''A Picture of Nectar'' is the third studio album by the American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Phish Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, drummer Jon Fishman, and keyboardist Page McConnell, all of whom perform vocals, with Anastasio being the ...

. The album was released on February 18, 1992, by

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...

and was the band's debut release for a major record label. The album is dedicated to Nector Rorris, the proprietor of Nectar's in

Burlington, Vermont Burlington, officially the City of Burlington, is the List of municipalities in Vermont, most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the county seat, seat of Chittenden County, Vermont, Chittenden County. It is located south of the Can ...

, where Phish played their first bar gig followed by a series of monthly three-night stands, saying that the experience "taught us how to play". There are two versions of the album's cover. The first printings of the CD were issued in longbox format, and the title of the album was not printed on the CD insert itself. Later printings came in shrink-wrap format and had the band's name and album title printed directly on the insert.Phish:net: A Picture of Nectar
Online. Accessed: August 11, 2011. The songs on ''A Picture of Nectar'' explore a variety of musical genres, including

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

, calypso,

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

and

neo-psychedelia Neo-psychedelia is a genre of psychedelic music that draws inspiration from the music production approaches and songwriting of 1960s psychedelia, either exploring emulations of the sounds of the era or applying its ethos to new styles of music ...

. Tracks 2, 8, 9, and 14 are instrumentals. The song " Manteca" is a cover of the song by jazz trumpeter

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( ; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improvisation, improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy El ...

; in Phish's short version, the melody line is sung as a goofy nonsense phrase. "Poor Heart" is written in a hybrid of bluegrass and "hot licks" country styles. The Latin jazz instrumental "The Landlady" is performed in concert as both a segment of the longer piece "Punch You in the Eye" and as a separate song. All songs on the album have been performed live by the band, though the instrumental tracks have become relative rarities after the mid-1990s. The short instrumental, "Faht", written by drummer

Jon Fishman Jon Fishman (born February 19, 1965) is an American drummer and co-founder of the band Phish, which was, in part, named after him. He is credited with co-writing nineteen Phish songs, eight with a solo credit. Early life Fishman was born in Ph ...

, has only been performed live twelve times, the last in 1995. The album was certified gold by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

on November 15, 2001. After its vinyl reissue in 2014, ''A Picture of Nectar'' charted on the ''Billboard'' 200 for the first time (22 years after its release), peaking at number 110.

Critical reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

staff writer Jim Smith gave the album four and a half stars out of five, noting the variety of musical genres explored on the album and calling it "a surprisingly tight record for a band that built its reputation on endless concert jams". In an April 2, 1992, review, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine raved that ''A Picture of Nectar'' "...should be required on all college listening lists. The songs are all over the place from whacked-out rock to bluegrass to jazz. The constant is the high quality of musicianship and spirit that runs from track to track."

Track listing

Personnel

Phish *

Trey Anastasio Ernest Joseph "Trey" Anastasio III (born September 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, composer, and singer-songwriter best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Phish, which he co-founded in 1983. He is credited by name as composer of 152 ...

–

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

Page McConnell Page Samuel McConnell (born May 17, 1963) is an American multi-instrumentalist, most noted for his work as the keyboardist and a songwriter for the band Phish. McConnell joined Phish in 1985, and is the only member of its long-standing quartet li ...

– keyboard,

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

, backing vocals *

Mike Gordon Michael Eliot Gordon (born June 3, 1965) is an American bass guitarist and vocalist most recognized as a founding member of the band Phish. In addition to bass, Gordon plays banjo, piano, and guitar. He is a filmmaker ('' Rising Low'', '' Outs ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

, vocals, lead vocals on "Poor Heart" and "Catapult" *

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, backing vocals Additional *Gordon Stone – pedal steel, banjo *Michael Mills – art direction *Tom Walters – assistant engineer *Jon Altschiller – engineer *Bob Ludwig – mastering *B.C. Kagan – photography *Joe Witkop – photography *Kevin Halpin – producer, engineer

In popular culture

The song "Llama" is included in the music video game ''

Rock Band 3 ''Rock Band 3'' is a 2010 rhythm game developed by Harmonix. The game was initially published and distributed by MTV Games and Electronic Arts, respectively, on October 26, 2010. Mad Catz took over both roles and re-released the title on Novembe ...

'', where it is the second song in the main-game series (not including DLC) to have full Impossible rating for all band members (''

Painkiller An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic, antalgic, pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of drugs used for pain management. Analgesics are conceptually distinct from anesthetics, which temporarily reduce, and in s ...

'' from ''

Rock Band 2 ''Rock Band 2'' is a 2008 rhythm game developed by Harmonix, published by MTV Games, and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to ''Rock Band (video game), Rock Band'' (2007) and the second installment in the Rock Band, ''Rock Band ' ...

'' is the first). However, it is the first to have a full Impossible rating with keys included. "Stash" and "Tweezer" were also released as downloadable content for Rock Band 3 in 2011. "Tweezer Reprise" was used in a

Michael Phelps Michael Fred Phelps II (born June 30, 1985) is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold me ...

montage following his 19th Olympic medal in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. It was also used by the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

in their introduction video at Super Bowl 51. "Catapult" features a sample from "I Remember Now" by

Queensrÿche Queensrÿche () is an American progressive metal band. It formed in 1982 in Bellevue, Washington, out of the local band the Mob. The band has released 16 studio albums, one Extended play, EP, and several DVDs, and continues to tour and record ...

off of the album '' Operation: Mindcrime''.

Charts

References

External links

Phish's Official Site

Phish.com: ''Picture of Nectar'' Album Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Picture Of Nectar 1992 albums Phish albums Burlington, Vermont Elektra Records albums Picture of Nectar, A