Date:    Tue, 16 Mar 1999 15:39:16 GMT
From:    Ellis0059 
Subject: Here's how Trey does it best: Cities 7.31.98 I

I've promoted this set before and I have gotten excellent feedback from folks
who sought tapes and gave it a close listen (Set II of this show is also
excellent).  But the song in this set that really stands out for me is Cities,
the fifth song of eight.  It follows "Rift", which is a good song but a
non-jammer, and Cities is the first rock and roll jam song of the entire
evening.  It has an excellent straightforward Trey led jam that exemplifies one
of the ways that Trey kicks ass; "inspires", if you will.  And frankly, this
particular jam style is one I can't say I have heard anyone else do nearly as
well; not Garcia, not Kimock, not anyone.

Lets see if this works without listing exact times.

You'll notice immediately in listening to this song that Phish is playing an
upbeat version.  They've played very slow and stretched out versions of this
song, in particular, I am thinking of the Great Went, but in this case, we have
an upbeat, danceable, grooveable rhythm right from the Get Go.  And
although Trey has flubbed the lyrics to this song terribly (an Amsterdam show I am not
remembering the date of, reviewed by another reviewer), it seems that he is not
quite as fucked up as he was on that day in Amsterdam (7.1.97?  Well, anyway,
not worth it to get up and check).  So he nails the lyrics and hits the high
notes well.

Then immediately after the lyrics are finished, the band starts to stretch out,
and there is a period in which they keep the groove going in an almost
distracted fashion, with Trey repititively noodling over the top in a very
"blend in with the band fashion."  On my tape, someone in the audience screams.
 Mike's bass has got a groove going (what a great sound that guy gets!). Page
is on the clavinet, its kind of a funky groove, it would have me up and dancing
if I wasn't typing, but as I told my friend from Australia who recently came to
visit (and for whom this was the first phish set I played, of many), "there is
MUCH more to come".

Trey drops out and suddenly sets up a digital delay loop.  Anticipation is very
very very gradually building.  He hits the same line he kept hitting
before, with a couple of added flourishes, but still softly, patiently,

and then suddenly something different starts, with Trey finding, right out of
the blue, a whole new line to focus on, still low and mellow, but this one has
more opportunities to experiment, he repeats it, but every time, a small change
here, a return to the original line, a different change there, a return to the
original line, a high note for a flourish here, a return to the original
line.
Building, building....

Then he changes it, rises it up a couple of notes, its a new line now, like the
old one but groovier, boogier, cool notes sounding out on top that make me
twitch while I dance to it, and the band responds, Page switches to the piano,
and we have stellar phish rock boogie, piano, bass, drums, and Trey's guitar
set to lead.  Trey returns to the first line, he returns to the second, its the
second with flourishes, Fish kicks in a couple of pops on the snare, Mike
sticks to the groove,

and Trey finds ANOTHER line to play with, a few notes higher yet, Fish is
starting to snap, crackle, and pop with excitement and Trey really starts to
milk the groove,

but this is not rock god braggadociousness, NOT AT ALL, this is a carefully
structured long term shake ass groovebuster,

and then he find a NEW line, man, this one is better than the last three, and
he skates around on it, finds a new way to say it, finds a new note to sling in
there, and suddenly it can't be helped, its a free for all, everybody climbing on
top of each other, Trey finds a way to do it in 3/4 on top of the 4/4, if you
know what I mean, which just builds the anticipation until he slings back into
one of the lines for an instant,

!!!!!!

but then all hell breaks loose and everybody is just wailing as a unit, Fish
slamming the cymbals, Trey wandering around on top, the rhythms peeling
off and building and releasing, Mike finding perky quirky ways to say his
thing,

!!!!!!!

and then we segue into a drop down and Trey kicks a pedal and plays some gentle
funk chords to drop us down into a mellow, relaxed, sweetly it drops off into a
closing chord finale.......and its done.

Well, there you have it.  Find me someone who can lead a jam like that, and
this is just ONE of the ways Trey does it, you sometimes see this "find a line
and build and build and build on it with a groove" in Bathtub Gins and Ghosts
as well, you could see it anywhere, but this is what Trey can do.  Are any of
the lines difficult to play?  No.  Are they "middle eastern influenced" or
some such damn thing?  No.

But Trey does this better than anyone ever has.  Its a great way to lead a jam,
and its why Trey joins Garcia on my list of favorite guitarists EVER.  Not
speed, technical ability, not just one line of phrase, not obscure
influences, although Trey has plenty of those.  But the ability to
construct and build a JAM out of thin air, like Cities 7.31.98, just
another of so many examples you can find.

And that's my $.02.


Ellis K.

"Know our love will not fade away."

Return me to the cities review page