Comments on: Phish performs all of Talking Heads' Remain in Light

By: dainik bhasker

dainik bhasker — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 12:36:00 +0000

The difference between other bands covering an album is that they make it most of the show. Phish does the album cover usually as the second set of a Halloween show. If you don’t like the album – you still got the first set, plus the encore if you want to stick around.

By: John Irvine

John Irvine — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 16:27:00 +0000

Indeed. Props to Phish for pulling it off, but there’s nuthin’ like the real thing baby: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wp2qhoop9U

By: gellfex

gellfex — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 19:22:00 +0000

Impressive. But I still rank the Heads themselves on the RIL tour as the single best show I’ve ever seen. Plus they were opened by the English Beat. Sublime can’t begin to do justice to that night.

By: anonotwit

anonotwit — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 13:48:00 +0000

Belew did in fact play on Remain in Light.

By: bibulb

bibulb — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 03:42:00 +0000

I… Damn. So, you were at the Axiom pretty much EVERY night, then.

(Also : I miss Blythe Spirits.)

By: Incipient Madness

Incipient Madness — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 02:57:00 +0000

The Wikipedia article does not make this clear, but if he did, it explains the similarity to King Crimson’s Discipline.

By: exile

exile — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 02:28:00 +0000

He did.

By: Martin

Martin — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 00:43:00 +0000

Too bad they couldn’t swing, period. Doesn’t anyone else notice the utter lack of soul/funk/spirit in this? It’s like it’s being performed by reasonably adept robots. I’ll take ‘Stop Making Sense’ footage over this any day.

By: Incipient Madness

Incipient Madness — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 00:23:00 +0000

Did Belew play on Remain in Light? I don't think so. Though I agree that Remain in Light is almost a twin to the at that time newly refounded King Crimson's Discipline. I'm not sure which album I like better. But aside from all that, Phish seems to be doing great here. In 1996 I was into Voice of Eye, The Hunger, Blue October back when they were still raging drunks, the Pain Teens and other awesome Houston bands that somehow disappeared or changed after Richards lost to W.

By: Jon Dart

Jon Dart — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 23:36:00 +0000

Too bad they couldn’t swing Joe’s Garage. I have recently been listening to their 12/3/97 concert – one nice number is here: http://youtu.be/ANRXqoQpdp0.

By: swlabr

swlabr — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 22:41:00 +0000

This is ambitious and impressive. But interpreting Adrian Belew’s guitar leads from 1980 is a tall order…

By: Scott Finkeldei

Scott Finkeldei — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 22:05:00 +0000

10/31/94 - Beatles
10/31/95 - The Who
10/31/96 - Talking Heads
10/31/98 - Velvet Underground
plus one surprise performance of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon on November 2, 1998–just two days after the band performed the music of The Velvet Underground
10/31/09 - Rolling Stones
10/31/10 - Little Feat
they spend a lot of time practicing and let the fans vote for what album they should try and learn and cover. One year Zappa’s Joe’s Garage got the most votes but it so much overdubbing and Zappa had requested that some songs never be played live again so it was scrapped.

By: phlavor

phlavor — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 21:54:00 +0000

I was there. It was maybe the fourth time I saw them and it absolutely blew me away. One of the top ten musical experiences of my life.

By: salsaman

salsaman — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 21:08:00 +0000

I was at this show– one to remember! They handed out “PHISHBILL” programs, laid out like a PLAYBILL for a Broadway show, with the album cover of Remain In Light redone with the Phish guys:
http://phishthoughts.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/phish-bill-omni.png

By: jdollak

jdollak — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 20:55:00 +0000

I think the Phish scene has changed a bit over time. They’ve been playing together since the 80s, so their demographic has had time to age a bit.

By: spiffw

spiffw — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 20:54:00 +0000

Their performance of Dark Side of the Moon post-Halloween 1998 is pretty sweet. Great Gig in the Sky is especially…different.

By: Gene Ehrbar

Gene Ehrbar — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 20:42:00 +0000

Hippies are a relatively recent addition to the Phish scene (in geological time, anyhow). We’re really more running shoes than Birkenstocks…

By: jarmstrong

jarmstrong — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 20:41:00 +0000

Halloween 1995 (Quadrophenia) was my first Phish show. It was a mind/face-melting experience.

A good time was had by all…

By: noah django

noah django — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 20:39:00 +0000

the hippies that I used to work with explained that this is a Halloween tradition for Phish. They pick out an album every year as a “musical costume,” and pretend to be that band. I heard they also do The Velvet Underground and Nico and a bunch of albums that I like a whole lot better than Phish.

Great idea, and nowadays you see more artists doing it both as a cover and by the original artists as a way to tour with their most popular material. But yeah, Phish.

By: Gene Ehrbar

Gene Ehrbar — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 20:37:00 +0000

If you liked this, the previous year’s Halloween cover of The Who’s “Quadrophenia” and 1998′s cover of the Velvet Underground’s “Loaded” were pretty awesome, too…