Date: Sun, 29 Jun 1997 03:59:18 +0200
From: Kai kaiweber@informatik.uni-frankfurt.de
Subject: 6/22/97 Loreley review

Hey, y'all!

Since I haven't seen much in the way of Europe reviews yet, I thought I'd
give it a try... I'll review the show that was part of the Rockpalast-
Festival on the Loreley at St. Goarshausen (*that* is the right spelling,
incidentally...). I wasn't actually at the show, *but* I've just seen and
taped the tv broadcast, so mine will be an armchair perspective - take it
for what it's worth. 

(Before you grovel me for copies of the video, be advised that I have no
dubbing facilities and that Germany and the U.S. have incompatible video
systems, so you need PAL to NTSC transfer facilities somewhere along the
way, if you want to get the video from someone else...)

The Loreley is actually a rock towering over the Rhine river, and there's an
amphitheatre on top of it. It's definitely one of the nicest outdoor venues
in Germany, and Trey commented on the beautiful city. However, that day saw
far from the nicest weather to play or see a show at an outdoor venue: temps
were in the 60s and it was raining off and on throughout the whole day. The
stage is beneath a tent, but the audience is left to fight the elements...

The weather plus the freakish festival line-up of Ezio, k's Choice, John
Hiatt, Reef, Primus, PHiSH and Steve Winwood (in this order!) at $35
resulted in a turn out way below the 14k capacity of the place. It's tough
to judge from the video, but my guess is there were 2 to 3k to see PHiSH.
What did they see?

Taste (9:30), Water in the Sky (3:00), Stash (11:30), Dirt (3:30), Uncle Pen
(4:00), Character Zero (6:30) > Theme from the Bottom (10:00), Ragtime Gal
(2:00), Story of the Ghost (11:00); E: Limb by Limb (9:00) = 78 minutes

They also saw Fish looking the snazziest, *I*'ve ever seen him: you might've
heard already that his hair is *really* short now and that the beard and
dress are gone. Instead he sported a black vest, black shirt, brown pants
and brown leather shoes - and no beard.

TASTE is hardly worth listening to as it basically was the soundcheck.
Trey's guitar is absent for much of the first 2 minutes, the vocals come and
go. Page solos first, then Trey. The jam is off to a slow start, a bit
sleepy, but by the end, it's okay. This pattern will repeat for many of the
longer songs of the set.

After Taste, the sound off the broadcast is a nice and clean sbd, but quite
unusual for PHiSH, I reckon... While Mike is center in the mix and Fish
nicely panned out across the stereo, Page is left (where he should be) and
Trey is sometimes panned clear right, sometimes center (???). Also,
throughout the show Page is more prominent in the mix than Trey. I'm not
sure if that was intended, but it works - for me anyway.

WATER IN THE SKY is a slow 4/4 country tune in about the same groove of
"Stand by your Man," if you can imagine that... Page sings a nice tenor to
Trey's lead vocals.

STASH is one of the few highlights of the set. Many people in the audience
clap along, visibly to the joy of the band who play it extra soft the second
time around. Again, the jam starts a bit on the slow side, but builds quite
nicely towards the end. Towards the end, Trey uses some kind of Leslie sound
on his guitar that I haven't heard before, which makes him even more of a
texture player than soloist.

DIRT is a slow 4/4 tune that starts with Trey whistling over the vocals of
the others. The slurry vocals and the tempo place it in the songwriting
tradition established with the second half of Billy Breathes (the album,
that is) - specifically it reminds me a little of Swept Away. Trey obviously
has a good time as he solos over the vocals of the others, again using the
Leslie sound for part of it.

UNCLE PEN features solos by Trey and Mike, Trey quotes the traditional
bluegrass tune "Soldier's Joy" a couple of times. It noticeably stands out
as the first fast tune.

CHARACTER ZERO seems to benefit from that tempo breakout, as the band takes
it just a bit faster than I've heard it. It's the jammingest number of the
set, and one of the few moments the band loses its veil of tameness that
seems to shroud that gig. Towards the end they added backing vocals that I
haven't heard before: "Baaaaah - Bah. Bap. Bap."

A noise segue leads into THEME FROM THE BOTTOM, which has some new arranged
scales at the beginning of the jam. Page briefly uses a Moog brass sound.
Again, the jam is off to slow start, and it takes a while to build. When it
takes off, it still sounds a bit anemic and listless.

Believe it or not, but RAGTIME GAL is actually one of the highlights of the
set - for a pretty lame reason: it was sung at the front of the stage, as
usual, but this time, someone stuck a stereo-mic in front of them. The
result is the clearest a capella-tune I've ever heard them do, in excellent
stereo sound.

STORY OF THE GHOST is a funky mid-tempo song, featuring lots of clavinet by
Page, staccato vocals and some whacky sound (effects). Page gets some solo
runs, Trey uses a wah-wah sound on this one, Mike does a lot of slapping.
During the jam, Page briefly switches to the Moog and bends some pitches.
This one is yet again off to a slow start, but doesn't quite seem to reach
take-off. Towards the end, Fish adds some "hoo-hoo" backing vocals.

The encore LIMB BY LIMB is slow in coming: the crew had already taken the
guitar and the bass off the stage, and the band needs to wait for them to be
returned. As far as songwriting is concerned, this one "feels" the oldest.
I'd describe it as somewhere in between Taste and Bouncing Around the Room,
with its bounce and layers of vocals. This one sounds like it might have
some nice jam potential in it yet.

Overall, it's an average set. Well played for the most part, but crucially
lacking inspiration, most noticeably on Trey's part, I think. The excellent
sbd sound off the video redeems the Stash and the Ragtime Gal (which will
make great filler) and can introduce people to the four new songs in the set.

I'll be off tomorrow for my part of the tour: Amsterdam twice and Nuremberg. 
Take care, Kai. :-)
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Kai                                 kaiweber@informatik.uni-frankfurt.de
American & Scandinavian Studies    Goethe-University, Frankfurt, Germany
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