R10/W04: 11-30-96 Arco Arena, Sacramento, CA

[mbw]

*UncleEb has requested that we switch places*

due to a lot of strangely underwhelming reviews last round for the 27th, my pick this round comes two shows later.
fall '96 will continue to be picked until morale improves.  without further ado.....

timber whoa...

Phish
11-30-96
Arco Arena
Sacramento, CA

Source: DFOB (Neumann KM 140>DA-P1@44.1k)>ZA2>SF 4.0(fades and minor
glitch removal)>CDWAV>SHNv3(w/seek tables appended)

DAT>CD Transfer by Jamie Lutch, 11/2000

This is a sick sounding recording of one of the best shows I have ever
seen. Enjoy!!

____________________________________________________________________________

*Dankseed Certification received 00-01-24*
and posted at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dankseeds/files/ph96-11-30/
Listening test performed by *5* danksters

positive criteria met:
Tracking- OK
Seamless and complete- OK
Lineage listed- OK

negative criteria met:
DAE- NO
Resampled- NO
Diginoise- NO
___________________________________________________________________________


Disc 1: (set 1)
1. Runaway Jim
2. Punch You in the Eye
3. All Things Reconsidered
4. Bouncing Around the Room
5. Stash
6. Fluffhead
7. My Old Home Place*
8. Uncle Penn*
9. Prince Caspian
10.Chalk Dust Torture

Disc 2: (set 2)
1. La Grange
2. It's Ice
3. Glide
4. Brother^
5. Contact
6. Also Sprach Zarathustra->
7. Timber Ho!**
8. Jam
9. Taste**
10.Funky Bitch**
11.Amazing Grace
12.Amazing Grace Jam#

Disc 3: (Encore)
1. Crowd Noise
2. Possum#


*With John McEuen on banjo
^Sung for Page's brother, who was to the side of the stage
**With Peter Apfelbaum on tenor sax
#With Peter Apfelbaum on tenor sax and John McEuen on lap slide guitar

lossless:
http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=513024

lossy:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FBFPI0GC

Submitted Reviews:

01- August
02 - RJ
03- KHalpin
04- UncleEb
05- Jezmund
06- MbW
07- Bvaz
08- Pnchundi
09- Sophist

[pnchundi]

having some problems getting the files to convert.  Gonna switch to lossy

[khalpin]

Jim - Solid opener with some good energy.
PYitE - "Git up offa that thing!"  Well played.
All Things Reconsidered - 2nd to last time played.  Pretty tight, too.  A real nice treat.
Bouncing - Standard.
Stash - Trey jumps right into the jam with some real tasty playing.  Some nice tension.  Solid Stash.
Fluffhead - Real tight save for a minor gaffe or two.  More great stuff here. Nice outro solo by Trey.
Old Home Place - Great song with a great special guest makes for a special version.
Uncle Penn - Some more bluegrass while our guest is on stage.  Love the addition of banjo for this one.
Prince Caspian - Bathroom break before the mad rush in between sets.
Chalkdust - Some serious energy to finish out the set.

La Grange - I love this as an opener, as do most in attendance.  Solid.
Ice - FAST version.  And I like 'em fast.  Not perfect, but real sweet.  Spacey interlude that returns with a big bang to close it out.
Glide - Standard
Brother - So glad they brought this back that Fall.  Awesome stuff.  Short but sweet.
Contact - Another fun treat.  Lovin' the setlist
2001 - Really lovin' the setlist.  Not extremely exploratory, but had a nice groove that had me moving.
Timber - I never would've thought a saxaphone would work as well as it does here in Timber.  Certainly a unique version.  I really dig it.  Lots of tension and dissonance making the rounds.
Taste - Nice, short intro jam.  Peter Apfelbaum really adds a nice element to this, as well.  You never get to hear Trey take a back seat on this and let someone else run with it.
Funky Bitch - Probably the most oft used "special guest" song.  Another tasty version.  Mike @ 3:50 is a thing of beauty.
Amazing Grace - Standard
Amazing Grace Jam - Just gorgeous.  A great finish to a great set.

Possum - Not your everyday Possum.  Normally I could give or take these, but there is so much going on in this Possum, it's impossible not to like.

While this show may be void of any exploratory Type II jamming, it's still jam-packed with highlights.  Particularly the second set.  Up there with 10/31, 12/1 & 12/6 as my favorite shows of Fall '96.  Solid A.

