From cdhoard@umich.edu Sat Oct 24 16:24:49 1998
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 18:38:22 -0400
From: Christian David Hoard 
Cc: Dan Hantman 
Newsgroups: rec.music.phish
Subject: **11.22.97 Piper Review**

First of all, a HUGE thank you to Mehool Patel for spinning me DAUD/1s
of four different sets specifically for these Piper reviews...
________________

        11-22-97 Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA, Set II:

Halley's Comet-> Tweezer > Black Eyed Katy > Piper > Run Like An
Antelope 

This is a good set, one of the best of the fall tour. While I'd
definitely recommend a few sets of different shows over this one
(12.6.97 II, 11.13.97 II, 11.29.97 II, 12.02.97 II, 12.07.97 I, and
12.29.97 II, to name a few...), this may be the the best overall show of
the fall tour, top-to-bottom. The jam out of Halley's, the Tweezer and
the BEK all operate on the same funky, spacy vibe and are very cool. 

INTRO: Piper starts up with Trey chording lightly (no segue here). He's
just noodling  around the main chord progression with Page. A nice
cymbal roll from Fish at :40 ushers in some almost contrapuntal-sounding
work by Trey and Page, followed by some noodling effects from Trey.
Nice, quiet intro.

THE ASCENT: Around 1:50, Fish plays a more constant cymbal rhythm along
with some bass drum here which gets things moving. At 2:40, Trey and
Page are both chording the main theme clearly, playing off each other's
rhythms very nicely.

FIRST LYRICS SEGMENT: As Fish hits the snare a few times (inconsistently
and a bit out of place), Trey fades in the vocals nicely at 3:20. It's
mostly Trey repeating the Piper lyrics, while the backing vocal parts
are a bit soft here. They pick up well, however, before an abrupt
fade-out at 4:16 after Fishman kicks in with a steadier beat.

MIDDLE JAM: At 4:24, Fish has the beat riding along as Trey stamps out
chords and Page noodles beautifully behind him. Very subtle, charming
basslines from Mike here. At 5:10 Trey drives the tempo a bit, and by
5:40, this Piper sounds a bit like a runaway train, though the crowd is
digging it. Lots of energy here. (By the way, I didn't realize until
listening to the 6.19.97 Vienna version of this song that the "middle
jam" was something new to fall versions of Piper. Before, they would do
the quick-drop fade-out after only one vocal segment). 

SECOND LYRICS SEGMENT: This lyrics segment is hurt a bit by the
too-speedy tempo. Things sound a bit rushed here (even though the words
are supposed to be fast), though I guess the energy from the crowd
compensates for it. Fish is helping to drive things along by punching
the snare on every beat, while Mike is keeping things under control with
that moving bassline I love. Vocals are a bit rough here. At 7:15, it
sounds as if the vocals spontaneously drop out, but then come back a bit
and fade quickly thereafter. 

END JAM: Unfortunately no end jam in this version (like the glorious one
to come at the Palace a few weeks after this version; it may well have
been the first). At 7:40 they do that quick-drop fade which they'd been
doing in previous versions. Very cool effect, though I must admit I'd
hoped the jam would go places.

THE BIG PICTURE:
A solid "radio edit" version of Piper (or as close as you can come in 8
minutes). There was a lot of energy and it was well played for the most
part, but a song like this, with only one real chord progression and
repetitive (though terrific) lyrics, is just begging to be jammed upon.
Alas, it really wasn't here. Solid 6.0 on the meaning-less 10-point
Piper scale for this version. Check out the 12.6.97 II version for the
best Piper to date (that I've heard). 

Overall, this set is pretty nice, with the afore-mentioned Halley's >
Tweezer > BEK plus a nice Antelope following the Piper. I'll offer this
*set* (not the whole show) up for the B+P to the first five respondents.
Your copy will be DAUD/2.

Thanks for reading,
CDH