This remnant will be replaced soon. The FAQ is back, with a new design! HEADERHERE... Released 10/27/98 on CD (Elektra #62297); 11/3/98 on vinyl. (Formerly due out October 6.) See official promo site. Billboard: Ghost debuted at 8 (!) on the Billboard Top 200 with first week sales of 75,894 debuting at #7 on the Billboard Top 200; second week was 26,445 at #65; and the third week it was 17,544 at #106. Thanks to Syd Schwartz. In-store: Phish appeared at the New York City Tower Records on October 27th, the same day they performed on Letterman for the third time; in Los Angeles on the 28th; and in Chicago on Nov. 1. Listening parties: "Elektra Records is sponsoring listening parties at various stores and clubs; at these events, the new album will be played in its entirety, and there will also be prizes." - Phish.com More Promo: Radio station contests (e.g. ghost stories requested by The Point) for copies of the new disc and The Phish Book plus tickets (and hotel and airfare) for New Years's. Title is taken a funky original tune of the same name debuted in Europe in June 1997. Produced by Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Jeff Buckley, Rage against the Machine). Single: The first single was "Birds of a Feather", which hit radio Oct. 1st. Source: The band returned to the studio in mid-April (reputedly beginning 4/20). One source said the album process started with 45 songs brought into the studio, and whittled down to 13 (14?). Excess: Reportedly enough leftover material for an all-instrumental album for early 1999. Manufacture: This is the first official release (other than the independent release of The White Album) since the 1997 release of Slip Stitch and Pass; and its the first studio production since 1996's Billy Breathes, which debuted at #7 on the Billboard chart. Phish reportedly considered distributing Ghost independently rather than through Elektra. Cover: Art by NYC artists George Condo on the cover and throughout the liner notes. (See lyrics.) Review by Rolling Stone See also, Official Site for the album, with audio, video, shockwave, interviews, and more. The tracks Total playing time (based on the 8/6/98 advanced press CDR) is 50:06, with the following 14-track tracklist: Ghost (3:51) (or full-title title track?) Birds of a Feather (4:15) (formerly Red Sand?) Meat (2:39) (billed as a sequel to Ghost) Guyute (8:26!) (Gyute?) Fikus (2:20) (possibly end of a Ghost trio) Shafty (2:21) (formerly Oblivious Fool) Limb By Limb (3:32) Frankie Sez (3:06) Brian & Robert (3:03) Water In The Sky (2:28) Roggae (2:59) Wading In The Velvet Sea (4:29) Moma Dance (4:28) (formerly Black-Eyed Katy) End of Session (1:54) Not tracks: Rumored but not on the release are Twist (Arond), Piper, Dogs Stole Things, Eight years and Thinking*, When the Circus Comes to Town, My Soul, Vultures, Tiny House*, Washed up at Sea*, Clouds*, Spocks Brain, Dirt, NICU, and Tube (*not yet performed live) Outtakes: A tape is (inappropriatley and arguably unethically) circulating as either "Ghost outtakes" or "Bearsville sessions", most likely (given roughness, sudden stops, and Trey's counting during several tunes) outtakes from the forthcoming album on a 90-minute tape as follows: Side A: NICU (instrumental), Water In the Sky, Velvet Sea, Brian and Robert, Somantain (?), Vultures, Saw It Again, Ha Ha Ha (instrumental), Tube, Gyute, Dirt Side B: NICU (w/ lyrics), Limb By Limb, Ghost (with funked out intro), Instrumental (possibly Samson Riff), Relax (aka Frankie Says), Roget (formerly thought to be Relax), Shafty (revision of Oblivious Fool), What's the Use, Ficus, Acoustic Song (possibly called In A Misty Glade), Meat, Meatstick (with phone snippets) -- and yes, Meat and Meatstick are two separate tracks) Headhunters-esque? Jesse Appelman <oso101@ix.netcom.com> posted (12/7/97), "In the 60's/early 70's, Herbie Hancock's sextet played experimental, far-out, ethereal, spacy stuff. It was groundbreaking, important music, but in 1972 Hancock felt that the sextet had reached its peak. They sustained the peak for a while, but then started to lose focus, becoming less connected. Hancock knew that a change had to come. The next year, he released Headhunters, an album of pure funk. Not only was the album a funk album, but it changed the course of jazz at the time and helped to redefine funk. ... Fast forward 25 years or so. In late '95, Phish was constantly blowing our minds. They were definitely at a peak which they held through the end of the year. In 1996, though, they lost steam (this is my opinion, apologies to fans of 1996), played less epic shows, and were generally less experimental and exploratory. The band knew it was time for a change. What did '97 bring us? It brought funk. Lots of it. The summer tour was used to fully introduce us to this change, as just about every show was full of funk. Now, in the fall tour, the band is combining funk with long, jammed out versions of previously standard songs. The band used funk as a vehicle to keep on moving, searching for a new peak to acheive. Notice any similarities?" See also: Read fan reviews, by Cassius and Christian David Hoard. Phish appeared in store at Tower Records in Manhattan (located at Broadway and Fourth), one of several listening parties sponsored by Elektra Records, on October 27, the day the new album was released. That same day, they also appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, performing Birds of a Feather. "Phish is the best thing to happen to live music in 10 years." The October 3, 1998 issue of Billboard magazine featured an article on the new album, and Phish's and Elektra's strategy for promoting it. Oregon Live, an Oregon newspaper provides an interview with Trey Anastasio on Friday, July 10, 1998 in which he discusses the recording of the album. Ghostbusters USA Today listed Phish's Story of the Ghost among "the 5 most disappointing albums of the year" (with releases from Vanilla Ice, Barry Manilow, Vonda Shepard, and Hootie and the Blowfish), saying "The neo-hippie band's tamest effort deserved the critical carping. Throw it back." Thanks to www.phans.com and Dan Hantman Thanks also to Adam <harpua@webexpert.net>, Ivar Anderson <ivarla@hevanet.com>, Chris Allinson <johnpopper@usa.net>, Adam Scheinberg <adamschein@aol.com>, Chris Intagliata <harryhood@earthlink.net>, and Ron Beaton <rbeaton@sunsix.infi.net>. "[We] finally made an album that is completely separate from the live image. ... Our focus has always been the live show. We'd practice every day and write songs just to fill out a performance. When it came time to record, we'd try to re-create our shows. For this record, we just jammed and wrote songs in the studio." -- Trey Anastasio, Billboard Magazine, 10/3/98 "It's kinda both funkier and dreamier than some of our other albums, and it's like we have our own sound that's coming together. Our influences are jelled more into being us. And it was a very organic way that it was put together, starting with a lot of jam tracks, then writing lyrics together to those jams. That makes up at least half the album right there. And while we were writing lyrics, we were singing them onto a tape right at the point of conception." -- Mike Gordon, jamtv.com interview 10/30/98 "What you're hearing on the new album is first takes, first creations, first everything."" -- Trey Anastasio, Guitar World, 2/99" This page last updated February 03, 2007. All contents © 1992-2007 Ellis Godard. All rights reserved.