin in the land of Gamehendge (Trey's created mystical world), and then the music continues. This is NOT much like a modern Phish concert, or even a pre-hiatus show. That being said, Disc 1's Fluffhead and Fly Famous Mockingbird are fabulous (none of the songs are narrated al the way through, even though they all tell the story), and Disc 2 is stellar all around with: Possum, Ya Mar, Slave to the Traffic Light, ACDC Bag, Donna Lee, and Funky B!tch. The 3rd Disc is - big surprise - great as well, with David Bowie, TMWSIY, Suzy Greenburg, Antelope, and a cover of La Grange, which ROCKS. You won't be disappointed, and hopefully, after reading this, you won't be surprised either!

I am new to the Phish universe, so my comments will be mostly as a newly initiated fan. This recording comes from a two-track cassette master, so the quality is not as strong as some of the other recordings in the series. It is, however, very listenable.

The insert has a picture of the poster from the concert--the poster looks handmade--very cool.

The set is really strong--I mainly got it because it had You Enjoy Myself as well as David Bowie and TMHSIY/Avenue Malcanu--some of my favourite Phish songs. Each of these songs have excellent jams. Fluffhead starts the set out well.

Though serious audiophiles may be discouraged by the slightly less than stellar sound quality, this recording is great. Check it out!

This is the only taste of early live phish offered by the Live Phish series, and I can say it is one of my favorites. This album is essential to tracking Phish's progression throughout their carreer. As for the setlist, all three discs are incredible. From an amazing You Enjoy Myself, to a Run Like an Antelope to be reckoned with, Phish flows on all cylinders to play their best.

this is another great release in the live phish catalog. a great example of the humor that phish built from this initial sound in 89 to what they produced up until about 97 when they further matured. some high points-the fact that they actually play fluffhead!, the setlist reads like a "best of phish" compilation, dinner and a movie is hilarious, colonel forbin>fly famous mockingbird and lizards give us a great slice of gamhendge which is an important part of phish's repetoire. the playing is great and there isn't much to argue about except that their skills as a band have a long transformation ahead of them to bigger and better things.
now a few bad points (very few!)-phish shouldn't really play tunes like donna lee becuase they don't really play bebop, or jazz at all for that matter (sorry, someone had to say it). it's picky but page's piano sounds terrible but i'm sure in 89 that was a good elec. piano!
overall this show is great but is also an example of what a phish show often isn't like, because of the "dream setlist" shown here and the lack of segues in the later sets. but there's only one place to go when you start off with this much talent...this is highly reccomended.

I purchased this album because of the setlist being mostly from Phish's album 'Junta' and Phish's much earlier stuff, such as 'The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday' and 'Colonel Forbin's Ascent', among others. Although the sound quality is sometimes less than spectacular, this album is one of the best Live Phish's out there. Plus, you get ZZ Top's 'La Grange'. What more could you ask for?

If I was rating this compared to all the live phish this probably gets a 2 (its sounds harsh but theres a lot of awesome phish out there).

This is an interesting live phish, I have never heard one of the band's earlier shows until I picked this up. I think its a pretty good buy, but still its '89. There are a bunch of screw ups on it and there are some songs that I would rather not listen to again. Definetly not the first phish you should pick up if your new to the band. Still, You can tell that they are having a lot fun up there, and it has good, youthful energy.

I thought Fluffhead was pretty good(they dont play this song too often), and trey's story that goes from Colonel Forbin's Ascent to Fly Famous Mockingbird is awesome. I didnt think to highly of the versions SOAM and Divided Sky. Disc 2 is probably my least favorite. You Enjoy Myself is a personal favorite of mine and i like hearing how it developed into the beast it became. Hearing them do the Andy Griffith theme is great. I also liked Funky Bitch and Foam. Disc 3 is my probably my favorite out of the 3. Alvenu Malcenu is great. Some other notables are Suzy Greenberg, Dinner and a Movie, and the Lizards.

If your going to get this live phish get it because you want to hear early phish, dont expect anything else.

If you are a Phishhead that likes old school Phish, this is the show for you.

I was a little skeptical about buying this album because it was from 89. I thought that it might not be up to par with the newer Phish stuff. I was wrong! I'm amazed at how great these guys were even at the beginning of their career. The TMWSIY songs are really awesome. It also has great versions of Contact and The Lizards. I think new comers and old phans alike will enjoy this one!

This is a great show. Rolling Stone called it the best Phish show ever, and I can see where they are coming from, but they're way off. THe best ever would either have to be 12/31/95 or 12/31/99 (the best livephish CD release would be 7). THis has many of the good jam tunes, but it's early in Phishtory, so this will let you see just where they have evolved from. The sound quality is OK, not great but it gets the job done. There is a considerable amount of humorous stage banter here, and some songs that they haven't done in quite a while.
All in All, this is some great early Phish.

No, the songs are not nearly as polished as they got to be and the sound quality of their instruments isn't as good as it got to be... but the energy is definitely throughout this show and it is cool to get and old school version of Phish and their songs.

Disc 1 - starts out with a "fluffhead" (15:23)that definitely goes different places than they usually take it, though the jam might sound boring to some. next comes "colonel forbin's ascent" (7:12) which starts out with a narration by trey. i actually really like this "forbin" over others. then comes in the all mighty "fly famous mockingbird" (7:20). after that they play "harry hood" (10:21)which i think is a little weak, but don't get me wrong it is still "harry hood". next comes "soam" (7:12) which is kind of short, but i like the way they play it a lot (and what they do in that short amount of time). "divided sky" (12:08) to end the disc, and like the "hood" played, it is good, but doesn't live up to what it later will become.

Disc 2- starts out with a "yem" that goes into "possum" and it is actually my favorite "yem" (you can tell that this was one of their best songs early on).. maybe not the best(listen to the ones on live phish 14 and 15) but my favorite definitely and i like the way they go into "possum". they then whistle the andy griffith theme and then play a cover of hendrick's "bold as love" a better version is the one for the encore of live phish 1. then comes in a "ya mar" (6:34) with some cool echoing effects on the mic and it really grooves with page's organ (a sweet page solo i should add). then comes in a fairly short "slave" (6:20) that is a little different. after that comes the classic "ac/dc bag" (6:41), which once again is short but page's organ rocks on this song. then they play a charlie parker tune (which it sounds most people on here do not like it) but i think it definitely gives this show some good variety and i think it is cool to hear phish play some jazz. then comes "funky bitch" and "foam" (not much to say, except that funky sounds about the same and foam is real good)

disc 3- same thing pretty much as the first two discs, not played as great as they grew to be, but played a little differently, which is cool to hear

some old school, yet very good school Phish.. i wouldn't start out with this live phish show (i recommend 1 or 12) but it should be bought if you are trying to get a good variety of the live phish shows