Subject: Drinking Rupp's Gin-11/7/96
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 1997 15:01:51 -0500 (EST)
From: benjy eisen
BathtubGinFiles #13 11/7/96 Rupp Arena; Lexington, KY
GinStats: Set II Time: 26:39 November '96, inconsistent as it may be, is actually a great month for "monster showroom" jams, characterized by a PermaGroove with emphasis clearly on the creating, mantaining and coloring of ryhthmic canvases. Bathtub Gin has two such monster jams in November: 11/7/96 Lexington, KY and 11/19/96 Kansas City, MO. Let's take the first one first: A li'l KY Gin for all you KY Jelly fans out there: Suzy Greenberg comes to a close and, DAMMIT TREY, make up your mind! The start of Bathtub Gin arises from the still burning ashes of Suzy Greenburg. Not really a seque but a transition meriting a "->" it still must be. For the first 0:08 secords or so of this Gin, you still hear Suzy's final crashes and Fish really *really* rocks and ROLLS on this intro. Page jumps in at: 0:22 ->0:47 Page you slut!!! Rhapsody is wraped and warped to such a degree of twisted delight that no one, not even Gershwin, would recognize it - and there's nothing "Blue" happening here ...Page paints with amber and magenta and StinkStankStunk. Not as furious as say, 8/16/96 or 12/29/96, but every bit as glorious. Lyrics Segment: 0:47 Trey sounds happy as usual. :) Page Fill 1: 1:19->1:35 With some more of his "I'm demented and deranged and I don't care" piano spasms. I swear that Page's fills have taken a leap in the past year, now confirming beyond a shadow of a doubt an utter madness lurking in the jungles of Page's soul :) Fill 2:06->2:20 and we finally have some modern, updated, but still recognizable Rhapsody in Blue derived licks. FAUCET: 2:36 - *slightly* botched notes and *small* rhythmic mishaps has become the norm for Trey here. To be honest though, for '96, this is one of the more closer-to-perfect attempts. The rest of the band remains tight with it, as always. SINGING w/the Faucet: 3:17 Again, the first note of the lick repeatedly comes in a tad late, but only a tad...really. Other than that, this section is fine. Minimal variation, but some bringing this to the "about par" level. WATER from the Faucet: 4:28 pouring out immediately and without notice from the SINGING FAUCET section, as usual. At first, as is the expected course, we're still stuck inside the CFL with the suspended blues again, and then the CFLick becomes the CFTheme and then, throughout the 5 minute mark, Trey beautifully although ominously sustains notes from the CFL regions, and at 6:32 fragments of the CFL show up in-between these ominous single note suspensions. I feel like we're scuba diving here in the deep, dark waters, the guitar sounds like the floodlight we're holding, moving about, shooting beams of light in one direction and then, quick now, in another. From 6:54 for a little bit Trey switches to some wonderful st-st-st-staccato decorations on the CFL, then by 7:32 he has created a beautiful style of mixed st-st-staccato and -s u s t a i n- At 8:33 he's locked onto a theme that he could go with, but by 8:50 decided to go his own way; the band follows along with their respective Hey Holes. Trey is still CFL at 9:02 - There's a fast run-through of CFL followed by a decisive mood switch. Their mood rings are all perfectly attuned to each other, and it's the richest shade of green known to humanKIND. From 9:22->9:30 Trey WIGS OUT and from out of nowhere starts trilling voraciously followed by some incredible, beautfiul, awe-inspiring solos in the Classic Trey Mode...Trey is still Trey-zy after all these years! By 10:38 the jam is both CFT and not!?! At 10:44 there is a very brief Fire On The Mountain THEME tease. Honest to god Jerry lick. I'm being serious, I'm talking about Fire baby...and Pasta. :). Apart from the Lick (which is admittedly just as Trey as it is Jerry), I would say that this was a jam in the FOTM-THEME mode, not the actual thing. Just like the CFTheme isn't the actual Faucet notes always. Look, if anyone doubts this, may it ease their troubled mind that it *could* always be coincidental since this jam is coincidentally following the same (common) chord progression as FOTM. Regardless, those familiar with