JUNTA

Back in their early years, prog rock was much more prevalent in the music of Phish than after Warner Elektra got their evil mitts on this band. And they wer very good at it. The prog is on high display on this album in You Enjoy Myself, which turns into an R&B jam halway through, Foam, a sort of deranged samba, The Divided Sky, David Bowie, and especially Fluff's Travels. Anyone who wonders what this band is doing here should simply listen to this album.

"Junta" also features a lot more of their fabled jamming than any of the Elektra studio albums. Union Federal is a twenty five minute space jam that starts out meandering, but gels toward the end (no wonder the Deadheads love them). Speaking of The Dead, they were obviously a heavy influence on Phish, and Trey Anastasio's guitar often sounds like a certain Mr. Garcia.

My only complaint: the last track, Icculus, sounding sort of like Flo & Eddie era Zappa, goes way too far to get to a bad pun.