This remnant will be replaced soon. The FAQ is back, with a new design! HEADERHERE... Release - Title - Source - Songs - Liner - Cover Released: The newest of Phish's albums was released Tuesday, October 28, 1997. (<punkwaffle@aol.com> reported 9/29/97 that a Philadelphia Best Buy was already selling them, but Pamela Van ReMortel <pvanr@BestBuy.com>, Inventory Analyst for Best Buy's, Music Department emailed 10/23/97 to say, "No Best Buy stores have received or sold copies of this album. ... I look forward to hearing this album.") The first single was rumored to be "Cities", although at least one radio station (WJJR 97.7X in Gainesville, FL) had played "Taste". Slip Stitch and Pass reached #17 on the Billboard Charts in November of 1997, and Phish was presented with gold records for the release on 12/2/97. Title: According to an Elektra press release (dated 10/97, released 9/28), the title is "a knitting term that captures the integration of historic overview and forward-thinking strategies into the fabric of the groups' music at this juncture." The insert with the disc includes knitting instructions; compare that to the setlist and diagram below. - - According to Marc Leftoff <leftoff@mindspring.com>, Jon wanted to call the album Spontaneous WOO, referring to a phenomenon of crowd noise at Phish shows. - - The press release also said Slip Stitch and Pass "will be the first in a series of live and experimental releases to complement their studio recordings." See also: alternate titles. Source: The material is from a live performance, 3/1/97 at the Markthalle in Hamburg, Germany. The album features over 78 minutes of music (one disc not two, as A Live One was), including several previously unreleased songs. Songs: From that show, nine tracks, in this order: Cities (originally by the Talking Heads, on their 1979 album Fear of Music), Wolfman's Brother, Jesus Just Left Chicago (originally by ZZ Top), Weigh, Mike's Song, Lawn Boy, and Weekapaug Groove, Hello My Baby (barbershop-quartet standard), and Taste. Those tracks totaled 71:10 (thanks, Herschel Gelman <hagst3+@pitt.edu>); the disc will reportedly be 73-minutes. (Elektra reports 78 minutes, so keep your ears open for five minutes past the last track.) The full setlist of the 3/1/97 show was: I: Cities, Oh Kee Pa Ceremony, Down With Disease, Weigh, Beauty Of My Dreams, Wolfman's Brother >* Jesus Left Chicago > Reba, Ragtime Gal, Possum** II: Lucy with a Lumpy Face, Dinner And A Movie, Mike's Song > Arabic Jam*** > Lawn Boy# > Weekapaug Groove##, Mango Song, Billy Breathes, Theme From The Bottom E: Taste, Sweet Adeline * with Can't You Hear Me Knockin tease (also played 11-19-94 YEM, 10-21-94 Weekapaug, and to end the 11/27/?? (Seattle) DWD) ** heavy metal style during the beginning and end of "Possum" *** with teases of "The End" (Doors) and "Be careful with that Axe Eugene" (Pink Floyd, from Ummagumma and Relics) # with bass solo. ## "Can't You Hear Me Knockin'" (Rolling Stones) tease at end Consider the two (the full setlist and the songs on the disc) in relation to one another, via the following diagram. The title isn't clearly illustrated, but some sense of knitting/stitching certainly is: The satellite broadcast is the same mix as this tape and SS&P. The satellite version is also missing Ragtime Gal, as the song was not mic-ed. Shane Neff <shane@rcip.com> To note, tapes floating around are likely missing Possum, Reba, and Ragtime Gal and perhaps Sweet Adelaine (although the latter two were captured by a keen FOB taper). (Dan <dan@am-dig.com>) Background: Also according to Elektra's release, "Some of the metaphysical groundwork for what turned out to be an exceptional musical event might have been laid the previous evening. Enjoying a night off, the members of Phish, along with their crew and friends, embarked on a raucous bout of partying that would have done Van Hagar proud. The festivities began at the hotel bar, where several rounds of a potent libation known as Dr. Joe's Knockout Punch were consumed. One overturned glass table and a mass eviction later, the party moved onto the tour bus, which became an impromptu mosh pit as tapes by Rage Against the Machine and other blared. 'There might have been 20,30 people on the bus,' says Gordon, 'opening the skylights and jumping out of them'. Next, they explored the subterranean clubs and discos of Hamburg, dancing to the latest electronica and house music into the wee hours." Interestingly, there was an advance cassette of this disc around, but no advance CD sent to radio stations and stores weeks early, as happened with previous discs. The liner notes are attributed to Steven Wright. Read carefully to get the joke: "Never before in my life in what is clearly an audio sequence although visual oriented in its roots has an album made the impact on me and probably thousands of others in the present and those squatting in the future waiting and experiencing simultaneously this wonderful music in a form unnerving in its pleasure to mankind as spectator of life as whole and in its separate parts in general. I highly recommend it. Also, I have not heard it. Thank you." (Thanks to Gary Davis <gdavis@loop.com>, 10/8/97.) Also, note the nicknames, scribbled into the photos: MC Neon Cellgap for Page; Leroy Elroy for Mike; and Herr Necklace for Trey (who appears to have a necklace "made" of chest hair). Rob <rms0612@garnet.acns.fsu.edu< notes that the promotional copy doesn't have the Steven Wright quote, but calls Fishman Jacques. Cover art: Music Central informed that, "Cover art will be done by one of the artistes who works at the seminal graphic art house Hipgnosis, the firm that created groundbreaking album covers for the likes of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin back in the dark ages of the '70s. Also, look for Phish's next studio album to be released in early 1998." The disc will reportedly sell for $16.98, cassette for $10.98, though many local stores sell at a discount the first days or weeks of sale, so get it early. (Thanks to Chris Berg <xcberg@mc.net>, 8/6/97) According to Billboard Magazine, 10.3.98, "Phish's last release, 'Slip Stitch And Pass,' peaked at No. 17 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 229,000 units." See also, the official promo site and Slip, Stich & Pass discusison on JamTV. See also, reviews and sound clips from Music Boulevard. Thanks also to "Yoda" <JHDAVIS@VM.SC.EDU> Jeremy Goodin <gilmour@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu>, Brent Williams <brent_williams@resjobs.com>, Dan Hantman <dan@www.phish.net>, and Brian Lipman <BLIPMAN@aplny.a-p-l.com>. "...the music exists in the universe, and if you're lucky enough, or strong enough, to let your ego out of the way, the music comes through you. The audience we have is open to that, and they understand that conventional transfer of energy. If you had an audience screaming for the hit song, it's never going to happen. You've got to have people who are there for that spontaneous moment where you rise above normal limits. The best shows, you really are not in control. I've been reading a lot of interviews of great musicians -- Marvin Gaye, Art Farmer, Sun Ra -- and they all agree on this philosophy." -- Trey Anastasio, to Steve Silberman for "Control for Smilers Can't Be Bought" This page last updated February 03, 2007. All contents © 1992-2007 Ellis Godard. All rights reserved.