Hello Phish Phans!
Following from last week’s Halloween discussion where we talked about Phish’s made up 80’s Scandinavian Prog Rock band (Kasvot Växt), I think it is important to note that while Phish is known for their free-form, exploratory jams, a lot of their early work has deep prog rock roots. Check out their first two studio albums, “Junta” and “Lawn Boy.”
Today’s song, “Fluffhead” appeared on their first studio album in two parts: “Fluffhead” which has the structure of a typical song, and “Fluff’s Travels,” a complex multi-part composition in the form of a six-part suite. Today it is performed as one full piece. Most phans will agree that the best performance of this song was from the Clifford Ball (the first Phish festival) in August 1996.
I think it is more entertaining to watch the performance. Unfortunately, the full performance does not exist! For some reason, the middle section of the song was cut such that there’s only the first 4 minutes and then the last 5 minutes of the performance.
Luckily, the full audio recording is on YouTube. Here are the links to the videos as well as the full audio:
Fluffhead (video) Pt 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eXYJepbhyEFluffhead (video) Pt 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MY3-wiaRLQ
Full audio recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeBD0hWxO7U
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