A couple people mentioned this Stash to me, and Michael Gouker just sent it to me outright to review (THANKS
MICHAEL!!!)... sooo, it would be criminally negligent if I merely glossed over it with a few words like "Spectacular, amazing,
awesome," instead of giving it the full-length play by play analysis that it deserves. My review really sucks, though, and my
apologies. If someone else would do a better job, and many of you could I'm sure, please.. please.. go for it. The following is
one of my lamest reviews ***EVER*** (this is probably not the first of many Stash reviews... Stash fans should check out
Great Woods 95, 12/29/95, 5/19/94, 4/14/93, and all versions from Aug '93, among many others..) 11/14/95 Orlando,
Florida Well, the Maze to start out the second set is fairly hot, and actually contains some vocal squawks from Trey, which I
can't say I've ever heard him do in the jam segment of Maze. Gumbo, always great... Stash comes next. (this is the second set,
remember..) How many people were at this show? The place actually SOUNDS SMALL on the tapes.. neat. The pre-jam,
opening lyrics segment is RELATIVELY uneventful, as most are (Stash, like Reba, has a straightforward opening lyrics &
theme segment that rarely ever changes). Trey almost misses a note he shouldn't at one point, Trey's voice sounds frighteningly
shaky on the first chorus (Ooooh-ohhhhh...)... SERIOUS STACCATO, though, from Trey, on the theme. And Mike, too,
somewhat. Trey really staccatos the notes before the Smegma domatagram lines.. Trey is behaving strangely in this opening.
Playing awry licks, kinda laughing eerily, "singing" somewhat under his breath. The others seem calm. That's what I mean by
"relatively" uneventful, I guess. (!) The jam segment opens at the usual 4:50 or so time, but with Mike and Page carrying on the
Maybe So Maybe Not refrain into the opening of the jam segment instead of just letting it go. Trey is just noodling away. The
refrain is dropped at 5:30 and it is all jam. Trey is noodling ferociously. Plucking away non-stop. Fish is maintaining a steady
groove.. At 6:30, Trey teases Chicago's 25 or 6 to 4, in and out of this SIIICK Stash jam (at least I think it is this particular
Chicago tune). This tease ends after thirty seconds or so (keep in mind this tease was overlaid on a bed of Stash jamming). At 8
mins, the jam floats.. gets very relaxed, with Trey gently soloing over the others. This style of jam goes on for a minute or two.
Starts getting more fiery around nearly the ten minute point.. at 10:41, Trey goes into a semi-Dave's Energy Guide style of jam.
It is NOT exactly DEG, but it seems to have the same effect. Strikingly similar to DEG. The others pick up on it. It is one of
those intense, melodically dizzying grooves... then the Stash theme is teased after a build, then another build, and at 12:30 the
return of the Stash theme again (ya know, the part over which you could sing "maybe so or maybe not", if you wanted to.. not
technically the "theme" but the refrain). Then Trey builds it up again (in essentially Stash fashion), but at 13:44... suddenly... jam
gets... gets kinda LATINO.. Trey moves to the drum kit. Percussion time! Fish isn't doing much.. just keeping the rhythm with
hi hat at 15 minutes. Mike ain't doing much either. Page appears not to be doing much.. oh there he is. At 15:37, Mike starts
playing Manteca, and then Fish hears him, and kicks in a Manteca groove. Trey gets off the percussion at 16:36 and joins the
Manteca theme. Niiiice! I haven't heard this in SOOOOOO LONG!!! ;) At 17:24, they finish Manteca, and cruise into another
jam, which has a tease or two from Trey of that Chicago tune again at one point, with Manteca from everyone else (18). No
Stash yet. Damn is this **hot** (I can tell you, this already takes out the Great Woods Stash from last summer... that spacey
weird thing.. ;^). At 18:30, Trey sustains note by note, while the band seems to still play Manteca. Trey, frankly, kinda sounds
like he could dive into a Mind Left Body jam at this time, but doesn't. The jam at 19:30 sounds like a song I should know (I
hear Page playing Manteca)... WHITE ROOM!!!! That's what Trey just gently teased. White Room by Cream. Not the main
chorus/theme but the jam between the main verses. Anyone who even hesitated on FOTM in the Drowned JAM on 12/31/95
won't catch this no matter how hard they strain, so pretend I said nothing about it for your own peace of mind.. At 20:59, after
Trey sustains a note for a bit, Fish kicks in the Stash rhythm again, and the Stash jam builds up .. very quietly and steadily, like a
typically gorgeous Hood or Slave would (21:40 at this point). I wish more people had SHUT THE FUCK UP in the audience.
