Background (Ghost Position: Set 1 of 1 – Song 3 of 11-Show Gap: 3)

From Phish.net:

“This single-set performance, a taping for the PBS television show Sessions at West 54th, was performed in front of roughly 200 fans and industry executives. The show was first broadcast the week of January 9, 1999. Sleep, Driver and Albuquerque were performed acoustic. Trey made jokes about the length of Guyute, remarking that the show could cut to four commercial breaks and the band would still be playing the same song. Taste was played after Trey took the crowd’s requests for the final song. When the show was aired, only Birds, Ghost, and Taste were broadcast, with interviews interspersed between songs.”

The segue from Frankie Says is not included, it is not really a segue.  After my Final Thoughts the video is below.  Make sure to check it out, at least to see them freeze up during the pause, and Trey wears the opposite of a form fitting sweatshirt.

 No ticket stub for this show

Composed Section (0:00-4:24)

Familiar Trey loops start to ring out, then Page and Mike add a couple of notes.  At about the 30 second mark, Mike starts to kick the door down with his bass.  Beautiful thing about recording at Sony Studios?  One of the crispest soundboard recordings out there.  Every note is sooooo crisp.  Trey bends some notes around Mike’s bass line before the lyrics start.  A very slow and quiet pace from Fish.

The vocals are incredibly good, and certainly adds to this intro.  The solo section gets a funky dose of Page, and balance from Mike.  When they re-enter the intro at 3:15 Trey forgets the lyrics for a second.

The pause is characterized by some echoing loops from Trey.  When they come back they NAIL the drop in.  No fucking around in the studio!  That was seriously bad ass.  More of that!  Mike adds some awesome deep vocal range to the end vocal section.  Page also starts to get down on the piano when Mike’s vocals kick in.  Easily one of the best intro sections.  Top notch!

The Jam (4:25-9:42)

Fish and Page start the jam out strong and this jam does not waste any time.  After a couple of sectioned off measures, Fish starts to pick up the pace.  At the 4:58 marl he starts to move to a cymbal groove, and Trey starts to lead out a bit.

Mike gives a great groove to this jam while Trey, and especially Page, bring home the bacon.  Page gets on the piano and does not mess around.  He plays chords, runs, melodies, you name it.  The Chairman is on point, and really the jam is more Trey playing behind him.

Starting at about the 5:55 mark, Page really nails a run that gives Trey a ton of room behind him.  Trey starts to play a couple of nasty licks before the jam takes a bit of a turn.

At 6:18, the jam changes as Trey backs off just a touch, and starts to move more into his effects.  It gets a touch funky before Trey starts to build some tension at the 6:43 mark.

Trey begins to build things up by repeating a lick as the band grows behind him.

At the 7:20 mark, the hammer drops and Trey blasts into a solo.  Fish flies in right with him and awayyyyy we go!  Page and Mike are firing run after run, and Big Red’s tones rips through this soundboard.  At 8:00, Trey and Page start to build some more tension.  Mike takes this opportunity to find an awesome lick at 8:10.  I love that lick by Mike so much.  Big and powerful, yet in perfect harmony with the peak going on.  It allows for Page to really find such a beautiful melody on top of that bass.  Great stuff.

Page once again is freaking rock star.  The variety of playing he accomplishes during this peak is awesome.  He is the real star of this jam for me.

At 8:47, Fish signals that this Ghost needs to be a short version.  He switches the beat and the jam starts to fade away.  Fish does give it a bit of life as he blasts a fill at the 9:00 mark.  Shortly after Ghost is finished.

Final Thoughts

Ghost does not have to be 20 minutes to be great.  This Ghost gets a crazy amount done in about nine and a half minutes.  A great intro section, cool groove jam, nice short peak, and even a touch of an ourto.  This Ghost is great to listen to.  Sometimes quality beats quantity.

Score: 8.5

http://youtu.be/U-WG4vk1ono