I have mixed feelings about this jam. Overall, I think this is an excellent piece of improvised music from one of Phish's most notorious and well-known tours, but it is far from flawless to my ears.

The first couple minutes of the jam is standard Bag fare; really just blues-rock weaved with shredding solos. But what comes next is something more than just a "solo." The band leaves the hard rock behind for a laid-back groove eventually giving way to a nice and textured, almost serene haze of layered music. Jon lays down a low-key funk beat, while Page and Trey create dual melodies that complement each other quite well to say the least.

What comes next is an entrance back to the hard rock mode (brought in so subtley that you may not even notice when one section is left behind and the other starts), but this time it is a little bit different from the first section jam. This section is more of a build-up to the climax, but is really just a lot of nonsensical noise to my ears. Others may hear beauty, but I hear Page hammering random notes, and Trey playing with his wah-peddle. Of course, this section is probably needed for the climax (around the 18-minute mark), which is quite glorious. The climax lasts maybe a minute, but is a more-than-fine example of all 4 members playing music that intertwines so perfectly with one another that it makes you wonder just how they can do that, especially given the disjointed buildup that came prior to it.

The jam could have ended there and everyone would still be happy, but alas we get one final section, because Phish is such a generous band. This section (starts around the 20 minute mark) starts out as a very delicate ambient section that wonderfully contrasts what came before it. I always liken this section to seeing the sun for the first time after a storm, or like a calmness the next morning after a night of thunderstorms. Of course, the "storm" in the jam was raging funk and rock, but this section feels more optimistic than the previous sections. And it includes a VERY nice segue to Slave.

Overall, this Bag is great, and I think the band was toying with certain ideas that may not have worked out exactly how they wanted, but this was the first truly big Bag that opened the floodgates of possibilities for all future Bags. And really, the entire second set sequence of Ghost-> Bag-> Slave should be listened to as one big piece of music. No improvisation is flawless (though some may argue against that, and I may agree with some counterpoints), and the whole second set is Fall 1997 gold, and gets my pick for one of the best second sets of the tour, maybe even of the year.

The Bag is good as a standalone jam, and it may not be as structured or as smooth as other Bags, but it is very multi-layered and improvisational, with each section (I count 4 in total) flowing into one another with great precision. But if you can spare 27 more minutes, check out the whole sequence. Each song, while totally different in style, flows into one another similar to how composers in the classical or romantic era created different movements to pieces of music that while very different, work well with each other, creating a singular whole piece of music that is greater than the sum of its parts.