'Big Boat'

As I suspected, Phish's new album, Big Boat, with Bob Ezrin at the helm again, is an excellent companion album to 2014's Fuego.  Sonically similar and as expertly crafted, the songs on this new record feel instantly familiar (even the ones that have not yet been performed live) yet demand and reward repeated spins.

But this is not Fuego II by any means.  Sure, there is still the shiny sound, bright horns, and layered vocal harmonies, but the band has offered more intimate lyrics and continues to push their musical boundaries - or rather, prove once again that there are no musical boundaries.

Before I start gushing, however, I should note that, as with the predecessor, there are some disappointments.

For instance, Page McConnell's "Things People Do" had a couple of go-rounds this summer as a bluegrass number akin to the old "Long Journey Home".  But on record, it is just Page bumbling through it with some weird sounding instrument.  Also, two new Mike Gordon tunes debuted this summer - the excellent and playful "Let's Go" and the interesting, but darkly challenging "Waking Up Dead" - but the album includes only the latter.

And speaking of glaring omissions - the excellent new long-form "Mercury" made a big splash from its four performances, so much so that a version was included on the latest Live Bait compilation.  Yet that, too, was edged out in favor of a different epic, "Petrichor", which Trey Anastasio originally performed with symphony orchestras before re-arranging it for Big Boat.

Still, the positives far outweigh the negatives. The blue-eyed soul of "Tide Turns" and the breezy tropical pop of "Breath and Burning", with its ukulele and modulations, make wonderful use of the horn section.  The former reminds me of "Loving You Tonight" by Squeeze and the latter is what I imagine Jimmy Buffett would sound like if he wrote better songs.  "Home" is an great new upbeat Page tune and "Running Out of Time" is a pretty little number that starts out with acoustic guitar and gradually brings in the rest of the band to finish it off with a '70s soft-rock vibe. And "Miss You" is a lovely ballad that pulls off the trick of taking a simple, age-old chord progression and using a sweet melody to make it sound new and fresh before it climaxes with a soaring guitar solo (no one can melt your face with a I-IV guitar solo like Trey can).

While Bob Ezrin puts his magic touch on all these songs, he also knows when to let Phish be Phish, like in "Blaze On" and "No Men in No Man's Land".  After a year of playing these songs live, they did not need any tinkering, so what we get are straight-ahead, amazing-sounding performances of the tunes.  Yet Ezrin still manages to sneak in a few sonic delights (listen closely for the rhythmic triangle in "Blaze On").

The band brings out some bigger surprises, though, in the front and back ends of the album.  The lead-off track, "Friends" is a Jon Fishman-penned and -sung tune that sounds like a cross between the Who's Quadrophenia and Velvet Underground's Loaded - which is totally awesome and not as weird as one would think since Phish covered both those albums for Halloween shows in the '90s.

The final third of the album is as entertaining as it is eyebrow-raising, with Page's "I Always Wanted It This Way" laying some eerie vocal processing on top of a downright disco-esque groove.  Though it sounds more like something that might have been among the curios on 2009's Party Time, it acts as a neat left turn here.  And though the closing "Petrichor" is a fantastic and intricate 13-minute composition with orchestral flourishes, staccato accents, and flurries of notes on guitar not heard since 1988's "Divided Sky" (think of it as that song's more orchestrated cousin) - it is "More" that provides the show-stopper.

Starting as a straight-up ballad, "More" builds gradually as Trey pushes the vocal melody to the upper reaches of his range (it will be quite the effort if he can pull it off in concert) and the song eventually bursts into, out of, and back into double time, while the rest of the band sings the chorus behind him.  It is a goosebump-inducing climax that shows off the best of what the band and producer can do together.  So when "Petrichor" finally weaves and winds its way to the end of the album the listener is left with a feeling of both the present and past, a full circle of Phishtory summed up in the album's final 18 minutes.

My first 15K - Sept. 9, 2006 - Run Around the Block, New Shoreham, RI

Ten years ago, I participated in the Run Around the Block for my first 15K ever and my third time on Block Island.  Here is my report from that 2006 race:

The 31st Annual Block Island 15K, known as the "Run Around the Block", took place on Saturday. I had some doubts about running it -- I suffered yet another injury in my left leg only 8 days before (I think I pulled a muscle) -- but I was determined. This would be my longest race yet, and it would be the first time running more than nine miles since April.

I'd done a 10K, but wasn't ready for a half-marathon, so 9.3 miles was nicely in between. Plus, Block Island is a beautiful place. What runner wouldn't enjoy its scenery? This race was the perfect end-of-summer goal.

