what's really mind-boggling is that no one even knows the 1 thing (and 1 thing only) that phish has in common with the dead. Here it is - Mixolydian mode improvisations. Every dead jam revolves around it. Phish uses it in a lot of jams (reba, gin, hood, etc...) but phish will take it so much further than that. Phish can go from mixolydian to phrygian(create tension) and back to mixolydian (prob in another key) before anyone can get a grip on it. There really is no comparison. Personally, I'll take the dead's studio albums over phish's, anyday. However - live shows - Phish blows dead out of the water.