[rowjimmy]

Jim shows some power
Trey is coiled to strike but
never really does

The Punch is solid
and ATR is way cool
Bouncing is... Bouncing

The Stash was ok
but it failed to blow my mind
The Clod made Fluffhead

Great bluegrass segment
Followed by Prince Caspian?!?
Then Chalk Dust happens.

La Grange gets dirty
It's Ice left no impression
after two listens

Glide was cool. No botch
detected. Brother ripped.
Contact was Contact.

2001 starts
spacey but it's just standard.
Timber with sax, though,

that is pretty cool.
The jam sounds like Funeral
For a Friend- sorta

Taste then kicks on in
and with the saxamaphone
it's quite different

Funky Bitch lets Trey
rip shit up and the sax hints
at NOLA boogie.

Amazing Grace plus
is cool and unique, I guess.
Possum full on wails.

This show has great stuff
both unique and fun but still
not mindblowing.

[justjezmund]

Arco Arena, Sacramento, CA
11/30/96

I

Runaway Jim - Good opener, some nice energy.

PYITE - Another opener?  Fish yelling at the crowd makes me laugh.  Some nice flex from trey to close it out.

All Things Reconsidered - One of the last times for this little diddy.  Just doesn't do much for me.

Bouncing - First set bouncing, nothing special.

Stash - Ok lets see some heat. Nice intro followed up by a well played rest of the song.  But still nothing standout-ish.

Fluffhead - First set fluffs always welcomed.  Well done with some cool different page work in CLOD.  Some heat from trey from trey that perks me up a bit at the end.

Old Home Place - Are we back in nov 94?  One of my fav bluegrass tunes.  Awesome to hear again with banjos.

Uncle Pen - More cool bluegrass.

Caspian - Bluegrass>Caspian, ok I guess.  Not like its bad or anything. This set just seems to be all over the place.

CDT - Trey rips shit :rawk: Bits of funk from trey, me likey.  Im hoping for more of this from second set.


II


LA GRANGE -  FUCK YEAH!!!!!  Just straight getting down rock and roll.  Trey def throwin down with ZZ style.

Its Ice - Awesome beginning>awesomely dark middle>awesome end.  Really dug that.

Glide - Im a Glide.

Brother - WOAHHH OOHHHH WOAHHH OOHHHH WOAHHHH.

Contact - I got tires on the road. 

2001 - This is def getting me couch grooving. Excellent work from all in this, nice funk.>

Timber - Timber w/sax = :crazy: > sax solo jam - other side of the pillow cool.

Taste - After hearing a lot of versions of this its awesome to hear some different shit from this.  I like it.

Funky Bitch - Take the above statement and apply.

Amazing Grace - SHHHHHH!!!!  WOOOOHOOOO!!!! SHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Grace Instrumental - Pretty cool.


E:


Possum - Little bit of sax and twang with this to send you home.  I think it works real well with this song.


Ok, set one = meh, set two = pretty f'n cool.  Between the La Grange, the really nice Ice, the 2001>Timber and the guest spots this second set was really enjoyable to listen to. 

Overall grade B-

[mbw]

R10/W4: 11-30-96  Arco Arena, Sacramento, CA

I
Jim – Trey lets everyone know early on that there will be no f*cking around tonight.

PYITE – Lovin Fish with the James Brown shouts.  Little bit of trouble with parts of it, but the outtro is very cool.

All Things Reconsidered – Awesome.  Remember when they could play this?  Me neither.

Bouncin – Sure.

Stash – Sick Stash here. Stays very stash-y the whole time and is a total mindf*cker

Fluffhead – Whoa, did you dudes hear that?  I think Mike says "check it out!"   Clod section is dope, and the ending is rocked the f*ck out.  A rare mid-show 'thank you' from Trey.

My Old Home Place – Both of these....
Uncle Penn - ...sound nice with the banjo

Prince Caspian – Not a Caspian hater, so I enjoyed the euphoric feeling this song can give.

Chalk Dust Torture – Popped the roof off with this one.

II
La Grange – Swingin!  Trey tears this one up and reminds me that he is one bad man on the guitar.

It's Ice – Nice.  A long psychedelic ambient jam in this one, different from most.

Glide – Played well and always (well, almost always) fun.

Brother – Played well and always fun.  Proper rippage.

Contact – Played well and always fun.  Loving the mix of songs in this set.

2001 – Average 2001?  I think not.  This one is s00per funky, with Trey doing a little 'funky chicken' line that is cool as hell.  One of the great ones.

Timber Ho! – Timber with the sax is awesome.  Very jazzy, sounds a little Dead-ish.  Listened to this 2001 > Timber a bunch of times and can't seem to get enough. > a pretty little jam

Taste – Works great again with the sax.  Beautiful music being made here.  Loved it.

