Quirky Arrangements Serve Phish's Improvisations Well October 19, 1996 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by Ed Masley As much as their latest release, ''Billy Breathes,'' would appear to suggest a significant shift to a leaner, more song-oriented approach, the marathon jamming last night at the Civic Arena was more than enough to erase any fears and/or hopes that the members of Phish had suddenly gone all short and to-the-point. Even the new songs - the organ-fueled ''Cars Trucks Buses,'' ''Billy Breathes,'' an anthemic ''Taste'' - essentially served as a framework for improvisational rambling. The reason it works? Well, you could credit the quirky arrangements, the humorous touches (including a trampoline act) or the heartfelt singing of Trey Anastasio on ''Billy Breathes'' and other tender moments. But mostly, the secret of Phish comes down to the way the musicians play off each other's strengths to take the jam where it needs to go. And they always seem to hold back just enough that there's always room to take the intensity higher. They opened with ''Runaway Jim'' and worked their way through ''Guelah Papyrus'' and ''My Old Home Place'' on the way to organist Page McConnell's show-stopping instrumental ''Cars Trucks Buses.'' As often as people insist on comparing the band to the Grateful Dead, Anastasio is far more versatile a guitarist than Jerry Garcia, though clearly indebted at times. Anastasio owed as much to science as anything he was actually doing, but even through the effects, his playing was never less than inspired. He even threw in a quote from Peter Frampton's ''Do You Feel Like We Do'' in one of the concert's lighter moments. They followed ''Cars Trucks Buses'' with ''Stash'' and ''Stray,'' before delving into a crowd-pleasing blast of ''Divided Sky,'' with Anastasio and bassist Mike Gordon hopping up and down in unison. Oddly enough, the wildest applause of the opening set came during a sudden hilarious break in the action with Anastasio, Gordon, McConnell and drummer Jon Fishman seemingly frozen in place. A gentle ''Billy Breathes'' and the far more offbeat ''Taste'' gave the Phisheads a chance to soak in the new material, and then it was back to the far more familiar ground of ''Sample In A Jar,'' a hard-rocking close to the first-set festivities. An equally raucous ''Suzie Greenberg,'' featuring one of McConnell's finer boogie woogie piano solos, the Anastasio/Gordon trampoline act and a serious mouth percussion workout kept the party going well into the more improvisational second set. It's hard to imagine what the next generation of fans who pick up on Phish through the more song-oriented ''Billy Breathes'' will make of shows like this. But as for now, it didn't seem to bother the crowd of more than 14,000 doing the Grateful Dead dance all night long. © 1996 P.G. Publishing Co.