Catching Phish at Jones Beach July 1, 1995 - Newsday By Richard Gehr Imagine the Grateful Dead on steroids. Wednesday at Jones Beach Theater, Wantagh. CALL IT THE ZONE. Or the Golden Hose. Whatever name you give that place where the music seems to be playing the band rather than vice versa, Vermont improv-rock quartet Phish entered it about a half-hour into Wednesday's 85-minute first set at Jones Beach. The tune it was playing was "Reba" - like other Phish numbers written by guitarist Trey Anastasio, a relatively complex rock composition (with an obvious Frank Zappa influence) that climaxed in a soaring, glorious, ecstatic jam packing an emotional belt on a par with devout gospel. Over the past decade, Phish has evolved from a noodly, granola-fueled club band into an epic rock vehicle dedicated to finding that place onstage as often as possible. Although the combo's first five albums just hint at its potential, Phish's recently released, live double CD, "A Live One" (Elektra), provides the perfect introduction to its sophisticated sonic spectacle. With typical perversity, Wednesday's show included only a few songs from "A Live One"; the group's current single, "Bouncing Around the Room," was conspicuously absent. The night, which began with the ear-crunching heavy metal of "Axilla 2," ended three hours, 16 numbers and one intermission later with a barbershop-quartet version of "Sweet Adeline" and a passionate take on George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." In between, Phish touched on more blistering hard rock ("Chalkdust Torture"), electric bluegrass ("Poor Heart"), an upside-down mambo ("Gumbo") and a psychedelic power ballad ("Fast Enough for You"). Apart from its sheer quirkiness, Phish combines the youthful rock passion of, say, "Live at Leeds"-era Who with the exploratory conviction of Sun Ra fans (which they are). Two of the four tunes the band played from "A Live One" provided nearly an hour's worth of free-form improvisation. In "Stash," Anastasio, keyboardist Page McConnell, bassist Mike Gordon and drummer Jon Fishman liberated dissonance, as silly-trippy lyrics ("The solar garlic starts to rot/ Control for smilers can't be bought") gave way to long, loud and startling chromatic discoveries. As it is on "A Live One," the centerpiece of Wednesday's show was "Tweezer," Phish's musical invitation into its farthest outposts of improvisation. Loosely surfing an ever-changing sea of moods and rhythms, the musicians acted in true concert, obviously listening intently to one another. After half an hour, Anastasio laughingly tried - but failed - to lead the band through the Breeders' "Cannonball," recovering with four other tunes before reprising "Tweezer" more than an hour after it began. Phish isn't for everybody. Fans of glum, amateurish, so-called alternative rock will not be amused. But if humor, virtuosity, improvisation and downright weirdness are important to you, give Phish a chance the next time it comes around. The final ringing line of "Harry Hood" hits the Phish experience neatly on the head: "You can feel good!"