While I do still want to see them live someday, there is a small, cynical part of me that is glad I've never seen Phish in concert because they have such a high capacity to disappoint me. As I became a fan during the dark times (late 2004 to early 2009), I had a lot of time to catch up on old shows, diving deep into online fan tapes and the official LivePhish.com store/site. Having already heard a lot of the most recommended “best” and “fan favorite” concerts, I decided to listen to shows that I might have actually gone to in my area, to get a sense for what an 'average' show might have been like. While not outright terrible, Phish—especially in the post-hiatus, 2003-2004 incarnation—are sometimes known for playing sloppy or jam-light shows from time to time. And this is where my disappointment would always come in. I could forgive forgotten lyrics here or there, a flubbed section of a song here or there, but if a show had no tasty improv, or at the very least, some interesting segues between songs? Count me out. So, while I don't mean to rush the conclusion of this Retrospective entry, I have to say up-front that I was not looking forward to revisiting Live At Big Sur. Will I be just as let down this time? We'll find out in a bit.
Live At Big Sur was released on January 9th, 2021. For whatever it's worth, it was recorded on December 19th, 2020, so a pretty quick turnaround. It's officially known as Live At Big Sur, but sometimes also referred to as Live At The Henry Miller Library Big Sur. I'll be going with the shorter designation for sake of ease. The webcast, now posted for free on YouTube, is preceded by 12ish minutes of a bizarre improv jam over footage of...well, I'm still not sure for the most part. Best experienced for yourself. Now, please correct me if I'm wrong but I think this was purely a digital release, so no limited edition color variant vinyls to lust after. Maybe I'm alone in this but I find it exceedingly odd that there's been no physical release at all, even on CD. But I digress. It's not on the Bandcamp page for this release so for those wondering, here's what John Dwyer had to say about the performance/release: “We’ve dipped deep into the dark waters of our song-sack of holding and found several more never-before-performed-live tunes & paired them up with some oldies we’ve knocked the dust off of as well as some fan favorites and general surprises to make the merry very. That’s right, we’ve been paying attention. Recorded from dusk till dawn 2 at the gorgeous Henry Miller Library in Big Sur. Same killer crew, similar killer vibes. An enchanting pre-holiday evening to tell you that we miss and love you. Play it loud and have one on us. And keep your chin up for goodness sake."
As usual, here's the tracklisting, with the album the song is from in parentheses:
Rogue Planet (Mutilator Defeated At Last)
I Can't Pay You To Disappear (Dog Poison)
Opposition (Carrion Crawler/The Dream)
Crushed Grass (Carrion Crawler/The Dream)
Heavy Doctor (Carrion Crawler/The Dream)
Ticklish Warrior (A Weird Exits)
Gholü (Face Stabber)
Withered Hand (Mutilator Defeated At Last)
Voice In The Mirror (Dog Poison)
Tunnel Time (Floating Coffin)
Gelatinous Cube (A Weird Exits)
Poor Queen (Mutilator Defeated At Last)
Lupine Ossuary (Mutilator Defeated At Last)
Dead Medic (Dead Medic 12” single)
Jealous Again (Black Flag, Jealous Again 12” EP)
Nervous Breakdown (Black Flag, Nervous Breakdown 7” EP)
Wasted (Black Flag, Nervous Breakdown 7” EP)
Fix Me (Black Flag, Nervous Breakdown 7” EP)
Levande Begravd (Liket Lever, Levande Begravd/Hjärtats Slag 7” single)
J'ai Mal Aux Dents (Faust, The Faust Tapes)
Live At Big Sur is a very scattered release, in terms of choices of covers as well as the band's own songs. It's weird to have three songs from the same album in a row, and it's also weird to have four songs from the same album in total. Not sure if those were conscious choices or just how they wanted the set to flow and feel. Overall the songs are heavily biased towards short tracks and I think it's easily my least favorite setlist of their recent live releases. Before 'Dead Medic', a welcome rarity, there is only one song that is over four minutes long! I will say it's cool to get some bustouts and never-before-performed-live tracks but that only goes so far in my book.
As for the covers...Well, I'm not that huge of a Black Flag fan. I've always been of the opinion that hardcore punk bands got truly interesting when they started to get weirder. I mean, do more people know Double Nickels On The Dime or Paranoid Time? Given their recent style and penchant for improv I think it's odd Osees only did songs from Black Flag's very early hardcore punk era, before they started to get more ambitious musically and had tracks that routinely went past four minutes. I'd love to hear Osees tackle the legendarily sludgy, stoner metal-esque side two of My War: three songs in 18 minutes, an eternity by hardcore punk standards. Featuring Greg Ginn's guitar insanity at its first true flowering, side two is sort of like if early Bardo Pond had an angry frontman. Anyway. They're well done and faithful covers, and...that's it.
As for the Liket Lever cover, I'm not even going to pretend like I know who this band is. They're apparently a punk band from Sweden who, as far as I can tell, only released one 7” and then disappeared from the historical record. Much like the Black Flag covers, it's well done and faithful, but I can't think of much else to say about it. The Faust cover is much more exciting, given that Osees constantly get compared to Can (for good reason, mind you!) but not other krautrock mainstays they also definitely draw from. Faust aren't as well known for their lengthy jams but give a listen to the original version of 'J'ai Mal Aux Dents' or their quintessential song 'Krautrock' and you'll hear the parallels quite easily. Though in some sense just as well done and faithful as the other covers, this one benefits from having more of an open musical template to play with, as the original song isn't a digestible pop song either. It's also nice given how short and jam-less most of the rest of the show is to finally hear them get psychedelic with it.
Which is, in addition to the somewhat strange song choices, my biggest gripe with this live album. I gotta have my jams, Johnny boy...and Live At Big Sur is like dry toast. That said, if you really like 'Dead Medic' and the studio albums this draws heavily from, you might find a lot to enjoy here.
Next time: Levitation Sessions....II!
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