Jam Breakdown - 12/9/97 Simple
More Fall 1997! The December anniversary run continues - Check out my previous posts on the 12/5/95 Hood, the 12/6/97 Tweezabella, 12/7/97 Tube, 12/7/95 Mike’s, and the 12/8/99 Piper!
As the legendary tour rolled on to a stop in Pennsylvania, Phish laid down a 29-minute Simple in the second set that many call one of the best-ever versions of the song.
Personally, after listening to it today (this was my first time, yes, I’m a huge noob sometimes), I would take any number of 3.0 versions over it (8/29/14, 7/15/17, 8/6/17, 8/6/21 to name a few). I found that it has a ton of wasted space and while there is a really cool and interesting jam in the middle, the majority of time is spent on a spacey motif that grew stale after a while and just feels like the band was unsure of where to go next.
For those of you who don’t know, that’s a lot of my stance on Fall ’97 as a whole – I think the jams of the preceding summer are a much more interesting brand of the funk sound and develop it in a more interesting way than the fall.
Again – I’m definitely in the minority with my opinions but this is still an awesome Fall ’97 jam! I hope you enjoy my breakdown – don’t forget to sign up for the mailing list and vote on my Twitter polls to see which jams I do next!
All timings are per Relisten.
12/9/97 SIMPLE
0:01 – Trey begins Simple riff at slow tempo
0:14 – Groove is airy and thick
0:56 – Fish seems to be trying to push tempo a bit
1:05 – Fish tom fill
2:28 – Feels like a 2019 composed section lol
3:10 – Sick guitar fill from Trey
4:10 – Jam begins with slow-motion soloing from Trey – feels like I’m listening at reduced speed
4:22 – Fish finally picks tempo up a bit
4:53 – Off-beat drum fills are cool
5:30 – Trey latches onto Page riff
6:04 – Jam still meandering along in Simple proper
6:21 – Trey plays familiar licks
7:00 – Jam seems like it’s ready to break out of Simple but Trey refuses
7:15 – Spacey vibe creeps in, jam quiets a lot
7:30 – Mike plays LOW notes
7:36 – Trey starts repeating riff, breaks out of Simple
7:55 – Quiet and contemplative vibe
8:07 – New progression is introduced
8:28 – Very dreamlike jam
8:36 – Trey playing slow and melodic runs
8:52 – Page still delicately playing piano, resists the synth
9:23 – I would like to curl up in this jam and take a nap
9:58 – Mike getting those rafters vibrating
10:18 – Jam begins to emerge from dream state
10:34 – Kind of aimless right now
10:52 – Band searches for next idea
11:44 – Jam still hangs in spacey limbo
11:56 – Trey coalesces a bit out of the fog
12:10 – Fish introduces a beat akin to beginning of Fee as jam rises
12:45 – Fish kicks into funk beat that could easily be a return to Simple
13:06 – Trey doing mostly texture work with big, sweeping notes
13:20 – Still very melodic
13:32 – There’s the wah
13:45 – Now it sounds like Fall ‘97
14:06 – Trey soloing crazily over funk groove
14:18 – Fish picking up speed as Trey’s solo becomes cohesive
14:35 – Frantic chirping
15:35 – Sustain
15:55 – Wah-heavy soloing from Trey
16:15 – Page is playing Simple again
16:40 – Jam begins to fade out again
17:20 – Page on Rhodes, Trey absent
17:36 – Mike-heavy groove with really nice Rhodes from Page
17:45 – Trey re-enters with nice rhythm guitar
18:01 – Jam still major-key and melodic
18:10 – Rhodes, man
18:35 – Very enjoyable low-key groove
19:05 – Band is LOCKED into groove
19:20 – Page switches to clav
19:32 – Funky shuffle from Fish
19:41 – Page’s low-key soloing continues as rest of band sticks to groove
20:01 – Fish pushes tempo a bit
20:09 – Trey and Fish match each other
20:30 – Wah
21:45 – Mike is hypnotic
21:50 – Trey sets up a couple layers of siren loops
22:45 – Page colouring background with CS60 as Trey melodically plays
23:02 – It’s like a more cohesive version of the first jam segment
23:16 – Fish playing Twist almost
23:37 – Crowd cheers
24:06 – Jam fades completely except for Trey loops
24:40 – Loops continue
24:50 – Early version of late ’99 space loop jam
25:14 – Page adding synths now
25:32 – Fish starts Bowie intro
26:03 – Screeching Trey loops
26:18 – How is this not noted as a Bowie tease/jam
26:40 – Haunted Trey
27:20 – Fish varying up hi-hat a bit
27:36 – Horror movie sounds
27:42 – Crowd answers Trey loops
28:12 – Fish sounds ready to launch into Bowie
28:23 – Trey says no
28:30 – Angry noise cloud develops
28:39 – Fish expertly throwing in low tom hits
28:50 – Angry noise cloud gets bigger
28:57 – Angry noise cloud gets smaller
29:07 – Angry noise cloud rises on the horizon menacingly
29:18 – Fish segueing into Timber is perfect