LawnMemo

The Daily Ghost

The Daily Ghost #8 07/03/1997 Serenadenhof, Nuremberg, Germany

Download Link: 07/03/1997 Ghost>Cars Trucks Buses

Background (Set: 2 of 2-Song: 1 of 6-Song Gap: 2)

1997-07-03gn3

Background on the venue from @gr8fulgolfer…
“The roof was cut out in the middle. So it was open air, but with an indoor/outdoor feel to it. There were bushes planted everywhere and a few trees which if you were sitting in the back were completely in stage view so you couldn’t really see anything. The sound in the building was unreal. An acoustical masterpiece which I’m sure was what Hitler wanted so people could hear him talk more clearly. Really cool place to see a show but definitely eerie because of the history behind the building.  The show wasn’t all that spectacular besides the Ghost”

A massive exploratory Ghost that clocks in at about 30 minutes. I have also included a cool segue into CTB. After the monster Ghost opener in Amsterdam, Ghost finds a home as the second set opener. Thanks to @KernelForbin for the remaster…

Composed Section

The Composed section starts out the slower pace that we have seen a lot on this tour. Page’s solo is his usual solid self.  Definitely keeping the tempo, and feel of the composed section.  An average length pause, and the drop is actually pretty good. Vocals still a bit over sung for my taste. They just let the last word fall apart and then into the jam.

Beginning Jam, Angry Trey

At 3:13 they move into the jam. Page is getting into the clav, while Trey starts to take the lead. Gordon and Fishman providing the early rhythm section. At 4:23 Page has moved to the piano and Trey starts to play a dark, angry groove. By 5:30 Page moves from the piano and starts to play some weird sounds to complement Trey. This section is Big Angry Red dominating as he channels his inner dirty Ghost and lets it flow through the guitar. At about the 6:45 mark Page gets back to the piano and cuts some of the dirt, while still throwing some murky sounds into the mix. Gordon and Fishman still grooving. This angry section has a completely different feel to it than anything from the previous Ghosts. You can feel the band going into new territory.

A Little Bit Softer Now

At about 7:45 Trey lightens his tone every so slightly into more of his classic sound while still dominating this jam. Page on piano gives this angry place some sprinkled light, beautiful contrast.  At 9:20 Trey repeats a nice lick quickly a couple of times and gets some love from the crowd.  Although I would say Trey has really dominated the jam, the band as a whole has moved incredibly well together.  Since the beginning of this jam through this angry dark space they have been together.

Breaking the Jam down

At the 10:00 mark Trey plays the angry sound from earlier, just before Fishman makes a quick switch in tempo.  The band quickly follows suit and the jam is broken down fast.  Trey plays a very high pitched sound with a lot of notes very quickly.  Around 12:00 Mike begins to pop the bass a bit more. Next, the jam starts to pick up a bit more. Trey starts to repeat a section and the jam builds nicely.  At 13:40 Fishman takes the lead and breaks the jam down again.  There is some searching going on as they are starting to explore different directions.  Trey lays come cool effects down in the deep space.

Welcome to Real Type 2 (LM Love)

At about 16:00 Gordon begins to take a bit of the lead. Things die down for a second, and at 16:24 Fishman starts to play almost a bluegrassy rhythm. By about 17:30 Fishman and Gordon have really linked up and we go into a very interesting section.  It almost sounds like the two of them are playing rift.  There may be a tease in this section which I can’t yet place.  Trey adds an absolutely beautiful tone and Page balances the groove perfectly.  I love this section, think about where we have come from. This happy sound feels like riding off into the sunset, after coming from the dark murk earlier in this jam.  It is safe to say this Ghost is the first to really get outside of the box.  The others did have their moments but were more linear in direction.  This thing has gone from point A to point… wait what song is this.

Wait the sunset just found a dark cloud

At about 19:38 the happy fun sections starts to encounter some hatred.  It is getting angrier by the note.  At 20:12 pure EVIL has come and this Ghost is pissed!  What a couple of measures that was!  It decides to calm itself down a bit, and Trey gets into a nice solo.  Page is really hammering down on the piano.  At 21:10 the jam starts to break down then…Fishman starts to sing some of the Ghost lyrics.

Down into the Funk…I feel I’ve never told you…

After his vocals, Fishman picks the jam up for a bit, then decides to bring it back down. We are very deep into improvisation mode.  I had just felt the jam was going to take off, but that is not the case.  Directions are being explored all over the place.  At 23:00 Trey finds a lick the band builds around and the jam takes a full right turn.  They drop it way down, and what would a 1997 Ghost be without some deep funk?  I haven’t spoke too much about Gordon, his time is now.  By 23:30 this jam comes almost to a halt.  Gordon steps up and really takes over.  Trey is yelling something like “come on now” “yeah”.  Then at 23:30 with Gordon grooving this place, they bust into a full Ghost vocal reprise.  Awesome stuff!

They are obviously having a ton of fun.  Trey finds that great crunch sound at 25:45 and this jam slows even more.  You can hear the crowd’s every move and each note rings so loudly.  Life lesson…Sometimes less is more. Fantastic section!  If I ever go on a cockroach stomping spree, this is the section I want to be playing.  It is like picking up your feet very slowly then WHAM!  Pick it back up, WHAM! Again…how did we get here? Where the hell am I?  The crowd loves it.

Space surfing

At 28:25 Trey lays some loops that are straight from Mars.  He shot a ray gun into the crowd and it is bouncing back.  I feel like if I had a surfboard in space that is the sound riding on it would make.  Trey lays down a couple great runs, Page and Gordon take it down even further.  At 29:34 Fishman takes the first wave from space and picks up the tempo.  Not much going on over the space loops until right at the 30:00 mark.  Page hits the organ and CTB is born from the alien surfboard.  I did not see that coming, super cool segue.

Just a reminder, I have included Cars Truck Buses in today’s clip, very good version.

Final Thoughts

Whoa, coming back from space for this wrap up.  Serious Ghost here!  The band really took the training wheels off and went for it.  If you love jams that go deep, this is a great one for you.  I like to say this is the first “Where the hell am I? How did I get here?” Ghost.  An absolute ride of a jam.   One of my favorite sections in Phish History and easily on of the best versions.  MONSTER

Score: 9.4

Thanks for a great week here at The Daily Ghost!  Thank you again to all that have helped out!  Join us next week!  Flecktones, Virginia Beach and little place called Lakewood await…

At 11:30am EST we will be playing the remastered Ghost (and segues) at turntable.fm/ThePhish and discussing it. Stop on by!