''Hoist'' (stylized as ''(HOIST)'') is the fifth studio album by the American rock band Phish, released on March 29, 1994 by Elektra Records. At the time of its release, ''Hoist'' was Phish's best selling album to date, peaking at No. 34 on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of ar ...

albums chart. The album was certified gold by the RIAA on August 19, 1996, and remains the band's best-selling studio release, outsold in their discography only by the platinum-certified ''

A Live One ''A Live One'' is a live album by the American rock band Phish, released on June 27, 1995, by Elektra Records. The album was the band's first official live release, their first album to be certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Associa ...

''. The album includes "

Down with Disease "Down with Disease" is a 1994 song by American band Phish. It is the second track from their 1994 album '' Hoist'' and was released as their fifth promotional single by Elektra Records. The song is a funk rock song written by Phish guitarist an ...

", the band's breakthrough single on American rock radio, reaching the top 40 of ''Billboard'' magazine's

Mainstream Rock Tracks chart Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

in June 1994. The band filmed their only official music video for the song, directed by bassist

Mike Gordon Michael Eliot Gordon (born June 3, 1965) is an American bass guitarist and vocalist most recognized as a founding member of the band Phish. In addition to bass, Gordon is an accomplished banjo player, and is proficient at piano and guitar. He ...

, which received some airplay on MTV.

Title

The band suggested a few ideas for the album's title before finally settling on ''Hoist''; one of the alternative suggestions was ''Hung Like a Horse''. The band ruled this out, but decided to keep the visual joke intact for the album's cover. The horse is also a reference to "The Horse," the only song not visually depicted on the cover of ''

Rift In geology, a rift is a linear zone where the lithosphere is being pulled apart and is an example of extensional tectonics. Typical rift features are a central linear downfaulted depression, called a graben, or more commonly a half-grabe ...

'', the band's previous album. The horse on the cover is named Maggie and was owned by the band's friend Amy Skelton.

Production

Most of the songs on ''Hoist'' were not played in concert by Phish until after the release of the album. Only "Sample in a Jar" and "Lifeboy" had been played beforehand, both debuting in 1993. "Axilla (Part II)" is a version of the song "Axilla", which had been debuted in 1992, with new lyrics. Although the band played "Part II" throughout 1994, Phish retired the song in favor of the original version of "Axilla" in 1995. After 1995, Phish did not perform "Part II" again until September 2021. The outro jam segment of "Down with Disease" had been debuted by the band at midnight at their New Year's Eve 1993-94 concert, but the entire song was not played live until April 1994. ''Hoist'' features guest appearances from

Alison Krauss Alison Maria Krauss (born July 23, 1971) is an American bluegrass-country singer and musician. She entered the music industry at an early age, competing in local contests by the age of 8 and recording for the first time at 14. She signed with ...

Béla Fleck Béla Anton Leoš Fleck (born July 10, 1958) is an American banjo player. An acclaimed virtuoso, he is an innovative and technically proficient pioneer and ambassador of the banjo, bringing the instrument from its bluegrass roots to jazz, classi ...

Tower of Power Tower of Power is an American R&B and funk based band and horn section, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing since 1968. There have been a number of lead vocalists, the best-known being Lenny Williams, who fronted th ...

Rose Stone Rose Stone (born Rosemary Stewart, March 21, 1945) is an American singer and keyboardist. She is best known as one of the lead singers in Sly and the Family Stone, a popular psychedelic soul/funk band founded by her brothers, Sly Stone and ...

and a host of other musicians, as well as actor

Jonathan Frakes Jonathan Scott Frakes (born August 19, 1952) is an American actor and director. He is best known for his portrayal of Commander William Riker in the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and subsequent films and series. Frakes als ...

on trombone. With its

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

, blues,

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

and bluegrass influences, the album is marked by more stripped-down, straightforward songwriting and pop-friendly hooks, a somewhat new approach for Phish. However, the album's final track, "Demand", segues into an extended eight-minute instrumental excerpt from a live performance of the song "Split Open and Melt" from the band's April 21, 1993 concert at the

