An introduction to Phish from a jazz lover's perspective 101.1.0

We have reached the end of our Phish curriculum for the time being. Congratulations - it's your arrival, you little bundle of joy - you've made it! But don't rest on your laurels, it's time to get back on the train for our final exam for Phish 101.1.0.

To recap our course thus far, we have reviewed:

Reba, in which we explored the jazz and composed jamming

Golgi Apparatus, in which we celebrated our internal biology nerds

Stash, in which we continued the tight jazz jamming, and layered in lyrics composed for their sound, rather than their meaning

Punch You In the Eye, in which we appreciate the technical aspects of the music

You Enjoy Myself, which invites you into being part of the Phish collective for all the right reasons

Divided Sky, which sustains us us on a triumphant musical journey

The Lizards, in which we scraped the surface of Gamehendge

Visuals & stage antics, in which we celebrated creativity, spontaneity, and general goofiness

And now, it seems only fitting for our final to dive into the epic Phish 1.0 song, Fluffhead. We take a leap of faith here, as many crusty veterans wouldn't recommend turning n00bs onto Fluffhead until after they'd wholeheartedly committed to loving the band, and diving deep into their technical esoterica. However, as a student who wants to hear more after embracing the technical prowess of Reba, and who loves the tension and release buildup and ensuing massive jam of You Enjoy Myself, I ask you....shall we go, you and I while we can, through the transitive nightfall of Flluffhead?

The lyrics of Fluffhead (but not Clod) were written by Trey's good friend, The Dude of Life, whose brother was dying from cancer at the time, and who was putting fluff balls on his head to replace the hair he'd lost from chemo treatments. This is my good friend, James, who was preparing his Fluffhead costume for the 1998 Halloween show in Las Vegas.

Your final for An introduction to Phish from a jazz lover's perspective 101.1.0 is to listen to Fluffhead, and document your responses in real time. What are your impressions? How does your understandings of the band's aesthetic now that you're at the end of the course inform your listening process. As with all finals of 2020, this course is pass/fail and (spoiler alert!) you've already passed! If you want more of a challenge, try to discern where the various sections begin and end (hint: Fluff's Travels begins when they ask, "Fluffhead?" and Arrival begins.....well, you'll probably know - it's the beginning of the 'blissfully climactic ending jam,' as noted above).