From k97cm01@cc.kzoo.edu Sat Sep 12 23:35:42 1998
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1998 01:07:21 -0400 (EDT)
From: Christian C. McKee 
To: dan@archive.phish.net
Subject: 10.24.95 antelope review

dan,
	here is a review that i just posted to rmp of the antelope from
madison, 10.24.95.  thought you might want it when you update next time...
thanks, and take it easy.

hello,
        some general comments and my credentials.  this was my first phish
show, and i took my dad, who had a great time.  since then, i've seen
11.8.96, 12.6.97 and lemonwheel.  i also listen to phish all the time
(about 200 hours on tape).  on with the review.
        
FWIW, before the antelope there is an awesome yem->sleeping monkey.  the
seg happens out of the vocal jam: the band sings the changes before trey
plays the intro.  cool stuff.  and the yem is HOT.  

0:00
the intro is pretty standard, although john is fairly active on the
woodblocks.  so far nothing to write home about.  this intro is really not
as interesting as the rest of this version, so what follows is a
surprise...

2:02 BAMBAMBAMBAMBAM!!!  Trey is off to the races after the intro.  he
starts off playing "infront" of the band, but this is not to continue.
read on.  his opening solo is in the lower octaves, and really cool.  

Trill at 2:30, and jam to follow.  the tempo is fast.  john is the
monster, really driving this all ahead.  page is prominent on my tapes,
and there is some cool comping from him at this point.  early on there is
no clear solo line coming from either page or trey, just some even
chording.  at around 3:30 trey starts playing repetitive downward scales.
these lead him to a more traditional solo line...  cool stuff.  this is
HARD DRIVING and painful to dance to, it's so dark and angry (in line with
the YEM jam just one song previous).

4:15 this is a really intense groove, standard beat from john, but really
played with some intensity (and a little faster than i'm used to.)  the
fact that the whole band is contributing to the sort of "wall of music"
makes is cool.  around five minutes trey is popping in and out of a
'leading' role, and page is helping him.  as i listen to this, they are
really going back and forth for the lead licks.  each will take a few
measures and play something that might be solo material, but even that is
not really that distinguishable from the overall groove.  (btw, calling
this a groove is not really right.  it's more like hard rock than the
meters, but i'm not to sure what else to call it)  page has really good
stuff in here, not single note material, but great "lead chording"

6:30 trey has found a solo line to keep repeating that's not really
melodious.  one note comes out every measure and hitting you over the ear,
and page is getting more and more chaotic.  mike and john, the whole time
are wailing away with an intense pounding 4/4.  at this point, the already
dark and angry song is getting darker and angrier.  really chaotic and
heavy sounding here, as well as a little repetitive, but hey, it's a
"groove", right?

7:30 trey is starting to climb a bit into the mid range of his instrument.
everything previous has been really low, but he's beginning to go higher
now.  the whole band is doing some pretty dissonant stuff that wouldn't
suit a few people *i* know myself, but it makes for such tension that i
love it.  trey's lines start low, get a little ways up, and then go back
down and do it again.  it's like he's taking two steps forward and one
step back the whole time, really cool idea.  i'd like to hear more stuff
like this.

8:40 trey pulls it back in again with a sustain, after a little "not" peak
that never reached anythingwhere.  this is so dark and so intense and so
pounding, it's hard to communicate.  trey still on the dark low solo
stuff, and the rest still back him up.  the four of them are really
playing the same thing, which is why it's so powerful.
        
9:30 fasterfasterfaster higherhigher.  the whole thing starts to speed up
so quickly, i'm not even sure who started it.  everyone is now moving so
fast we can't believe it, and there's still no clear solo coming from the
'doc or page's keys.  they are just pounding away as a whole!  this is
antelope as an angry heard of Borg would play it :)

10:21 trey takes a big slide down the neck and begins to trill around
10:43, with some normal-ish soloing to follow.  this normal sounding
antelope jam continues for a while, and then just slowly fades into
something totally different...

11:15 the jam is now really quiet, and trey is playing really sharp, quick
chords.  at 12:00 it sounds like the Bonanza theme (as far as rhtym goes).
big wah chords from page in here...  the tempo starts to pick up again,
and as with the rest of the song, they seem to really be playing the same
stuff, but trey starts to climb the neck, and there are some big sustains
right before 

13:00  the band is *wailing*.  trey is flying now, and page and john in
particular sound *awesome* behind him.  john doubles the beat just after
13:15, and this gets so intense i can't believe it.

13:30 OHMYGOD!!!  john is trying to bring the roof down around him, and
almost succeeds, you'll have to hear it to believe it.  the build up to
the shut down has begun, and it's so fast and intense, it must be heard to
be understood. 
jam ends at 14:02, and there is some cool interplay between john and page
in the pre-marco segment...

14:37 Ry, Ry, Rocco...  

15:03 back to the song.  fast, and together.  they come in on the vocals
cleanly and all together.  trey sets the gearshift at 15:30, and the crowd
*screams*

15:45 john brings it all home with his drums from hell......  WOW.

Total Time: 16:31

there are a few things about this version that stand out to me.  unlike
most antelopes, the build up of tension and subsequent release is not
nearly so noticable.  the jam is intense (fast, pounding and "angry") from
its first moments.  most antelopes would take a while to build to the
intensity that this version *begins* with.  after that, the fact that for
much of this, the entire band is playing much the same thing.  for much of
this version, you'd be hard pressed to say who is taking the lead role.
that's neat.  this is certainly my favorite antelope ever, with the
possible exception of anything from spring '92...  ;)

Taboot, Taboot,

Christian