New Album Announcement???

[Hicks]

I think what petrichor is missing is "that moment".

That moment that 12-15 minutes of composition pays off for.

Most other Trey compositions have it... Fluffhead, YEM, Dvided Sky, Guyute etc. all have a definitive 'Peak'.

Petrichor doesn't exactly have that. It's got a bunch of sections, but no exact pinnacle that pulls them all together.

TWISTING AND TURNING INTO THE MIST AROUND ME

OMG I'M PEAKING /\ /\ /\

[mistercharlie]

Big Boat Big posters to cause delays to preorders... MT doesn't have the posters yet.

The vinyl isn't supposed to come out until the end of the month/beginning of next month anyway.

I just now realized that this was my 20,000th post. What a waste of a milestone! 

[Lifeboy]

Aside from 'Petrichor', I couldn't feel anymore 'meh' about this album. Not even sure what that means other than that I'm not sure how I feel about it.

[PIE-GUY]

taken straight from FB:

Linda Geddes Lawrence
15 hrs
Now that I have the CD, Big Boat in hand, I was interested in learning a little bit more about the collaborations our boys did for this album and to know a bit more about the horns. The long list of additional musicians is impressive. What is more impressive is the eclectic mix of musicians chosen, with backgrounds ranging from R&B, to Nashville jazz, to big band, to country, to Classical, to NYC Jazz musicians to TAB, to Broadway. The song Tide Turns enlists many musicians from the Nashville area. (Look out Nashville! Maybe you will get some Horns!)
Did some research, for those interested, here is a little background on the list of impressive artists that we hear on BIG BOAT.
BTW, What a great effort on this Album! Especially giving us the opportunity to hear such collaborations which we would not typically hear at a live show. Thanks, Phish, for sharing so many talented people with us!
About the additional musicians on Big Boat!
Chris Bullock (Snarky Puppy) - Petrichor - clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, alto flute - Grammy Award winner for best R&B performance. Located in NYC and Performs in Jazz Fests around the world and has worked with artists like Lalah Hathaway, Jason Marsalis, Clyde Stubblefield.
www.chrismbullock.com
Gabriel Cabazas (Various Orchestras, Artists) - Petrichor - Cello - "one of America's sought after musicians and appeared as a soloist in America's finest orchestras (Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Los Angeles and more)." Member of yMusic sextet with collaborations from Dirty Projectors to Ben Folds.
www.gabrielcabezas.com
James Casey (TAB) - breath and burning, no men in no man's land, petrichor - tenor and baritone Sax. Sideman with Lettuce/Soulive
Natalie Cressman (TAB) - breath and burning, no men in no man's land, petrichor - Trombone. toured with TAb the last four years, now out with her second album. Trey calls the album a "beacon of light."
www.nataliecressman.com
Andres Forero (Hamilton) - blaze on, breath and burning, no man in no mans land, miss you, petrichor - percussion. Considered to be one of the best crossover drummer/percussionists in the industry. earned Tony, Grammy, and Emmy awards. Extensive performance history with people like Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, and more.
www.andresforero.info
Jennifer Hartswick (TAB) - breath and burning, no man and no man's land, petrichor - trumpet. Leads her own band as well as a mainstay with TAB. www.jenhartswick.com
Rob Moose - (Bon Iver) - petrichor- violin viola. he has emerged as one of the most sought after instrumentalists, arrangers, and producers of his generation. He has played on over 200 albums by artists like Vampire Weekend, John Legend, Arcade Fire, and arranged several others such as the Decemberists, Alabama Shakes, and the Punch Brothers. www.robmoose.com
Jeff Tanski (Broadway - Carole King, Jekyll & Hyde) - Petrichor - additional keyboards. trey recruited jeff to help him prep for the fair the well concerts. Bob Weir refers to Jeff as "wunderkind of broadway world" Who wrote charts for 70 Grateful Dead songs that Anastasia used to prepare for the fair the well shows.
www.jambase.com/.../jeff-tanski-disscusses-prepping-trey-anas...
Jim Horn (Varied artists) - Tide Turns -baritone sax. Long history of playing with various artists including members of the Beatles, the Beach boys, the Rolling Stones, and country artist like Vince Gill, and Kenny Chesney.
www.jimhornmusic.com
Steve Herrman - (Delbert McClinton) - Tide Turns - Currently plays on the Nashville jazz scene with legendary jazz drummer Duffy Jackson's Big Band
as well as with the Kelly Cox Collaborative.
Scott Dujac - Tide Turns - trumpet. Info not available
Roy Agee - (varied artists) - Tide Turns - trombone. he has played with world renowned entertainers such as Lyle Lovett, Natalie Cole, Alison Krauss, Jimmy Buffett, Bela Fleck, and others.
www.nashvillstudioorchestra.com/arrangerscomposers/roy-agee
Tyler Summers - (One O'Clock Lab Band) - Tide Turns - alto sax. Grammy award winner and active musician and a ranger in the Nashville music scene. He has played with Aretha Franklin, Martina McBride the Temptations among others. he performed a version of "Oh Canada" prior to the opening of the Beijing Olympics.
www.maxwelltreemusic.com/writers/tyler-summers
Denis Solee - (Varied Artists) - Tide Turns - tenor sax. part of the Nashville music scene he has played with artists such as Ray Charles, Mel Torme, Sarah Vaughn, Aretha Franklin, Ray Stevens and more.

