Music Munchers - Billy Breathes by Phish

Product Review
You're either a believer or you're not when it comes to this hugely popular live band. Well, the lines get blurred here, just as they did a quarter century ago on the Grateful Dead's American Beauty. As he did with the Dave Matthews Band, producer Steve Lillywhite puts a crisp stamp on 13 likable, easy-going songs and instrumentals. --Jeff Bateman

With the end of the last of the great live rock bands coming near, and taking the studio albums that have spanned Phish's entire career into account, this album remains the band's best by far. From a standpoint that considers composition, performance, production, and general album aesthetic flow, this record is simply unparalleled. Those who would ignorantly dismiss Phish as a stereotypical "jam band" would do well to educate themselves with a thorough listen to "Billy Breathes." I'm not saying Phish isn't a jam band--indeed, they are THE jam band--but Phish completely transcends the negative stereotype of the genre, especially in "Billy Breathes." From the beginning to the end, this record shows the band's wide range of abilities: from full out rocking solos to perfectly-articulated, through-composed, rhythmically and melodically sound compositions. It is this balance of so many areas that makes Phish as great as they are. The album opens with two songs that are now staple goods in live Phish shows, two of the band's many signature rock anthems, "Free" and "Character Zero." These songs draw you in and show the band's ability to rock, and "Waste," a semi-charged anthem carries the flow of the album from the rock into the rolling melodic style of the rest of the album. "Taste" is one of the greatest and most underappreciated songs in Phish's repertoire, probably because of the difficulty it presents in a live atmosphere. This studio cut, however, is nothing less than phenomenal. The song opens with the guitar and piano in a fast 6/8 feel juxtaposed over a duple-meter 2/4 feel by Fishman on the cowbell. The cowbell is more prominent, and you feel your foot tapping in 2/4 until Trey starts singing in 6/8 and the aesthetic whiplash that results takes a few moments to recover from but leaves your mind stimulated and ready to go for the rest of the track. After the second verse and chorus, the drums lock into 6/8 establishing a final sense of completeness for the beginning of the development. The final jam that carries the song to its brilliant climax is of the utmost quality. The guitar and bass moving stepwise up the D-scale while Page plays (circular?) chords in the treble of the keyboard carry you right in to the final resounding chords which conclude the piece. "Taste" is the kind of song that anyone who thinks Phish is a "stupid hippie jam band" would do well to listen to and then go play in front of a bulldozer. Another highlight to the album is "Talk," a beautiful acoustic ballad that again shows the talent behind the band's writing. Trey picks on a C chord with a stepwise chromatic line descending from the tonic all the way down to E, at which point the pattern is repeated. When Page comes in with a simple but profound little line in thirds over the top, the effect is chilling to the bone. The song doesn't develop much from there, it is a quaint little ballad where less is so much more than most other bands can put together. What follows "Talk" is another gem of Phish's repertoire, "Theme from the Bottom." Page opens the the song with a simple melody line that begins on D and F# but widens chromatically on both ends as it progresses outward to larger intervals. After a few progressions of this the rest of the band enters in a tasteful groove with the guitar and bass arpeggiating in harmony with each other. The song proceeds through the verse and chorus (a nice alternation between moving melodic lines and then chords) a few times, and after the second chorus a jam sets in that utilizes one of Phish's trademarks: one chord is established, and then the tonic of that chord becomes an extended pedal tone as the band moves around different embellishments. In this case, Trey and Mike crank out the pedal tone while Page hammers out different extensions of chords, moving up and up the keyboard as the chord grows and grows. At the climax, the instruments fade out and the band sings a beautiful a capella progression--a play on the words in the title--and the instruments slowly move back in. Another enormous build ensues, and as everything swells each instrument slowly loses its rhythm, as every musical element (rhythm, harmony, form, melody) fades away except for that one tonic "D" note which grows out of everything else. It's a brilliant ending, one that seems so simple but took such a brilliant band to come up with. The title track, "Billy Breathes," is simply gorgeous. It is an instrumental masterpiece, and a good deal of the credit must surely go to Steve Lillywhite, the producer, who is basically behind the wheel of every great band's greatest album. A complex harmonic structure used in such a way that you may never notice is supplemented by tasteful brushes on the drums, accentuated by a simple but effective organ solo, and reinforced by some great banjo playing in the background. Trey's guitar solo is one of the best I have ever heard. It is clearly a written solo, and it could not have been written for the style any better. One of the best guitar solos out there in terms of taste and aesthetics. The album begins to resolve with two interesting little pieces, "Swept Away" and "Steep," before going back to its roots with a powerful rock ballad "Prince Caspian," another epic finale tune that pops up now and again at live shows. All in all, you can't beat this album. If you don't think you like Phish, listen to this and repent. If you have heard a little Phish and would like to get better acquainted, this is it. Simply put, buy it. You'll be glad you did. Comment | Permalink | (Report this)