HOIST

People who like and follow the band Phish seem to forget this one, something that I'll admit I've done on several occasions. A mid-90's album that sort of rehashes and mellows down the art-rock style they developed on Rift, Hoist is an album that inspired a similar playing style of a blend of soft rock epics, shorter more eclectic pieces hailing to their earlier days, and blanket rock-and-roll. This particular style is one of my personal favorites of the band, and in my opinion led to some fantastic songwriting that was able to remain simple yet still have that edge of complexity (see Billy Breathes). Highlights of Hoist include the hard rocking 'Down With Disease', incorporating some funkiness spewed by Gordon, the mellow epic 'Lifeboy', and 'Sample in a Jar'. Perhaps my favorite track is the eclectic closer 'Demand', which subtly shifts moods several times throughout, from boisterous to more avant-garde to extremely climactic-so much so that the song ends with a literal crash and the sound of mourning a Capella. It is slightly worth noting that there is a lyrical reference in the song to 'Squirming Coil', a track on the 1990 Lawn Boy album.

Hoist is mainly a skip-able work of Phish. It has an overall sense of clunkiness and doesn't have the best flow as an album itself. As for individual tracks, there are some definite keepers that not only I found interesting but were indeed added to the vast Phish live repertoire. Mediocre? A bit. But I still suggest that it deserves at least a try, no matter if you are a 'phan' or a prog-enthusiast or simply a fan of rock.