R1/W08: 10-31-1986 Sculpture Room, Goddard College Plainfield, VT

[katzie]

I don't wanna set this thread alight, but that Hood is one of my all-time favourite versions.

bite me.
dk

[Alumni]

You'll have to do better than that to set a thread on fire on this board. Not encouraging . . . just sayin'

Honestly, I can't imagine choosing this Hood over MSG 95 or Stanford, but that's only me. So what is it about this one that moves ya?

[katzie]

Sorry I've just seen threads set alight with stuff like this, for example in the Darien 93 thread when someone proclaimed it the best of the summer.

Basically, I think the jam just sounds really clean. It peaks in a way that post 96 versions struggle to do. You cannot say that it wasn't divinely melodious at least, if not ragged and charming as I found it. I also have similar feelings about the Slave at this show. Hmm, maybe I'm just partial to earlier Hoods, the 11/4/90 is another all time fave. There is a certain melodic quality to Trey's noodling that isn't even present in 94 versions maybe.

two cents - lovin' the club, downloaded every show so far, but seeing as I'll be away for a month in Israel, I'll miss four whole weeks of goodness!

[susep]

Hmm, maybe I'm just partial to earlier Hoods, the 11/4/90 is another all time fave. There is a certain melodic quality to Trey's noodling that isn't even present in 94 versions maybe.

two cents - lovin' the club, downloaded every show so far, but seeing as I'll be away for a month in Israel, I'll miss four whole weeks of goodness!

Great early version>another good Hood is 3Dec.99 :wink:

[jedifunk]

ok, so i'm not gonna go thru a full song by song entry on this one... just a summary of my thoughts (writing this from memory).

1st set: actually i'll have to review this set later cuz i listened to this one a few days ago..
2nd set: gave this another listen this morning, and i gotta say, i was fairly impressed and unimpressed at the same time....  definitely not up to the standards of later years (duh) but you can see it coming from a mile away...  reminded me of some of the crappy bands i used to see at bars in college...

overall, a pretty fun set.
- enjoy the jam>bag... bag was the same then & now... rockin!
- peaches, a very appropriate cover for the boys
- bowie... can you say highlight?  shit is deep!  really did enjoy this... fun to hear them working it out in front of our ears... you can hear them searching for "it" and while they dont necessarily find it on this night, again, you can feel that its coming... the feeling is much different than other shitty bar bands over the years.
- hood, nice rendition...
- alumni, was sick, trey really had it going on.

without another listen to the 1st set, i'm gonna give this a B... based on the fact that its earlier and doesnt fit my ears as much, but that i could hear the "it" being searched for... not many bands even know what "it" is, let alone know what to do to get "it"... so for that alone Phish rules....

nice pick ikki, thanks for making me stretch out and grow!

[Hicks]

Hmm, maybe I'm just partial to earlier Hoods, the 11/4/90 is another all time fave. There is a certain melodic quality to Trey's noodling that isn't even present in 94 versions maybe.

11/4/90 is a top Hood, no doubt. 

I've always been partial to 4/22/90 as far as early Hoods go too.   

[thelot]

i love me some old stuff.
trey is obviously rocking a strat for this gig,
and for those guitar players, you can hear he plays ALOT of tunes using
the 4th pickup selector.which is strange....

nice pick ikki, this one has always been a favorite of mine.

Set I:
Mustang Sally - nice version
Camel Walk - always a treat
Golgi>Slave - awesome
Melt the Guns>Sneakin' Sally - set highlight for me, always wanted to see MTG.
Halley's>Back Porch>Shaggy Dog - good stuff
Fluffhead - raw

Set II:
Jam>Ac/Dc - opening jam segment is hot...for '86
Swing Low - love this tune
Peaches - raw
Bowie - set highlight for me, you gotta love these early versions!
Have Mercy>Hood - excellent
Sanity- always welcome
Skin it Back>Icculus - awesome
Alumni - :banana:

Great early show. I give it a 4.0 out of 5.0 for '86.

[Hicks]

Glad everyone is enjoying this one, it's actually going over better than I had expected.  I guess you guys really do like Phish after all!    :wink:

Here's my thoughts on Set I

Mustang Sally:  Fun opener, and not too shabby either, on the highway ramp approaching funky.

Camel Walk:  Personally I think that this is what Camel Walk is supposed to sound like, the '90s versions, in my mind, are covers of this, the original version.  Which isn't to say that one is better than the other, but I prefer the old school take on the tune. 

Golgi:  I love the slow and funky of pre '88 Golgis, it's almost an entirely different song from what it became and I just love the looseness of these versions, plus I'm not sick of it!   :wink:

Slave:  Nice and tight, I think that this one rages and could be considered among the best versions of the song, Trey wails throughout it.

Melt the Guns:  You gotta love the Fuck Your Face and Minkin call outs at the beginning, some classic Phish inside jokes, even if at this point only the band was on the inside.  If they come back they should really think about resurrecting this one, such an odd tune that it seems to just fit perfectly within the Phish asthetic, and the jam out of it is GORGEOUS!  Sure it's very Dead-ish but Trey brings more of a pure rock style where Jerry was more of a rootsy player, and he also gets dissonant way quicker than Jerry tended to.  But my interest in the Dead has been growing as of late, after years of purposefully not opening that musical can of worms, so this jam hit the spot for me.  Highlight of the set, possibly the entire show.

I wouldn't really call what follows a true Dave's Energy Guide, but more of a jam with DEG teases.  Anyway like I said it really is beautiful and the segue into Sneakin' Sally is pretty slick IMO.