[Caravan2001]

the weirdest thing about Petrichor is when they just start playing KDF.

right? lol

[WhatstheUse?]

the weirdest thing about Petrichor is when they just start playing KDF.

right? lol

lol. I can't not think this now.

[susep]

listening again via vinyl.  The horns in No Men are great, nice touch. 

[VDB]

listening again via vinyl.  The horns in No Men are great, nice touch.

100% agreed.

[VDB]

Friends - Why are the vocals so hard to make out? Should I be relieved?

B&B - I think we've covered this.

Home - I like this one. I don't necessarily like when songs end with guitar feedback. Just a bit overused, is all.

Blaze On - A refined version of what we're used to. Weak-ass "woo!" after he kicks it to Leo.

Tide Turns - Horns sounded nice for a brief instant and then it turned to easy-listening cheese real fast.

Things People Do - I loved its live debut; now why just slap a Gordon demo on an album? And why did he have to include the lyric "scanning Pinterest"?

Waking Up Dead - I dig it. It's been a while since we've gotten a good rock song about vacuum cleaning.

Running Out of Time - Excessively sentimental, even for Trey. More like "running out of (decent) rhymes," amirite?

No Men - The slinky, slithery horns give this the good kind of a TAB feel. Page sounds great too.

Miss You - I didn't hate it on the Wrigley tapes and I don't hate it here. Musically, it's lovely; lyrically, it's pretty good ballad material. It's tricky to get these right but I'd say they did this time.

I Always Wanted it this Way - Retro-future sound spiced with some hot bongo action? Don't ever make the mistake of thinking that everyone's favorite receding-hairlined Keyboard Man doesn't dig the experimental shit.

More - Sounds like a 70's-flavored, analog version of a TV on the Radio song, and they would have pulled it off better. Points for effort though.

Petrichor - Pretty good. I like compositions, what can I say. Probably wouldn't play well live, as others have noted.




So. All in all, I'll share the sentiment that this album hits and misses. By my rough tally, this album bats around .461. Which would put you in the Hall of Fame! Just kidding, that's not good for an album. Big Boat feels more disjointed than Fuego, and maybe that's because it lacks the teamwork of its predecessor -- so we jump from a Page song to a TAB I mean Trey song to a Gordo song, etc. And, of course, how dare they not put Ass Handed on this.

I feel I owe this album an updated review. It's been a slow burn since its release, for sure. Suffice to say I've come around quite a bit on quite a bit of this record.


Friends - The lyrics initially strike you as cheesy/juvenile, but I think the band knew exactly what they were doing. It's a touch apocalyptic, a touch atheist, a bit fond and hopeful, and it has a real big sound. My only gripes, in fact, are that the mix seems kinda messy; I'd like to hear everything a little more clearly in this track.

B&B - Here's one that's benefited from my more generous approach to listening to this album. The dire, end-times lyrics are belied by the sunny, peppy music in a way that amuses me. Again, maybe my initial inability to get the irony was my problem, not Phish's.

Home - Still like it. The end portion especially.

Blaze On - Status quo.

Tide Turns - The Rolling Stone article shed some light on the story behind this song, and so of course I felt like an asshole for hating on it. Put in its context, I think it works rather well and I rather like it.

Things People - Neat enough once you hear the background on this, but I still would have preferred a full-blown version.

Waking Up Dead - Simple as it seems, for me Trey's backing vocals (meaning, really, just their existence) make me like this track even more. It's a view of Phish we don't get as often.

Running Out of Time - OK, it's fine. Can't say I love it right as of right now, but I appreciate the sentiment and the production.

No Men - Same as before.

Miss You - I love it so much I wore it for Halloween.

Always Wanted - Got to hear this live twice this fall, affirming suspicions that this would turn into a heater of a second-set disco-party number. Even though Page can't quite figure his vocals out in the show environment.

More - Man, I must've been feeling cynical when I wrote my original review. Well, as of today I'm a fan of More, and to me it feels like the new Number Line.

Petrichor - Works slightly better live than I figured it would. I think the trick is that they not play it too tepidly, and over the course of tour the practice seemed to have paid off in that respect.