Billy Breathes
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''Billy Breathes'' is the sixth studio album by American
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band Phish, released by Elektra Records on October 15, 1996. The album was credited with connecting the band, known for its
jam band A jam band is a musical group whose concerts (and live albums) are characterized by lengthy improvisational " jams." These include extended musical improvisation over rhythmic grooves and chord patterns, and long sets of music which often ...
concerts and devoted cult following, with a more mainstream audience. The first single, " Free", was the band's most successful song on two '' Billboard'' rock charts, peaking at #11 on the ''Billboard'' Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart and at #24 on the ''Billboard'' Modern Rock Tracks Chart. The album itself became the band's highest-charting album on the ''Billboard'' 200, where it peaked at number seven. ''Billy Breathes'' was produced by
Steve Lillywhite Stephen Alan Lillywhite, (born 15 March 1955) is a British record producer. Since he began his career in 1977, Lillywhite has been credited on over 500 records, and has collaborated with a variety of musicians including new wave acts XTC, Bi ...
and recorded at Bearsville Studios in
Bearsville, New York Bearsville is a hamlet in Ulster County, New York, United States, in the town of Woodstock. It is located along New York State Route 212, within Catskill State Park The Catskill Park is in the Catskill Mountains in New York in the United Sta ...
between February and June 1996, following Phish's landmark fall 1995 tour. The songs "Free", "Taste", "Cars Trucks Buses", "Theme from the Bottom", "Billy Breathes" and "Prince Caspian" were debuted in concert by Phish over the course of 1995, with the remaining songs not appearing in the band's concert repertoire until after the album's release. "Bliss" was not played live by the band until December 30, 2018, 22 years after the release of the album. The album and its title song were named after guitarist
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 ...
's daughter Isabella, who was nicknamed "Billy" as an infant. The album's cover is a close-up shot of bass guitar player
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 ...
, the first time that any member of Phish had appeared on an album cover. Phish frontman
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 ...
recalled in a 1997 interview that the cover came together very quickly on the last day of recording. Upon release, ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' said that ''Billy Breathes'' is "a quiet gem of an album" that confirms Phish "is much more than a
jam band A jam band is a musical group whose concerts (and live albums) are characterized by lengthy improvisational " jams." These include extended musical improvisation over rhythmic grooves and chord patterns, and long sets of music which often ...
from Burlington, Vermont." The album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on January 8, 1999. The album was reissued on LP by Phish's label JEMP Records for
Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...
in 2018.


