Subject: *You Can Feel Good About 8/3/91 Hood*
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 1997 13:25:54 -0500
From: zachary.[...]@yale.edu (Zach [...])
8/3/91 - Amy Skelton's Farm - Auburn, ME Since soooo many people have copies of this show, I'm not going to bother to comment on the whole thing. Suffice it to say that when I first got these tapes, I listened to them constantly, but in reviewing this Harry it was the first time I had listened to them in almost a year. A fun show, and in a historical sense a must have, but musically not in the top 20.... 0:00 - Opening segment, standard beginning. 0:40 - Slight spaciness. 0:55 - Sustain from Trey, Page plays a nice organ line on top of it. 1:08 - A little noodling from Page on the keys. 1:20 - "Walking on the Moon" stuff from Trey, similar to 5/10/91 opening. Then everyone drops out but Mike and Fish. 1:45 - More WOTM notes from Trey, but a bit faster this time. Overall, a solid intro., nothing crazy... 2:10 - Harry verse. 2:40 - Composed segment. A few minor flubs, but that's forgiveable after 3 sets of playing... 5:05 - Heavy metal Mr. Minor. Thank you Mr. Hoooood.... 5:52 - Jam Segment. Page fill on the synth to start out. 6:10 - Trey starts right in on the Milk From The Carton theme, but then eases up on it a bit. Very melodious right out of the gate here. Soothing. 7:15 - Trey repeats a line a few times, Page is comping underneath. 7:28 - Cool lick from Trey repeated four or five times. It really sounds like something I've heard before, so he might be teasing something but I can't put my finger on what it might be... 7:50 - First hint of tension to come, followed by the first release at 8:05. Very mellow release though, no soaring yet. 8:20 - Pace and volume stepped up a notch. 8:40 - Trey going down the 'doc, over and over. He's definitely building tension. Page and Mike start speeding up behind him and Fishman starts banging on the snare. 9:15 - Overall energy at about 60% here. Not melodic, but not really tense either. Seems like an early species of the highly evolved tension-build that the boys are capable of creating now. For an example of much better tension building, check out my next review of the Harry from 11/12/94. 9:40 - A couple of soaring notes from Trey. No machine gun though. 10:00 - Trey's running it into the ending... a slight fuck-up before the final repeated chords... 10:35 - You can feel good... I feel good! Total Time = 10:58 Grade: C-. No gear shifts here, no real soaring releases from Trey, just a lot of not-so-interesting brooding. I like the jam intro., say, up to 7:50, it's very melodic, but for me, the best Hoods have a triumphant, ecstatic, orgasmic end to them. The longer the better! Just not present in this one... Comments and suggestions always welcome, Zach
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From: Charlie Dirksen 

8/3/91 Amy's Farm, Auburn, ME

Oh, to have been at this show!  A friend of mine
heard about it and told me about it, but no, I didn't
go.  What a dumbass I was.  I had "to work."  Like
that was ever more important! ;^[  Phish won't be
around forever, folks.. see 'em while ya can.  This
Harry closed a great show (it was the second encore,
after some scary DOL "tunes" ... I'm convinced he's
just an entertainer, like Fishman.. he couldn't
possibly be singing stuff like this seriously.. or,
well, I guess he's serious about joking..).  The
first seconds of this Hood are cut on my copy (the
opening drums from Fish).  Very Police-Message in a
Bottle-esque as usual.  Some spacey sustain from
Trey, some piano noodlin from Page, some massive
funky stuff from Mike, and some very reggae-ish, yet
somewhat jazzy and chaotic stuff from Fish.  A great
opening segment, in other words.  It ain't boring..!
When they start singing Harry, they sound a bit
tired.. ;) Long f*cking day!! AGH!!! I DIDN'T
Gooooooooo!!!!! Oh well.  I have a SBD-7 of this
show, which doesn't sound nearly as hissy as it
should (was an upgrade for me, too, when I got it
many moons ago).  This opening segment is fine,
really, but you can tell, given the few somewhat
slip-ups in the pre-ThankYouMrMinor segment, that
they were pretty damn tired for this.. but they were
still giving it one hell of an effort!  I would think
it would sound much much MUCH worse.. but it is
actually quite good.  Jam segment comes in around
6:20 or so (not precisely).  Trey doesn't start this
with the usual genteel noodlin.. he kinda funkily
grooves first.. and then begins the quaint toolin
around.  He almost teases the Linus and Lucy theme in
here, perhaps unconsciously. ALMOST (he doesn't play
it.. don't get excited.. that version is 4/18/92,
reviewed below).  Yet another beautiful jam segment.
I'll say no more, and leave it to someone more
inspired.  Damn.  I'm speechless.  If this is the
boys when they are tired.. christ.  Ends at 11:48-ish.