Best Live Phish CDs


I am in the process of collecting all of the Phish live CDs. In you opinion which of those are the best recordings?
dewinkle
slipknot, was there a particular source for oswego that you had in mind? i have the FOB schoeps that's going around and its not great. i now see that there's a U89i for the 18th which probably deserves a listen.

Dewinkle, i shy away from the official releases because, to me, they don't sound the way the actual concerts sounded. too sterile or something, not to mention the cost involved in buying all of them.

if you wouldn't mind checking out some audience recordings, you must get Big Cypress (NYE 1999>2000). the neumann u89 of both days and the schoeps of 10-30-99 are so sweet sounding. The music was out of this world, too.
Ketchup,
My own source tapes from that weekend (AKG 480/61 & Earthworks SR77>Lunatec V2>Apogee a/d1K>Tascam DA P1) are pretty good. IMO, far too many people see Schoeps and think it's everything...And, I think the FOB crowd at some shows were way too in front of the sweet spot.

Give a listen to AUDs from the 7/12 Vernon Downs show if you can. Taper's Section vs. FOB. Taper's Section tapes hold up really well. I think the bigger difference in FOB comes INDOORS. Outdoors, the music has less reflective interference and has a chance to bloom. When yer FOB and right on top of it, your mics can't pick up the gel 'cause you are way in front of it. I think the exact opposite is true indoors.

I need to pick up a CDR setup and get some of these DATS into circulation. After over 15 years of taping, I sold off all my gear, and am listening to the fruits of my labors.
Ketchup & Slipknot1, How do I get some of these recordings?? Most of my bootleg stuff is from Napster/Bearshare in an .mp3 foramt, which for the car is fine. The music is what I have always been after, but now that I have been able to finally afford a decent high end system, I would like to listen to some of my favorites and have the quality be there as well. Thanks
dewinkle,

for simple, quick, and mindless acquisition of lossless good music, the only place you need to visit is http://bt.etree.org/
All you need is a high speed internet conection.

slipknot, i agree totally about the schoeps recordings. why is that? sure, some sound great, but i've heard great recordings done with just about every combination of gear! i have also heard horrible recordings done with every combination of gear! there are just too many variables to say that this piece of gear will always produce great tapes.
Best Phish Show -11/17/97 McNIchols Arena, Denver. Ghost is incredible and flawless Reba.