JOY

I have to admit, I generally lean more towards free and creative Phish music, with more focus on "in the moment" chemistry between the players which is why live Phish is always the best Phish to listen to. And the earlier albums were closer to this then the newer ones and "Joy" is just another notch on the studio album list. I know people grow up and things change, and thats all good and fine. This album is still better than a lot of music on the radio. But it's just not the Phish that I grew up with and learned to love. I could not pick a favorite album by these guys but if I was made to, it would most likely be one of the first 4. I am not a "jam-band" lover by any means, but when these guys get into that state of mind and play the longer songs, one can only express that it's pure beauty (ex: esther, stash) in musical form. But it seems they tightened up over the years, but not necessarily for the better. There are too many die-hard Phish heads out there that think everything these guys do is great.... and even though they are an amazing band, this album is kinda disappointing to me. Hey I'm am just one person and expressing my true feelings. If one was new to Phish, I would say, "hey listen to this new album, they are a good band....but check out "Junta", they were awesome back then!" Since there are no 1/2 stars, I will give this one 2.... but it should technically be 2.5 if the scale was made that way. I would say my favorite album is Rift, with Junta being the toss up..... great fun songs back then. But all albums have wonderful music on them... every one of them. They are amazing, but they definitely play a different sound these days. To all you Phish heads, dont hate me.... cuz you know I am just speaking the truth

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