Phish - The Story Of The Ghost October 31, 1998 - CDNOW by Paul Semel Album Review - The Story of the Ghost Are Phish getting old before their time? Though they still put the pedal to the metal live -- as evidenced by last year's live Slip, Stitch & Pass -- their new studio album, like their previous one (1996's Billy Breathes), is downright mellow and mature- sounding compared to 1994's Hoist and 1992's Picture of Nectar. But while Phish do the rock thing well -- Hoist and Nectar are their best studio albums -- they've taken to the gentle approach rather well too. "Brian and Robert" may not feature any blazing guitars, but it's actually quite beautiful, while "Meat" works the kind of groove hippie kids love to sway to. They even hearken back to their recently reissued demos with such art- school- sounding experiments as the dramatic (in a play kind of way) "Guyute" and the spartan percussion/ bass piece "Fikus." Even so, one can't exactly hope for a mid-life crisis and a return to their younger, wilder days.