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Phish’s Album Picks (Circa 2003)

Here is the follow-up to the archival Phish cover story we ran last week.

Before Phish’s summer 2003 tour, Trey Anastasio suggested that each band member come up with five CDs that he wanted to turn the other guys onto. The goal was for all 20 albums to be downloaded onto each band member’s iPod, to help generate fresh musical ideas. This being Phish, of course, the idea got talked about a lot, but the lists never got completed and the albums never were downloaded. Not willing to let a good idea die, however, we offer a sampling of each band member’s selections, with their reasons for the choice.

TREY ANASTASIO

Brian Eno, Another Green World : This was my other hope for the Halloween album, though since we came back from the tour I’ve also rediscovered Before and After Science, and in the family wagon my wife Sue has been listening to Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy with the kids. All those Eno albums remain great.

The Mills Brothers, The Millenium Collection : I picked this one because I’ve been listening to it a lot. The Mills Brothers are incredible. We do those four-part a cappella songs sometimes, and I wanted the guys to hear the masters and maybe inject a little soul into the proceedings. I also thought that maybe we could do “Up a Lazy River.”

West Side Story: The Original Soundtrack Recording : The greatest orchestration ever, to my mind, and something I have always loved. When I did the orchestration for the Youth Symphony version of “Guyute,” I looked at the score to West Side Story and stole ideas, so that got me more into it. There’s a version with Leonard Bernstein conducting that’s amazing, if you can get your hands on it.

Bob Dylan and the Band, The Basement Tapes : I spent the entire tour listening to this. I think I like it better than anything Dylan or the Band did separately. If we had done Halloween this year, I was going to argue heavily for this album.