After three hours of sleep, three hours of driving to the ferry, and a nap on the hour-long ferry ride, I landed on Block Island and hiked to the starting line.

Yawning as I walked, it was not lost on me that the enormous hill I was climbing was part of the race course. This made me nervous, but I've done hill training; I felt ready.

What I did not expect was the entire course to be a series of hills. For 9.3 miles, the 424 runners were either trudging up inclines or hitting the brakes on sharp declines. We huffed, we puffed, some walked, some soldiered on. I refused to walk or even slow down. But at the 7.5 mile marker, when it was painfully clear that I had to either slow down or throw up, I relented and eased my pace a little, letting a few people pass me by and trying not to be discouraged.

I pushed hard up what I thought was the last hill, and knowing I had less than a mile to go, I let loose. The sadistic organizers of the run, however, made sure that after nine miles of painful, hilly torture, B.I.'s runners would face one last ridiculously steep incline before seeing the finish line. 

I don't how I gathered the strength to climb it, but once over the crest, I sprinted with all my might to the finish, to clock in with a result of just under 70 minutes.

Elated, relieved and nauseated, I rejoiced in having conquered something new. I received no medals or special recognition (and I don't expect I ever will, not even for my age group); those are for the elite athletes. I'm an everyday runner who finished his first 15K, proud of myself for setting a goal and beating it. 

That's the best prize of all. There are still more hills to climb in my journey, but today, I can rest, and bask in the glow of that achievement.

'Fuego' - a retrospective review

On this, the eve of the release of Big Boat, Phish's 13th studio album, I decided to go back and listen to the last one, Fuego, and really dig into it.  I wanted to hear it with the perspective of now having heard these songs dozens of times live and with the sound of the record fresh in my mind to compare to the new one tomorrow.

The sound still is, indeed, excellent; and it damn well better be - Bob Ezrin is a legendary producer with a fantastic ear for sonic space.  He makes the music deep and layered without making it sound cluttered, and has the ability to make things sound big without sounding loud and exhausting to the ear.  He did it with classic albums by the likes of Kiss, Pink Floyd and Alice Cooper and it is wonderful to know he is back at the helm with Phish for a second go-round with Big Boat.

In listening to Fuego now, I have come around on some things that disappointed me in 2014, namely the title track and "Wombat".  Compared to the huge energetic bombast of hearing "Fuego" live, the studio version originally felt flat to me, with its live-to-tape feel in the instrumentation.  If one song deserved some big overdubs, it was "Fuego".  But patience is rewarded with the studio track and the deeper into the jam one gets in the back half of the song, the more enjoyable it becomes - and the ending Phish has all but dropped from its live shows is great to hear again.

Compared to the original hot, dance-party version from Halloween 2013, the album version of "Wombat" seemed more goofy and less funky at first listen.  But to appreciate the song now is to explore all the elements.  The slower, more deliberate pace lets you hear each excellently placed hi-hat note from Jon Fishman; the horns and Trey Anastasio's classic delay loop after the awesomely huge explosion are a delight; and it is hard not to love a bunch of female backup singers belting "Herbivorous! Crepuscular!"

Speaking of horns and backup singers, "555" still sounds is slippery greasiest on the record thanks to them (plus, the solo section is fantastic), and the horns add tasteful nuance to the beautiful "Winterqueen".  

"Devotion to a Dream" and "Sing Monica" - the two closest things to outright pop songs Phish has ever recorded - felt like friends I had not realized I had missed.  They are woefully underplayed in concert, partially evidenced by the fact that I was trying to sing along and realized I did not know all the words (which are written by Tom Marshall, and fantastic) so I had to consult the lyric booklet.  The vocal harmonies sparkle on both of those tunes and for a little while in early 2014, it sounded like the band was putting more effort into that live.  Not so much these days, unfortunately.

The hypnotic groove of "Waiting All Night" does not change much between the studio and live versions (thankfully) but it is nice to hear the vocals up front and crystal clear.  And while "Wingsuit" can definitely soar live, Ezrin puts his Pink Floyd stamp on the coda, making Trey sound like David Gilmour wailing away on "Comfortably Numb".  And call me crazy, but the "Time to put your wingsuit on" part sounds like Yes to me - in all the best ways.  But then, I also think "Fuego" sounds like Red Album-era Weezer, so maybe I am crazy indeed.

So far, Fuego seems to have stood the test of time, but who can say for sure, especially since the release of Big Boat marks the shortest turnaround time for a Phish album since Undermind in 2004?

I get the feeling that the new album will act as a companion piece, rather than push Fuego aside.  A one-two punch like that would be an excellent feat for a bunch of guys that are more than 30 years into their musical careers.