I appreciate your enthusiasm, zzyzx, although I disagree with many of your points, but in some ways it might be a case of your having a much longer history with the band than myself; some of what seems similar to you seemed/seems wildly different to me, both then and now.

However, attempting to eschew all those conflicts, I still have one point remaining: not only would I say that '94 was the peak and '95 transitional--something I've just recently begun to think--I would also say that the style of the Storage Jam is straight OUT OF '94, in large part. Yes, there are elements of 3.0 that make it unique; I'm not saying it's an attempt to recreate the past. But the 3.0 style has been evolving for a couple years now, and part of that has been re-incorporating elements from the past, and the Storage Jam is the clearest example yet of re-energizing the new with the familiar and still-exciting elements of the experimental '94 sound.

Which, to me, was THE peak--SO FAR, so I'm just incredibly thrilled about all of this. I got really sick of even discussing this shit for a while, burnt out on Phish entirely, and I've just been listening to SBIX in an attempt to reinvigorate my own enthusiasm in time for UIC. And it's working. As is reading your piece here and realizing I still have a lot to say about this shit. Even if it IS a waste of time. Heh. So thanks!