SIKET DISC

Phish: Trey Anastasio, Jon Fishman, Mike Gordon, Page McConnell.
Recorded at Bearsville Studios, Woodstock, New York from March to October 1997.
That's Siket as in John Siket, who engineered the album, thus making this a spiritual, if not musical, cousin of the Yardbirds' similarly titled classic ROGER THE ENGINEER. Whatever it's called, however, this is an album that seems deliberately designed to make all but long-time Phish fans scratch their heads and say, "huh?"
It's all instrumental (with the exception of some spoken-word vocal samples), it's all recorded live (without overdubs), it has no jazz overtones whatsoever (save for a bit of cymbal work on "Insects"), and it's all over before you know it. One cut, the aptly titled "Phish Bass" (distinguishing characteristic: a lot of rumbling noises) clocks in at barely a minute long. Most of the tracks here are, essentially, big washes of sound with no particularly individual instruments ever standing out (there are few solos, per se); if the music recalls anything at all, it's the dour modal noodling of the Doors circa "The End."

• Released: 12/18/2015
• Format: Vinyl
• RSD Release Date: n/a
• Genre: Rock