What is your favorite Phish year?
When you want to listen to a run of shows what year do you scroll to in your library?
That's a tough one. I think it varies for me, which is how it is when listening to the Dead as well. Someetimes I'm in the mood for some raw, rambunctious, and reckless Phish from '91, other times I want to hear them polished and peaking from say '95, and other times I want to hear the more mature, more funked out shows from '98 or even '00 (saw a lot of shows in '00, so it holds a special place in my heart). Rarely, however, do I find myself saying \"man, I really want to throw in some Phish from Vegas '04, or from NC in '03\", though I will say that I do throw the later stuff in every so often just to hear it. It's just not my favorite, although there are some really tasty nuggets from the later years. Just not as spontaneous.
But that's how it goes for most bands. Even the Dead got (gasp!) \"predictable\" as the years went on. A lot of people complain about how Phish degressed as the years went on, but I don't think so. I call it growing, and I don't even look at it as a \"for better or worse\" scenario. It's just the way it was, and I loved every minute of it.
'97 might be my favorite year, but even as I write that, my mind immediately goes to the \"well don't forget '94, you love that year too!\", so I can't really say. Truth be told, I like the rotating schedule I seem to be on. Lately it's just been close the eyes and pick a disc, which seems to be working out well.
93! very adventurous, i love how trey would just make riffs up as they went along, jams were all really distinct from other jams with multiple themes and general weirdness. later years are always fun but they're a bit too predicable, and kind of formulaic. but as shakedown said i switch periods every month or so
hmm, its my question and i have a tough time trying to answer it. I Think most of the 93 94 95 stuff is amazing if i am looking for shows that are simply set out to prove that they are a great band. but I think that 97 might be my favorite year. I like a lot of the shows from then, and if they had good recordings from the world tour i think it would get a lot more respect.
Although from about June to December 95 run was pretty sick...
Agree with Shakedown, the post hiatus are groups of shows that i seem to avoid for some subconscious reason, although I do enjoy IT, great recording, and a few bust outs.
This is a simple question for myself... 1995!!!
phish themselves push the latter years alot, the 96-00 period gets alot of the live phish entries and archival releases. i was glad to see murat released recently, hopefully they're gonna go deep into the old archives and pull out someearly 90's with perfect sound quality :lol:
i've been listening to live 7 a lot lately, and i might have to go out on a limb and say 93. this was roughly the time where they started taking past staples to new levels, and really experimenting. it never sounded so fresh and new. before this epiphany, i would've said 94.....or 97.
Recently I've been listening to a lot of 90,91,92, but I'm trying to make an effort to delve into some the later years ('98 - ) that I haven't hit much of yet . Yeah phish definitely pushes their later stuff. Phish radio is mostly all more modern cuts
97 for sure, with 94 close behind
and im a sucker for the 91 horns shows
yeah the giant country horns did bring something great to the table 8)