Undermind Bonus DVD Music Cd

Phish - Undermind Bonus DVD

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Undermind (Bonus DVD)      Artist : Phish      List Price : $19.98 USD        Your Price : $14.99 USD      ProductGroup: Music      Release Date : 2004-06-15      Studio : Elektra / Wea      Label : Elektra / Wea      Avg. Customer Rating : (84 reviews)

Reviews Customer Reviews for Undermind Bonus DVD      One of Phish's best studio CD's; DVD is worthless      Rating:      VERY ATMOSPHERIC, AND COHESIVE ALBUM. You can get this with or without the bonus DVD. Save yourself a buck and get it without the bonus DVD. It is a 26 minute "making of" film. It offers no insights and is basically worthless. This is probably Phish's last recording (but who knows). The CD is 51 minutes long and sound quality is good but muted. I like this CD and other Phish CD's like Lawn Boy, where the music is cohesive and there is not a lot of silly, short junk thrown in. I am not a big fan of A Picture Of Nectar, or Farmhouse which jump all over the place and contain a bunch of worthless tracks. This in not a jam CD or a CD of a bunch of long tracks, like Lawn Boy. But it is a very cohesive and interesting CD throughout. The music here is a little more muted and atmospheric for Phish. It is more layered and intricate. And the song writing is very good. The kind of has a retro sound, almost like seventies progressive. I almost gave it five stars, but it hits a slow patch in the middle with Nothing, Two Versions of Me and Access Me.     Customer Reviews for Undermind Bonus DVD Cd      2nd only to Billy Breathes      Rating:      It can (and has) been said that Phish were never a studio band. Their live shows far exceeded most of what they did in the studio, often rendering their albums somewhat useless. This trend ended, in my mind, with 1996's "Billy Breathes", and "Undermind" follows suit. Phish started making albums that stood on their own as pieces of art, rather than collections of songs to be played live. It took me a few listens before I "got" this album, but eventually, I got it. When this album was released, the end of Phish had just been announced. Many fans, myself included, were disappointed in the poppy, simplified songwriting style of this album. The band lays it bare on this one; there are no complex, progressive arrangements found on older tunes like "Reba" or "You Enjoy Myself". Instead, "Undermind" focuses on minimalism and the individual expressions of each band member, from Page McConnell's beautiful "Army of One", Mike Gordon's quirky "Access Me", and the very Trey Anastasio "Scents and Subtle Sounds". Drummer Jon Fishman, as seen on the excellent bonus DVD, brings in his old Gretsch kit and vintage cymbals for the sessions, and anyone who knows drums knows the gorgeous tone of Gretsch. After repeated listens, these lovely charms begin to shine through, and one can begin to hear the restrained yet characteristic playing from each of the members. This album sounds like four guys who love playing music together. The songs feel like unique performances rather than mixings of tracks, all captured impeccably in warm analog beauty by producer Tchad Blake. Songs like "Nothing" and "A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing" achieve moments of pure sonic bliss. The album is not void of its problems; I still skip over the painfully sappy "Secret Smile". The song is completely out of place on this album. "The Connection" is also a slightly weaker track in my opinion, but it has started to grow on me. The hard core, old school Phish fan will almost inevitably have a tough time with this album. I was disgusted with the majority of it when it was released. As mentioned before, it is an exercise in minimalism and simple, concise songwriting, void of the experimental jamming that Phish is known for. However, with repeated listens, it becomes more and more apparent that the band was trying to get to the core of why they played together, and why we listened to them, in the first place.