Best Live Phish CDs


I am in the process of collecting all of the Phish live CDs. In you opinion which of those are the best recordings?
dewinkle

Showing 4 responses by slipknot1

I am particular to the Broome County Arena 12/14/95 show released on "Live Phish" This disc really shows Phish at their jammin' best. A great mix of some of their best songs, well recorded, quiet crowd noises and the second set is over 1 hour of one song melting into the next, back out, on to something else with no interruption.
Set I
Suzy Greenberg
Llama
Foam
Makisupa Policeman>
Split Open and Melt
Tela
The Fog That Surrounds
My Sweet One
Frankenstein

Set II
The Curtain>
Tweezer>
Timber Ho>
Tweezer reprise>
Keyboard Army>
Halley's Comet>
NICU>
Slave To The Traffic Light
Jond,
Good call. The Deer Creek came right on the heels of the 3 night stand at Red Rocks. I did all 3 nights there with my tape rig and got some really tasty tapes.

I did the Broome County Arena show as well and really like my live tapes from that too. They stand up pretty well against the commercial release.

Dewinkle,
Not commercially available, but widely traded are the "Camp Oswego" weekend shows 2 nights, six sets, great shows.
Ketchup,
My own source tapes from that weekend (AKG 480/61 & Earthworks SR77>Lunatec V2>Apogee a/d1K>Tascam DA P1) are pretty good. IMO, far too many people see Schoeps and think it's everything...And, I think the FOB crowd at some shows were way too in front of the sweet spot.

Give a listen to AUDs from the 7/12 Vernon Downs show if you can. Taper's Section vs. FOB. Taper's Section tapes hold up really well. I think the bigger difference in FOB comes INDOORS. Outdoors, the music has less reflective interference and has a chance to bloom. When yer FOB and right on top of it, your mics can't pick up the gel 'cause you are way in front of it. I think the exact opposite is true indoors.

I need to pick up a CDR setup and get some of these DATS into circulation. After over 15 years of taping, I sold off all my gear, and am listening to the fruits of my labors.
Ketchup,
I think the same rules apply for live recordings as applies to high-end audio. I have heard some megabuck setups that sound so-so, and very modest setups that are very involving. People see a particular brand name and assume it sounds great without knowing all the variables involved. Schoeps mics are superb to be sure, but in some hands and in some setups.... maybe not as good as can be. When I was taping on a regular basis, I could have used just about whatever mic setup I wished. I happened to prefer the AKGs and Earthworks mics, mated to Audio Magic Presto II cables as the source for my rig. I will say that I have heard lots of Schoeps and Neumann tapes that were gorgeous. My point being, to many end listeners see FOB and Schoeps listed as the source and think this is the be all and end all of live concert event reproduction. I always advised people to try to get a couple of copies of a show, sourced with different mics at different locations within the venue before dismissing those tapes that weren't made with (insert mic brand here) mics. Couple that with the fact that toward the end of the '90s into the early '00s, the taper's section of Phish shows was filling up with rich trustafarian Schoeps snobs. Just one ancient taper's opinion. Hell, I've made tapes on my old Sony D5M cassette deck with a pair of Nak mics that were as emotionally involving as some of my later high-end rig tapes.