One correction: the soundcheck jam wasn't included on the CD release. (It would have been great if it had been.) I believe it was added for the iTunes and streaming versions.
It's an odd one for sure. I think there are a couple possible reasons though. Maybe a combo of all of these?
- Alpine Valley is huge compared to other sheds, so with recency + attendance bias — it would sell more copies than other releases.
- As I think you've mentioned with Phish's european festival sets...it definitely feels like a "primer" into Phish (not the one I would pick, but I could see how the band or Shapiro might think that)
- it's widely circulated on the forums that Page really liked this show and thought they sounded very tight with good singing. I do *kind* of remember this from a Relix issue back in the day...
- I think the band was still a little self-conscious about their role in the industry and putting out a show with fewer jams might have showed their "other side," as opposed to Fukouka + Darien
The guys in the band sometimes like different things than we do! My sense is that they like good, strong, conencted, Type 1 playing more than we do--and I'm sure they are much more aware than we are of when they play well that way. I recall 8/3/97 also being a band favorite. Doesn't cater too much to your typical internet Phish fan (i.e., US), buy it made me listen again and yeah, I get it--there are some great, as it were, micro-jams in that show.
I remember a Trey interview where he said he liked having three shows from 2000 in the first LP batch. That might have been online, but I don't remember where.
Could be something of a tenuous reflection during the time. When I was purchasing these CDs when they were coming out, I was excited to see that these 2000 shows were in accord with the old releases. After hearing them, I figured out why they were doing it, since they were not in accord lol.
Trey is talking about big cypress there. that interview is from 2 months before this Alpine show. interesting that Piper was Trey's favorite jam from that night tho!
Oh man, you're right. That slipped right by me. I remember there was something during the time that he reflected on this particular 7/8 show as to why he chose this over the other 2000 show possibilities. This wasn't it lol. Thanks.
One correction: the soundcheck jam wasn't included on the CD release. (It would have been great if it had been.) I believe it was added for the iTunes and streaming versions.
It's an odd one for sure. I think there are a couple possible reasons though. Maybe a combo of all of these?
- Alpine Valley is huge compared to other sheds, so with recency + attendance bias — it would sell more copies than other releases.
- As I think you've mentioned with Phish's european festival sets...it definitely feels like a "primer" into Phish (not the one I would pick, but I could see how the band or Shapiro might think that)
- it's widely circulated on the forums that Page really liked this show and thought they sounded very tight with good singing. I do *kind* of remember this from a Relix issue back in the day...
- I think the band was still a little self-conscious about their role in the industry and putting out a show with fewer jams might have showed their "other side," as opposed to Fukouka + Darien
The guys in the band sometimes like different things than we do! My sense is that they like good, strong, conencted, Type 1 playing more than we do--and I'm sure they are much more aware than we are of when they play well that way. I recall 8/3/97 also being a band favorite. Doesn't cater too much to your typical internet Phish fan (i.e., US), buy it made me listen again and yeah, I get it--there are some great, as it were, micro-jams in that show.
I remember a Trey interview where he said he liked having three shows from 2000 in the first LP batch. That might have been online, but I don't remember where.
I found this article from "THE PHILZONE" - an interview with Trey in 2000 regarding one of his favorite 2000 jams was Piper.
https://www.philzone.com/interviews/trey/#:~:text=Trey:%20Well%2C%20at%20one%20point,started%20to%20get%20really%20good!
Could be something of a tenuous reflection during the time. When I was purchasing these CDs when they were coming out, I was excited to see that these 2000 shows were in accord with the old releases. After hearing them, I figured out why they were doing it, since they were not in accord lol.
Trey is talking about big cypress there. that interview is from 2 months before this Alpine show. interesting that Piper was Trey's favorite jam from that night tho!
Oh man, you're right. That slipped right by me. I remember there was something during the time that he reflected on this particular 7/8 show as to why he chose this over the other 2000 show possibilities. This wasn't it lol. Thanks.
Shapiro on Twitter today confirmed the band chose this one.