| Big Boat | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 7, 2016 | |||
| Recorded | March–April 2016 | |||
| Studio | ||||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 66:00 | |||
| Label | JEMP | |||
| Producer | Bob Ezrin | |||
| Phish chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Big Boat | ||||
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Big Boat is the fourteenth studio album by the American rock band Phish, released on October 7, 2016 on the band's own JEMP Records label. The album was produced by Bob Ezrin and recorded at The Barn, guitarist Trey Anastasio's studio in Burlington, Vermont. [1]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [2] |
| Consequence of Sound | B− [3] |
| Pitchfork | 5.3 / 10 [4] |
| PopMatters |   [5] |
On AllMusic, Timothy Monger wrote, "Having reclaimed some of their studio mojo on 2014's critically lauded Fuego, jam institution Phish were more than willing to take another chance with studio legend Bob Ezrin at the helm.... Big Boat arrives a mere two years after Fuego and rides a similar sonic wave with its focus on streamlined songwriting and more concise lyrics. Like many Phish productions, a number of these songs were honed on-stage during tours..." [2]
In Consequence of Sound , Sean Barry said, "To put it simply, it has seemed for decades you were either a Phish fan or you weren't, and there was very little chance for that to change. Recently, though, that line has begun to blur.... Luckily, the band has also released 13 studio albums over their career, and while some may completely write off the idea of listening to Phish in that kind of controlled setting, many of the records provide a convenient gateway for potential fans. For instance, their newest album, Big Boat, is wonderfully accessible thanks to its relatable sense of communal fun, as well as the band's own self-awareness." [3]
On NPR, Mike Katzif wrote, "Outside of that ambitious closing piece ["Petrichor"], Big Boat feels less musically adventurous than many previous Phish records. But its simpler songcraft is purposeful in the way it provides a glimpse inside the heads of Anastasio, McConnell, Gordon and Fishman. After years of revealing itself through flurries of notes, hypnotic grooves and exploratory improvisations that often masked deeper meaning, Phish now seems most engaged when singing from the heart." [1]
On Pitchfork , Sam Sodomsky wrote, "Big Boat is at times overwrought and half-assed, gratingly silly and embarrassingly self-serious, both tedious and underwhelming. In other words, it's a new Phish album. Even still, the lowest points of Big Boat manage to sink lower than just being bad-for-Phish; Big Boat is made even worse by not sounding enough like Phish." [4]
In PopMatters , Chris Ingalls said, "Personally, I feel that the misconceptions surrounding Phish do a disservice to the studio albums, which contain plenty of smart composition and easily digestible tracks for non-fans to appreciate.... Big Boat could easily be perceived as the natural sequel to Fuego, but it works spectacularly well on its own, with Bob Ezrin guiding the band through a variety of song styles from breezy pop to elaborate prog rock. Who knew that Phish could produce one of their most eclectic albums a good three decades into their existence?" [5]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Friends" | Jon Fishman | Fishman | 3:43 |
| 2. | "Breath and Burning" | Trey Anastasio | Anastasio | 4:20 |
| 3. | "Home" | Page McConnell | McConnell | 6:27 |
| 4. | "Blaze On" |
| Anastasio | 4:20 |
| 5. | "Tide Turns" | Anastasio | Anastasio | 4:21 |
| 6. | "Things People Do" | McConnell | McConnell | 1:55 |
| 7. | "Waking Up Dead" | Gordon | 4:15 | |
| 8. | "Running Out of Time" |
| Anastasio | 3:32 |
| 9. | "No Men in No Man's Land" |
| Anastasio | 5:00 |
| 10. | "Miss You" | Anastasio | Anastasio | 7:02 |
| 11. | "I Always Wanted It This Way" | McConnell | McConnell | 4:29 |
| 12. | "More" | Anastasio | Anastasio | 4:22 |
| 13. | "Petrichor" | Anastasio | Anastasio | 13:33 |
| Total length: | 66:00 | |||
| Chart (2016) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 [6] | 19 |
Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, drummer Jon Fishman, and keyboardist Page McConnell, all of whom perform vocals, with Anastasio being the lead vocalist. The band are known for their musical improvisation and jams during their concert performances, and for their devoted fan following.
Ernest Joseph "Trey" Anastasio III is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Phish, which he co-founded in 1983. He is credited by name as composer of 152 Phish original songs, 141 of them as a solo credit, in addition to 41 credits attributed to the band as a whole.