Funky Bitch - These definitely qualify for 'Guest sit-ins which enhance the jams.'

Amazing Grace >Amazing Grace Jam – Pretty sure that was awesome.

Possum – Nice intro, the slide guitar sounds nice.  A lot of sound in this one, a keeper for sure.

This show is a great one.  The guys are clearly having a blast.  A nice mix of technicality, funk, grass, jazz psychedelia and straight rock; exactly what a Phish show should sound like.  The guests really added another dimension to the music.  Giving it a A/A+

[DoW]

I'll have my 2 reviews up tomorrow.  was catching up on transferring.  I suck.

[mbw]

I'll have my 2 reviews up tomorrow.  was catching up on transferring.  I suck.

hurry up man, augusto means biznaz.

[pnchundi]

Jim- Trey jumps out early and steals this one
PYITE- this is when Punch began to really evolve
ATR- I have a soft spot for this one
Bouncing- yep
Stash- back into and this a really nice dark one.  Explores some fun space while remaining close to the original music ideas.  Trey kills
Fluff- ouch, just got kicked in the nuts.  This a great Fluff.  They just explode. 
My Old Home/Uncle P- pretty cool sounding. 
Prince Caspian- I like this one too, and the band was into at this point.  great ending
Chalk- a nice ripping

Whats not to love about this? Strong opening and closing numbers, some real meat with Stash/Fluff, and then a banjo breakdown?

LaGrange- right back into things.  Straight blues and straight rocking Trey
Its Ice- wow, great one.  Gets into a funky space and stays there.  Page sounds good
Glide- nice placement. 
Brother- wow, a real treat. 
Contact- nice flow they have going here.  I like Contact, but I like contact a lot more when it is NOT an encore
2001- this song is also just starting to get the treatment.  Nice long groove
Timber- hell yea! Machine Gun Trey
Taste- perfect.  Just what i needed to hear, and man, the sax adds a great element while fitting in effortlessly
Funky Bitch- not quite done yet.  Again really good
Amazing Grace- ok we've got one more for ya.  The grace is ok, but the jam that ensues is worth the ticket price.  Nice to see guests sitting in with the band and adding to the mix

Possum- I think it should have steel guitar everytime. 

Great pick! Both sets are great and the guests enhance and push the band into new places.   A

[G. Augusto]

Jim - Giddy/chatty crowd. Patient start to the jam.

PYITE - Some James Brown quotes from Fish keeping up with the November '06 theme. Little bit of an outro jam with some mini-kit.

ATR - Well played and missed.

Bouncing - Went to go get animals crackers and another beer.

Stash - They miss the first release but come back and the nail the second. Good vrsion.

Fluff - Pretty sure this is the version where Mike say "Czech zit gout". Love the whole CLOD section with both Page and Trey bringin' it. Little off leading in the Bundle of Joy. Great ending with Fish crushing it!

Homeplace - Pretty hot band!

U Penn - Spot on. Like the banjo.

Caspian - Like how they take their time with the intro. Back when the "jam" was chording with no lead work. Kinda miss the ending. Some SER Leslie action going on.

Chal - Some more Leslie and MOAR JB. Only Chalk set closer of the year. Little loop laid down and Trey alternates between wah chording and leads.

La Grange - Just like Omaha 2 weeks earlier, this one sets the tone nicely.

Ice - Mucho wah. Dig the major jam in the breakdown section. Nice tempo.

Glide - One of two from '96. I rank it above the Coventry version.

Brother - Fall Tour saw a few after the Ball bustout. Shout out to Tom Hanks.

Contact - The wheels song.

2001 - Similar to 12-06 with some more JB. Fish's squeal sounds like someone is slowly letting the air out of a balloon. Mike is teasing something...anyone know what? Check 11-18-1996 for the first extended 2001.

Timber - The horn is making all hard-like. Jam kinda goes on a tad long, however. Great post jam with Page and sax. Kinda reminds me of some SNL outro music.

Taste - Noteworthy for the sax.

Bitch - Mike's vox are exceptionally strong. Great solo by Trey! Sax solo is ultra funky.

Grace - with some slide guitar. Again, reminds me of SNL.

Possum - Enough with the Possum encores with guests! ENOUGH!

Great show that gets a Big A.
A cool bounce-back show after the dud that was the Cow Palace.

