But in the meantime, I do beg to differ on a key point, though. To my mind and tastes, the fact that Phish "jammed" out to virtually every song in their repoirtoire is a weakness, rather than a strength (IMHO). I mean, don't you see it? No the dead didn't enter into a mind-numbing clusterF^$%$ of a jam every time they played "Cassidy" or "Cumberland" or ever "Big River",,but who wanted them too??? these were good "songs" straight ahead, no chaser needed.

I think this point can't be stressed enough. I believe the Dead excelled in this area where Phish did/does not.

You're playing right into my hands, Scooter. It's all according to plan....
Oh, sorry, I have a Darth Vader coffee mug and I got carried away.

Seriously, you're making my point for me....Phish gets lambasted every time they perform a great show (which ends up getting labeled sub-par) without extensively jamming everything. If they just straight up kill it, one song after another, they get accused of "mailing it in", or being "rote and predictable". It makes me nauseous. I think you aren't giving enough credit to Phish's excellent songs in your attempt to make your point. But your point is a good one. I think it's not the band's fault, though, and we all know this. The error lies upon the fans, and their built-up expectations. Phish has no obligation to Type II (or Type I) anything. It's their music, and they do with it what they please.

I DO THINK that Phish is far tighter than the Dead ever were, except, as I mentioned previously, during their peak (as I call it) in '72. I also think they are superior in talent. Their songs are far more complex and and I think it bears mentioning that the foundation to Phish's music is fundamentally different than the Dead's. They are similar bands in the sense that they jam and do the two-set thing, and mix it up, but Phish is much more jazz-based, with elaborate song constructions, while the Dead obviously have more folk, bluegrass and blues underpinning their music. Neither is more valid than the other, just a different approach. Phish SHOULD have more type II than the Dead, by the sheer definition of what it's based on.

Anyhow......you may appreciate the following list of comparisons. MDosque, this is for you as well. You aren't really serious about Widespread Panic, are you? Never mind.
Here are some song analogies between the Dead and Phish that you may find thought-provoking.

Tweezer = Dark Star
Chalk Dust Torture = Sugar Magnolia
Ghost = Playing in the Band
Fluffhead = Weather Report Suite
Undermind = Victim or the Crime
Show of Life = Push Comes to Shove
Divided Sky = Uncle John's Band
Down With Disease = Hell In a Bucket
Mike's Groove = China Cat / I Know You Rider
Ocelot = Black Peter
David Bowie = Cryptical Envelopment / The Other One
Alaska = Dupree's Diamond Blues
NICU = Me and My Uncle
Sleeping Monkey = Monkey and the Engineer (coudn't resist that one)
Reba = New Potato Caboose
Anything But Me = Box of Rain
Sample In a Jar = Dire Wolf
Crosseyed & Painless = Big River

I could go on, but I'm out of time. Anyway, hope you found that thought-provoking and amusing.