LIVE ONE

Phish: Trey Anastasio (vocals, guitar); Page McConnell (vocals, keyboards); Mike Gordon (vocals, bass); Jon Fishman (vocals, drums).Additional personnel: Dave Grippo (alto saxophone); Peter Apfelbaum (tenor saxophone); Carl Gerhard, Michael Ray (trumpet); James Harvey (trombone).Engineers: Paul Languedoc, Steve Colby, Ray Fallon, John Voci.Recorded live in 1994.A LIVE ONE includes several previously unrecorded songs and a 48-page booklet.It is a common saying among Phisheads that the only way to get the full impact of their heroes' improvisational pyrotechnics is to experience it live. A LIVE ONE is the next best thing--a document of the nouveau-psychedelic quartet stretching their legs on their home turf. Unlike other H.O.R.D.E.-associated bands, Phish seldomly involve themselves with the endless boogie, instead choosing a loopy amalgam of prog-rock, fusion and traditional rhythms on which to build their jams. The group is also fearless in mining new musical fields, and this explorative nature is Phish's ace in the hole.But Phish aren't entirely about half-hour-long musical excursions. They're just as capable of writing deliciously hummable rock tunes--then ripping through them on stage. "Bouncing Around The Room" is a jazzy, uplifting four-part harmony sing-along that ascends into a cacophony of voices and Trey Anastasio's guitar arpeggios. "Chalkdust Torture" is a full-throttle rocker on which Anastasio muses over thick power chords and a runaway ska-like beat, before the band builds to an aggressive crescendo and rides Anastasio's wailing, high-end solo. Both are among the album's most satisfying moments.Of course, the greater portion of A LIVE ONE is spent following the mammoth jams, and it is here that the width of Phish's noise-making wonder is plainly established. Like Primus on good acid and with none of alterna-rock's pretensions, Phish explode every which way at once. Marathons like "You Enjoy Myself," which logically flows from Yes-like guitar loops, through scatting and human beat-box sections, and "Tweezer," which disintegrates into an all-out ambient space, before building up to a roar akin to a jumbo-jet take-off, are not just noodle-y excesses, but a way of life. You can take that as a compliment, or a warning.It's improbable but true: although Phish made their name as the hippest live band this side of the Grateful Dead, they didn't release a live album until nearly a decade into their career. The two-disc A LIVE ONE is a fairly accurate representation of the live Phish experience circa 1995, stretching 12 songs out over two solidly packed discs. There were no overdubs and no editing. Nearly half of disc two is taken up by the full 31 minutes of "Tweezer," and the climax of disc one is the 21-minute "You Enjoy Myself," in which Trey Anastasio's hypnotic main riff is gleefully transformed several times over in a variety of musical contexts. Over half of the album consists of songs that the band had never recorded in the studio; given that the group and their fans considered their live shows the "real" Phish experience, that's not surprising. Although many other live Phish albums, both official and otherwise, have been released over the years, A LIVE ONE is a perfect introduction to the group's signature mix of heavy chops and goofy tomfoolery.