[UncleEbinezer]

Runaway Jim - good opener.  I like the peaks and the energy of this one.  Trey realling throwing some notes out there and climaxing. 
Punch You In the Eye - Some James Brown screaming helps get this going.  High energy all of the way and then into...
All Things Reconsidered - Short and sweet.  Love it!!!
Bouncing Around the Room - Fun!  Also short and sweet.
Stash - Now down to business.  Excellent shreddage.  Not the smoothest transition out of the jam but still solid.
Fluffhead - Follows the stash very quickly and elegantly. 
The Old Home Place - This is how you do some bluegrass!  Love the banjo.
Uncle Pen - Never sounded so sweet to me.  I have always loved this song.  The breakdown part is nice!
Prince Caspian - High energy rock.  Not a caspian fan but like this one
Chalk Dust Torture - Nice Chalkdust.  Funk and shreddage.  Excellent combo here!! 

La Grange - Feels like a continuation of this Chalkdust.  Great opener.
It's Ice - Funky and crunky.  Like the middle section a lot.
Glide - It's glide!!!!
Brother - Give me some more of this please! 
Contact - high energy Contact with Page really taking the lead on piano here.
Also Sprach Zarathustra - high energy 2001's.  Love it.  Nice grungy loops in the background.  Nice funk groove on top and some Fishman screaming James Brown.  Trey stays on the same notes for the entire song it seems.  And into...
Timber - High energy and a SAXOPHONE!!!!  This doesn't get as dark and devilish as I like them, but still a great version with the SAX!
Sax Jam - little sax jam before we head into....
Taste - I like the sax at the beginning of this. 
Funky Bitch - Fast, furious and rockin'!!!  SAX is an excellent addition. 
Amazing Grace -
Amazing Grace Jam - I saw Aug's post before finishing this review and SNL is dead on.
Possum - Nice addition with the Steel.  I like this as an encore!

Solid show all around.  Guests are not usually my thing, but this is a nice mix of everything.  A-

[sophist]

Alright, sorry for the late review.  The combination of a busy work schedule, and traveling for Panic set me back with reviews.  Anyways, I listened to this show about 2 weeks ago, so my memory is quite fuzzy, but I'll do my best here to review it. 

Disc 1: (set 1)
1. Runaway Jim
2. Punch You in the Eye
3. All Things Reconsidered
4. Bouncing Around the Room
5. Stash
6. Fluffhead
7. My Old Home Place*
8. Uncle Penn*
9. Prince Caspian
10.Chalk Dust Torture

Disc 2: (set 2)
1. La Grange
2. It's Ice
3. Glide
4. Brother^
5. Contact
6. Also Sprach Zarathustra->
7. Timber Ho!**
8. Jam
9. Taste**
10.Funky Bitch**
11.Amazing Grace
12.Amazing Grace Jam#

Disc 3: (Encore)
1. Crowd Noise
2. Possum#

Jim opener, always a solid choice.  This one delivers.  Good tempo, tight playing to start the show.  PYITE follows, again, solid.  I like this tandem as an opener.  ATR is next.  I dig this tune.  Solid version.  Bouncin' is Bouncin'.  You get a moment to reflect in a pretty song.  Decent placement here.  Stash.  Here we go.  This is the meat of the first set.  Some flubs in the jam, but it still works for me.   Fluffhead.  I like this pairing here.  Pretty solid Fluff.  Nice, some grass to follow the compositions, well placed and well played.  Caspian, meh.  Not digging the placement here.  Good version though.  CDT to close.  Ah, the days before it became a generic opener.  Solid version.  Some rippage by Trey here. 

Interesting choice for the set II opener.  I dig it.  Good version and cover.  It's Ice.  Bring the juicy psychedelic shit boys.  Solid version.  Glide.  Gotta say meh here.  I'd rather see Glide in the first set, but that's just me.  Alright, this is more like it.  Raging version of Brother.  Trey does not bring that weak tot action.  Again, gotta say meh with Contact.  It's well played, but I'm not digging the placement.  2001 follows.  Bring that heat back up.  Solid.  Timber.  Niiiiiiiiiice.  This version fucking rulez.  Sick jam.  Def the highlight of the show.  Taste follows, I can dig that.  Good version.  Funky Bitch, indeed.  The sax brings so much to the table here.  I dig it.  Amazing Grace > Amazing Grace jam.  Cool little segment and jam here.  I like this a lot.  Great way to end the set.  Possum encore, cool.  Good way to end this show. 

Overall I give the first set a B-/B and the second set a C+/B-.  My beef with the second set is some of the song placements, while everything is well played, I just don't dig the overall flow of that set.  Anyways, thanks for the pick Mirth!