Robert Alan Ezrin is a Canadian music producer and keyboardist, best known for his work with Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Kiss, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Peter Gabriel, Andrea Bocelli and Phish. As of 2010, Ezrin's career in music had spanned four decades and his production work continued into the 21st century, with acts such as Deftones and Thirty Seconds to Mars. Ezrin is the winner of three Juno Awards. In 2011, he was awarded the Special Achievement Award at the 2011 SOCAN Awards held in Toronto. On 29 December 2022, Ezrin was named an Officer of the Order of Canada, the second-highest civilian honour in Canada.
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Hampton Comes Alive is a six-disc live album by the American rock band Phish, released on November 23, 1999, by Elektra Records. It is the band's third live album and the first time complete live Phish concerts were released in their entirety. Hampton Comes Alive consists of two full concerts recorded on November 20 and 21, 1998, at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia. The album title is a play on Peter Frampton's classic live album Frampton Comes Alive!.
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Rift is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Phish, released on February 2, 1993, by Elektra Records. It is a concept album, detailing the experience of a man dreaming about the rift in his relationship with his girlfriend. Rift was recorded in September and October 1992 and produced by Barry Beckett. Rift was certified gold by the RIAA on October 15, 1997.
The Story of the Ghost is the seventh studio album by American rock band Phish, released by Elektra Records on October 27, 1998. The album features an emphasis on the jazz-funk influenced "cow-funk" style, which the group had been experimenting with in concert throughout 1997 and 1998. The album's first single was "Birds of a Feather", which was a Top 20 hit on Billboard magazine's Adult Alternative Songs chart. The album's cover was painted by visual artist George Condo.
Bittersweet Motel is a 2000 documentary film about the rock band Phish directed by Todd Phillips. With him covering the band's summer and fall 1997 tours, plus footage from their 1998 summer tour of Europe. The documentary ends with The Great Went, a giant two-day festival held in upstate Maine that attracted 70,000 people.
Trey Anastasio Band, or TAB, is an American rock band led by singer-songwriter and guitarist Trey Anastasio of Phish. The band has existed in several permutations since 1998. Versions of the band have had different members, and briefly used the names Eight Foot Fluorescent Tubes and 70 Volt Parade. The current lineup consists of Anastasio, Russ Lawton (drums), Ray Paczkowski (keyboards), Cyro Baptista (percussion), Dezron Douglas (bass), Natalie Cressman, and Jennifer Hartswick. Anastasio and Lawton are the only remaining members from the band's original 1998 formation. Musicians from TAB have accompanied Anastasio on several of his solo studio albums.
Phish is an American rock band formed in 1983, dissolved in 2004, and reunited in 2009. It is one of the most successful live acts in popular music history, forging a popularity in concert far greater than their album sales, radio airplay, or music video presence would otherwise indicate. Phish, at the peak of their popularity in the mid- to late 1990s, consistently ranked as one of the highest-grossing concert tours in the world.
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Niagara Falls is a three-CD live album by the rock band Phish. It contains the complete concert recorded on December 7, 1995, at the Niagara Falls Convention Center in Niagara Falls, New York. It was released by JEMP Records on November 12, 2013.
"Fast Enough for You" is a 1993 song by the American band Phish. It is the second track from their 1993 concept album Rift and was released as their third promotional single by Elektra Records. The song is a slow-tempo ballad written by Phish guitarist and lead vocalist Trey Anastasio and lyricist Tom Marshall. The studio recording features a pedal steel guitar performed by Gordon Stone.
In "Fast Enough for You," Tom Marshall (lyricist) supposes that we wouldn’t burden each other as we do with weighty expectations and needs unmet, and things would be a whole lot happier. But that’s not the way it is, and the lover to whom our narrator speaks is not content with the pace of the affair. He is thus a target for her scorn.
Live Phish 10.31.90 is an archival live album release by the American rock band Phish. The show was originally webcast on October 10, 1999. It was also released in MP3 format in 1999 through eMusic, making it the first archival recording released officially online. The show was later made available when Phish launched its LivePhish website and is currently available exclusively through that site. This archival release is also believed to have been the first ever commercial download release of a full, live concert by any band.
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Get More Down is an album by Vermont-based jam band Phish, released under the alter-ego "Sci-Fi Soldier". The band's sixteenth studio album, it was released for streaming and download on October 31, 2022 and contains the twelve songs debuted during the band's Halloween concert the previous year. Continuing their tradition of a "musical costume" during the second set of each Halloween concert, this show saw Phish perform as the band Sci-Fi Soldier, a futuristic, superhero-themed group, complete with costumes and alternate instruments to fit the theme. Get More Down features studio recordings of these songs, some of which have entered the band's setlists in later shows.