the tune can't deny that it shows up here, on Fishman's and Trey's behalf. At 11:22 Trey flips out with the machine-gun again. He builds us up and up and away we go, enlightened little Buddhas of the Phish age. It's the music of the magic of the moment. It's the music that one hears when someone offers them their Flynn Theater extra! This is just...I'm almost in tears here, okay? It's *that* good! Page hits Trey's CFL on piano. Fishman amazes with a groovy groove. From 12:59->13:xx there is some FOTM-similarity followed by more trained Bathtub Scuba Gin Diving just to cool us down... 13:42 comes like a breath of fresh air and Rogue Ale. Page plays some of the most perfect chords I've ever heard him do until a locking rhtyhm akin to an old Squeeze song comes in around 14min. No one's in the house/everybody's out/all the light are on/dOOd. :) Page switches to clavinet by 14:xx and Trey heads on over to his mini-kit. Uh-oh -- I feel a PermaGroove coming on! By 15 minutes IT'S THERE, BABY, oh IT'S ALL THERE!! Mike adds some called-for funk in an odd placement pattern starting around 15:39. Spike Gordon has taken control of the 33% less malleable Mike. Page's clavinet comes scccreeAACCCHIING in at 16:02!! And he proceeds to bear all to that crowd - why, golly Page! By 17:19 Page decided that he's a bird and he makes, literally, some flying MOCKingbird sounds. Not the song, but the bird. And the Plane. And it's...it's...it's SUPER-PAGE! It really is super, Page :) By the time the audience cheers this wing-flapping Page has gone on, the slut that he is, to other things. :). Mike is thumping away, Trey and Fish on percussion together, Page on Hose-back Riding!! 19:01 Trey starts unleashing some javelin tosses from the olympic arm of the 'doc. By 19:55 he's back low on the rhtyhm side of the fretboard, fretting over all things uber. 20:06 some more FOTM-like licks that are also Trey-like licks. By 20:27 this has turned back into a fiery inferno disco-ball Gin in the Bathtub of the Gods. At 21:07 we're somewhere in between the Fire that's happening on that there Mountain and the patented Bathtub Gin Martini dance. Wow! I'm almost ablaze because of this damned heat! At 21:39 a Tweeprise lick is thrown in briefly, bringing back memories of the likewise spectacular 12/5/95 Gin. At 22:07 there's a "drop-out" in participating instruments and again at 22:29 when it becomes just Page and some minor feedback 22:49 sees some Star-Wars Laser Light Love Beams From Outer Space. 23:04 Page starts playing what could be a half-hearted ragtime tune, but then reverts back to those light beams of love and glow-paint. 23:06 we hear the drums once again and Page continues to wig out along with Mike and Trey. A hint of HYHU, very subtly, at some point. By 24:32 this has turned into an evil thematic jam, at 25 minutes we're being tossed back and forth in-between 2 chords and I think this happened once before...It's a Tornado! 25:33 BEAM ME UP SCOTTY, the tornado is gaining speed we're circling now threefeet off the ground, 5 feet, at 26:00 we're dropped back to the floor - but it's a disco floor, with disco ball and all, Mike "FUNKY BEAT" Gordon is funking away and we're doing John Travolta underwater :) H'uh! Good Gawd Y'all! Hinted at at 26:33.... 26:39 seques into HYHU gloriously, without remorse and with a complete and total feeling of victory! HYHU feels, in essence, like the victory-flag being waved back and forth in the air after a particularly hard-fought battle. We're all winners here though, and to celebrate we're dropping like flies...Why? Because we drank this whole damned bottle in under 27 minutes without realizing it had a - Rating: 98 Proof! We carry this Martini made of Bathtub Gin and drenching us with its Golden Hose bottle. We all must laugh...or cry...or GET THIS GIN AT ALL COSTS! I can't believe how well the band listens to each other, how almost the entire "Water from The Faucet" section is pure Golden Hose, with Bareback HOSE-back riding from all! Page's clav. section, which is an unusual occurance in Bathtub Gin to say the least, the fUnK, the dAnK, and all things good in spirit and flesh. There are many reasons why I love Phish...and 11/7/96 Gin is one of them! Walk with light my friends, Benjy