Sneakin' Sally:  Pretty good singing by the boys and Trey just rages this one going nuts all up down the neck, machine gun Trey is born!  You've got to wonder at this point, how long did it take Trey from picking up the guitar for the first time until he was able to shred like this?  Maybe two weeks?  :-D   The vocal jam was a lot of fun too, another reason I love eighties tapes is that these sorts of antics could pop up in any song not just in predesignated ones like YEM. 

Halley's:  Yes it's awful, but I've actually heard worse, specifically the last ever '80s version from 8/17/89 where the band actually seems to display contempt for the tune. 

Back Porch:  Some great noodlin' by Trey, again a bit like you know who, but still very satisfying jam.   Plus a bonus tasty solo by Page.   

Shaggy Dog:  It's never been my favorite but I don't remember remember Page and Trey ripping up the outro jam like they do on this one, kickdown!

Fluffhead:  Always fun, even if it's still embryonic at this point. 

Sure they are still a bar band, but man they don't sound like any bar band I've ever seen!  If these guys played around my town I'd be there every night!  With great versions of Slave, Sally, Golgi and Camel Walk in their original form, and an amazing jam in Melt the Guns I gotta give the set an A-.  Definitely up there with the other great sets from the decade. 

[jedifunk]

ok, so i'm getting around to another listen of set 1...  and i'm really enjoying it!  its fun, its loose, its unpretentious....  really enjoying it!

i'm at halleys now, and yes the vocals are bad, but i'm still really enjoying it... 

mustang- nice, but glad it didnt stay in the rotation
camel walk - old skool, yes, this one is great, love the additional lyrics
golgi - fun, love treys comments before they play
slave- great work by everyone here, and trey is great... not my favorite style of playing but still you can get the feel that they are gonna be great...
melt the guns>sneakin- this shit was hot!  obviously they arent as tight as 1997, but this is amazing work for guys still trying ot get it together... set highlight right here.  vocal jam is really fun
halleys>porch>shaggy- fun fun fun... nice bluegrass feel, but a little to GD for my taste.. .but am enjoying it non-the-less.

once again, you easily get the idea of what the band wants to accomplish, which makes years like 95, 97, 99 even better cuz at that point they have "it" and it all started here...

i really got to say, i didnt think i'd enjoy this one.  but once i got past my predefined notions i found it to be a really enjoyable listen... this one will probably stick around in itunes, and find a niche in my rotation... its a perfect for around the house doing work...  its light fun entertaining.

thanks.

[birdman]

Been a long week for me and I finially got through the show. Its been years since I've listened to this one and theres probably a good reason for this. Obviously I wasn't expecting to find heart stopping renditions of many of the songs. However, I do love hearing primal Phish.
   Highlights for me included the MTG>Sneaking Sally, a quite impressive Slave, and Shaggy Dog (one of the songs I wanted to hear for years and finally caught on 10/29/95...one of the bigest breakouts for me ever)
    Peaches, Bowie, Mercy, and Hood would have drawn me back to see this strange band again,if only to make sure that what I had witnessed was actually real. Afterall, I've seen plenty of bar bands in my day but none that played anaything close to what these odd fellas brought to the stage.  Again, the Slave and Hood were the closest things to sounding like modern Phish and its no surprise that word spread about these guys...like wildfire it spread.
  Thanks for the pick Ikki....nice to go back to the roots.

[Gumbo72203]

this is cool to see so many people digging Phish's realllll early stuff.  I havent gotten a chance to sit down and listen to the whole show yet, but i would like to add a comment that if you like this show even a little bit, then you really oughta check out 10/16/86 which i think is smokin'.  there isnt that much, but i think the playing is amazing.  Golgi, Slave, Wilson, Halley's, Possum, Sneakin' Sally, and Makisupa.  great great early stuff.

[Hicks]

this is cool to see so many people digging Phish's realllll early stuff.  I havent gotten a chance to sit down and listen to the whole show yet, but i would like to add a comment that if you like this show even a little bit, then you really oughta check out 10/16/86 which i think is smokin'.  there isnt that much, but i think the playing is amazing.  Golgi, Slave, Wilson, Halley's, Possum, Sneakin' Sally, and Makisupa.  great great early stuff.

You mean 10/15/86 Gumbo? 

Yeah that's a great one, I think it may have been the first eighties show I ever got.

Another great early Have Mercy>Hood combo on that one as well, but nothing that can match up to the MTG jam and Bowie from this show, IMO.

[Gumbo72203]

actually no im completely stupid, its actually 10/12/86.  i actually picked up the beat CD copy of that show that i still have sitting randomly on my computer desk when i originally typed that...  i have no idea why i said 10/16..... lol

[lexslamman]

I have an old ogg copy of this one. gonna download this version and compare.

nice bar band vibe...  :banana:    :banana:

Love this show - must have been fun seeing Phish when they were rockin' the dives.

[Hicks]

actually no im completely stupid, its actually 10/12/86.  i actually picked up the beat CD copy of that show that i still have sitting randomly on my computer desk when i originally typed that...  i have no idea why i said 10/16..... lol

I still think you're talking about this show Gumbo  :-D

10-15-86 Hunt's, Burlington, VT

1: Alumni Blues, Makisupa Policeman, Skin It Back > Cities, I Am Hydrogen, McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters, AC/DC Bag, Jazz Interlude*, You Enjoy Myself, Lushington (1:04)

2: Peaches En Regalia, Golgi Apparatus, Swing Low Sweet Chariot Jam, Camel Walk, Shaggy Dog, Mustang Sally, Fluffhead, Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley, Wilson, Slave to the Traffic Light, Quinn the Eskimo, Mike's Song, Have Mercy, Harry Hood (1:23)

3: Run Like an Antelope**, Sanity, Anarchy (0:23)

E: Clod

There are no shows listed between 5/4/86 and this one, which is probably due to Jeff Holdsworth leaving the group during this time.

But yeah it's a sick show!