A Night In the Life of PHISH February 10, 1993 - Green Print (Rutgers) By Paul Acquaro The cover opens up to a blue roomscape, focused on a man lying diagonally across his bed, with a scale and a knife. In the distance a woman, slightly naked and proudly poised is walking away. Below the bed is a maze. A vastly complex picture that is reflected in a mirror with a man skating in it, reveals the inner workings of Phish's most extraordinary album to date. Whereas Junta, Lawn Boy, and Picture of Nectar, were all incredible excursions into musicality and frivolity, Rift goes deeper into a musical psychosis of despair and is juxtaposed with a soul wrenching search. The music and words, which have always been fun, have reached a plateau of incredibleness [??-df] that can only be envisioned after some traumatic even changes you forever. Phish will never be the same - any other song containing lyrics about heavy artillery-toting llamas will never live up to the amazing complexities of Rift. The album kicks off with a country-samba appropriately titled "Rift". It sets the stage for the sandblasting of the psyche that occurs during the rest of the album. "Last night in the moments my thoughts were adrift and coasting a terrace approaching a rift," begins the protagonist, and he ends "the passion that sparked me one terrible night and shocked and persuaded my soul to ignite." The story that enfolds is one of intensity and emotion. "When you're there I sleep lengthwise, when you're gone I sleep diagonal in my bed" admits the forlorn man. Lying in his bed, with his love(or whatever it is he lost) gone, he recalls thoughts and memories and problems. "Maze" is a desperate call for getting out of that social mess of politicking and friendship, but of course in an upbeat Phish way. The mixed up people in the end just "laugh and laugh and fall apart." The songs, by the way, are not depressing, they are the type of groovy (sort of) songs that made Phish interesting in the first place. The exceptionally pleasant [!-df] "My Friend, My Friend" begins the man's desire to kill either himself or his wife?- well, whoever it was theat hurt him. "My Friend, My Friend, he has a knife, a statement from his former life. My friend, my friend, he had wife." A few songs later he eventually reconsiders his situation, and though he still is lying diagonally, he can see hope. I don't want to ruin the ending of the story, so go buy the album and find yourself running to the bathroom a lot while listening to the orgasmic album.