This is a moment reminiscent of the Spokane Hood in here.. damn is this pleasant! Trey is quietly and harmoniously playing --
with Page accompanying him GORGEOUSLY at the 23 minute point. ESTHER TEASE!!!! at 23:27. They are playing Esther!!
Cool!! Still an Esther-esque jam for the next minute, and then a climax, like a good Hood.. damn! (Trey on the Leslie effect just
a little in here) Really.. damn. Hood. At 24:47 the jam starts sounding like Stash again as Trey turns off the Leslie effect (the
watery, psychedelic guitar sound). This whole section.. fantastic! Absolutely spectacular Phish. YIIIIKES!! The jam just gets
mean and nasty in here. Dark, semi-Stash-like, I suppose.. builds. At 26 min point it kinda levels out, though. Stops building.
Fish is playing Stash/Wedge-like drums. Lots of sustain and chords from Trey... misc. stuff from Page. One could lose their
mind listening to this damn Stash. At 27:28 Fish kicks the Stash beat in briefly.. and then at 27:40 it gets spacey. Very spacey.
At 27:56 there is no Fish. Just spacey sustain. Kung or JCOG (or Vibration of Life) would fit right in here. At 28:30, still
spacey... Then Trey starts hitting stuff on his percussion kit... (Page is pretty quiet in here, too.. he just hits a periodic low note..
Fish just hits a cymbal gently every once in a while..) Mike? He is just sustaining a low note here and there. This is kinda
boring.. A-HA!! At 30:09, Trey starts singing Dog Faced Boy, unaccompanied. Dog Faced boy isn't played. Just sung, with
gentle rolls from Fish on the snare. It is kinda like a KUNG-A-FIED version of Dog Faced Boy, if there could be such a thing.
This is by far the most interesting version of Dog Faced that I've ever heard... It is only unaccompanied, but, well..just very
"fragile".. listen.. you gotta hear this. Wait! Unaccompanied until the last verse, when Page gently plays some chords. Uh oh U
OH!! UH OH!!!!! After the Guy who's turning blue lyric, before the final line.. A BUILD EMERGES!! YIKES! Sustain from
Trey... rolls over everything from Fish.. sustain from Mike and chords from Page... (crash) (crash) Honestly, it sounds like a
DAMN ORCHESTRA WARMING UP IN HERE, FOLKS!!!! THIS IS INSANE!!! WHAT A SOUND!!! This is still going
on at 34:37.. Nuts. Air raid siren effects from Trey. Demand-like drums from Fish for a little bit around 35:30 or so... (Fish
keeps up this Demand style of drumming for another thirty seconds) Trey is still chaotically squawking.. Mike is sustaining. Page
is.. well, Page. At 36:49, Trey starts playing Stash again, and out of all of this utterly chaotic wall of sound, out of all of this
Dionysian revelry in disorder, arises the Apollonian Stash spirit anew... Trey plays some chords in here somewhat Yamar-like,
briefly. This Stash build isn't that large. The final "Maybe so" lines come in quickly and softly. Ends at 39:11. Get this set &
Stash at all costs. The ending was weak, but the rest was, with the exception of a couple minutes, STUPENDOUS. There were
moments of this that I truly LOVED, but all around, I still personally prefer a Stash that is just siiiiiiick jamming straight through,
to a version with spacey or genteeel sections in it. Don't get me wrong, this "version" of "Stash" was a Monster, and is to Stash
what the Bozeman Tweezer is to Tweezer, or the Providence Bowie is to Bowie... buuuut.. I think I still like my 5/19/94 with its
bewilderingly melodic and enchanting jam segment... (that is, I still prefer 5/19/94, 4/14/93 or even 12/29/95 to this version).
Just personal preference, though. This Orlando version is the longest and most insane Stash I know of. I'm fairly certain nothing
from August '93 is quite as long (but some are arguably as bizarre). This is still MUST HAVE for anyone who considers
themselves a Stash-fan. Very exciting version, and a great set, taboot. Thanks, MGOUKER!! he who has been called, He Who
Has Been Called dirk420