Newport Music Hall Newport Music Hall is a music venue located in the University District of Columbus, Ohio, across the street from the Ohio Union of the Ohio State University. It is "America's Longest Continually Running Rock Club". History Newport Music Hall op ...

in Columbus, Ohio. The "Split" jam is then abruptly cut off by the sound of a car crash followed by the first verse and refrain of the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

song " Yerushalayim Shel Zahav (Jerusalem of Gold)." "Riker's Mailbox" is a brief interlude track on the album, and the only "song" on the album to have never been performed live by the band. Album producer Paul Fox lived next to Jonathan Frakes, whose mailbox is apparently uniquely decorated. Frakes, who played Commander Riker on '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', sat in for a while during the ''Hoist'' sessions, giving his name to the track.Phish.net Song History: Riker's Mailbox
Online. Accessed: August 12, 2011. The "Riker's Mailbox" track is extracted from a longer take of the song "Buffalo Bill", which had been recorded during the ''Hoist'' sessions but did not make the album's tracklist. On June 26, 1994, the band performed the entire ''Hoist'' album (minus "Riker's Mailbox" but including the "Split Open and Melt" jam) verbatim as the second set of their live show in Charleston, West Virginia. The first set of the concert had featured the band performing their "

Gamehendge Gamehendge is the fictional setting for a number of songs by the rock band Phish. Most of the songs can be traced back to '' The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday'' (or TMWSIY), the senior project of guitarist and primary vocalist Trey Anastasio, writt ...

" song suite in its entirety, and as a result, the concert is known by fans as the "GameHoist" show. This move was a subversion of Phish's usual improvisationally driven performances, and the concert later inspired the band's tradition of donning a musical costume for Halloween.Sessions at West 54th
Phish 10.20.1998 – David Byrne Interview (Part 3)
Online. Accessed: August 12, 2011. In February 2009, this album became available as a download in FLAC and

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...

formats at LivePhish.com.

Track listing

Personnel

Phish *

Trey Anastasio Ernest Joseph "Trey" Anastasio III (born September 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Phish, which he co-founded in 1983. He is credited by name as composer of 152 Phish o ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

s, lead vocals *

Page McConnell Page Samuel McConnell (born May 17, 1963 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American multi-instrumentalist most noted for his work as the keyboardist and a songwriter for the band Phish. In addition to having been a member of Phish since 1985, ...

–

pianos The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, organ, backing vocals *

–

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

and upright basses, mandolin, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Scent of a Mule" * Jon "Greasy Fizeek" Fishman – drums, backing vocals Additional musicians *Morgan Fichter –

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

on "Lifeboy" *

– additional vocals on "If I Could" *Rickey Grundy Chorale – backing vocals on "Julius" ** Rickey Grundy – Conductor ** Trelawney McLaurin ** Beverly Witherspoon ** Theodore Trent III ** Beretta Thomas ** Angela Brown ** Hosea Belcher *

Jean McClain Jean McClain (born March 8, 1953), better known as Pepper Mashay, is an American soul, house and dance music singer-songwriter who has had success as a touring and studio performer. Early life McClain grew up in Muncie, Indiana. Growing up, h ...

– backing vocals on "Julius" and "Down With Disease" *

Horn Section – horns on "Julius" and "Wolfman's Brother" ** Greg Adams –

fluegelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some ...

** Lee Thornburg –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

** Stephen "Doc" Kupka – baritone saxophone ** David Mann – alto saxophone **

Emilio Castillo Emilio Castillo (born September 24, 1950) is an American saxophone player and composer, best known as the founder of the band Tower of Power. Background In 1965, Emilio Castillo took to music after he and his brother Jack were caught stealing by ...

–

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...

– trombone on "Riker's Mailbox" *

– banjo on "Riker's Mailbox", "Lifeboy" and "Scent of a Mule" *The Richard Greene Fourteen – strings on "If I Could"

References

External links