Recording

Early song ideas came from a scuba diving trip that Trey Anastasio and Tom Marshall went on in the Cayman Islands in January 1996. They then produced a demo which was given to the other band members at the start of the ''Billy Breathes'' sessions. Other songs such as "Free" and "Taste" had already been in the band's live rotation since 1995. The album was recorded between February and June 1996 at the now defunct Bearsville Studios in the Catskills region of New York state. Early recording started February 1, with the band intending to produce the album themselves with engineering by John Siket. The first recording project was an attempt to create a sonic "blob" that filled an entire reel of tape. Each band member contributed on several instruments. This idea was later abandoned but elements were used on the tracks "Swept Away" and "Steep". Rough mixes of songs were made after recording for most of February and March. The band took a break from recording beginning on March 20, and each listened to the rough mixes during their time off. Rough mixes included the songs "Free", "Grind", two versions of "Strange Design", "Swept Away/Steep", "Talk", "Waste" and "Weekly Time". Phish performed at the
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (commonly called Jazz Fest or Jazzfest) is an annual celebration of local music and culture held at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jazz Fest attracts thousands of visitors to New ...
in April and then returned to Bearsville on May 1 to resume recording. With the resumption of recording,
Steve Lillywhite Stephen Alan Lillywhite, (born 15 March 1955) is a British record producer. Since he began his career in 1977, Lillywhite has been credited on over 500 records, and has collaborated with a variety of musicians including new wave acts XTC, Bi ...
joined as producer on the recommendation of Dave Matthews. Lillywhite had never heard of Phish before he joined the ''Billy Breathes'' sessions. He reflected in February 2011:
"Phish, for me, are the musical equivalent of watching a flock of birds fly across the sky: They don't scatter every which way, but rather, they move with each other; they dip and dive, they go up and down; but at all times, they seem to have this radar, this instinct, for where the bird in front or in back of them is going. Musically, each member of Phish knows what the other is doing, which then carries over to the whole. The band can play anything, which then raises the question: Well, what should they play? With ''Billy Breathes'', it's the closest they got to making what I would say is a good stoner album. You know what I mean: you put on the CD, you fire up a big one and you just go down that road. There hadn't been a good stoner record since ''
Dark Side Of The Moon ''The Dark Side of the Moon'' is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 1 March 1973 by Harvest Records. The album was primarily developed during live performances, and the band premiered an early version of t ...
''. ''Billy Breathes'' got close. I keep telling Trey Anastasio we can make a better one."
After Lillywhite joined, many of the songs were recorded in the early morning hours. "We did a lot of that album at five in the morning, when the sun was coming up. It kind of sounds like that, especially the stuff on side two like 'Billy Breathes' and 'Prince Caspian', 'Swept Away' all that stuff was recorded as the sun was coming up," said Trey in a 1997 interview. On June 6, 1996, near the end of the sessions, the band played a surprise show in the neighboring town of Woodstock at a local bar called Joyous Lake. In a 2011 interview, Anastasio recalled his method for composing the guitar solo for the track "Billy Breathes":
On the song "Billy Breathes" there's a guitar solo I like a lot. That's a composed solo. I didn't labor over it. What I did is, I walked around the kitchen—my daughter had just been born and we were living out in the woods in Vermont. I was in my union suit, chopping wood. I was not thinking about anything, and then I just started singing ings melodythe first four notes of the solo. I had a cassette player and I'd run over and get it recorded. Then I'd forget about it. And then the next part came. It was a lot of wearing headphones while walking around. Cassette player in my pocket. Change a diaper, go to the store, and whenever I can disconnect from whoever I'm talking to in the room, I'd put on my headphones. So the point I'm making is that it still felt like improv."
The song "Strange Design", which the band had been playing live since May 1995, was recorded during the ''Billy Breathes'' sessions but was left off the album. The band recorded several versions of the track before settling on a final version. This was later included on the ''Free'' European single CD release. Phish lyricist Tom Marshall spoke of the "Strange Design" outtake in 1996:
"It was scrapped at the last second. The band was touring in Europe at the time and made the painful decision there – in Italy or France I think. The album was complete and about to be mastered. "Design" was to be the last song on the album – after Caspian. It was a bizarre version that no one ever really got used to. It was funny though – the second they got back to the States and played it in their new acoustic setup it was as strong as ever. It just couldn't be captured in the studio for whatever reason. Cutting it was one of those great decisions – after working so long and hard on the song, sacrificing it for the good of the album took a very wide focus – as much thought went into cutting it as went into recording it."
Trey Anastasio recalled in a 1997 interview that the cover came together very quickly on the last day of recording.
"We finished Billy Breathes and our manager kept saying, "What are you going to do about the cover?" So, finally, it was the LAST day, and it was, like three in the morning. They (management) said, "We NEED a cover tomorrow." You know all those pictures on the back? We cut them out and stuck them on with scotch tape. Mike was on the cover he just shot a picture of himself. The whole thing took like five minutes!"
In a 2007 interview, Tom Marshall said that Trey Anastasio thought the album cover of Mike Gordon's face ruined the entire album, a feeling Marshall himself shared as well.Randy Ray

The High Watermark with Tom Marshall and Trey Anastasio


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 ...
 – guitars, lead vocals, co-lead vocals on "Train Song", art direction *
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 ...
 – bass guitar, backing vocals, co-lead vocals on "Train Song", cover photo, art direction *
Jon Fishman Jon Fishman (born February 19, 1965) is an American drummer known for his work with the band Phish, which he co-founded in 1983, and which was, in part, named after him. He is credited with co-writing nineteen Phish songs, eight with a solo cre ...
 – drums, backing vocals, percussion on "Train Song", co-lead vocals on "Taste", art direction *
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, ...
 – keyboards, backing vocals, art direction Additional personnel *Danny Clinch – photography *Chris Laidlaw – assistant
engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...
*
Steve Lillywhite Stephen Alan Lillywhite, (born 15 March 1955) is a British record producer. Since he began his career in 1977, Lillywhite has been credited on over 500 records, and has collaborated with a variety of musicians including new wave acts XTC, Bi ...
 – mixing,
production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...
* Bob Ludwig – mastering *Jon Siket – mixing,
recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...
*David Welker – painting


References


External links


Phish's official website''Billy Breathes'' at Phish.com
{{Authority control 1996 albums Phish albums Albums produced by Steve Lillywhite LivePhish.com Downloads Elektra Records albums Roots rock albums