Discography > Hoist

Released 1994-03-29

Elektra 61628; Producer Paul Fox, Engineer Ed Thacker. (Thacker and Fox had worked together for more than ten years already, at the time.)

Cover: "The horse on the cover of hoist belongs to Amy Skelton and resides on her farm in Auburn, ME (where the band played once). It was hoisted using a crane supplied by Cote Crane and Rigging (also of Auburn, ME)." (from Patrick D, 6/19/97) (Note that the cover of the previous album, Rift, included references to every song on that album except "Horse". Eric Angel ) Photo taken December 1993.

Guests: Hoist features a batallion of guests: Jon Frakes (who played Riker on Star Trek: The New Generation) on trombone, Bela Fleck on banjo, the fiddler formerly of 10,000 Maniacs and Camper Van Beethoven, the Tower of Power Horns, a 14-person string section, the RIcky Grundy (gospel) Chorale, Allison Krauss on vocals, and two amazing female vocalists, Jenn McClain and Rose Stone. Plus, special sound effects like coal walking, toilet flushing, bottle rattling, Doppler-effect playing, and more! (Check out Mike's Tracking video!)

Ending "There should be some mention of the instrumental bit after Demand and before the Hebrew song (the piece with car-driving noises and a crash in the end) on Hoist. That instrumental is the latter part of Split Open And Melt, April 21, 1993, Newport Music Hall, Colombus OH. The tape I have of this show sounds identical, minus the effects of course." (from Itay Chamiel {formerly }, 9/12/96)

Outtakes reportedly included Simple, Buffalo Bill, Runaway Jim (also outtaken from Picture of Nectar), and Memories.

Billboard Magazine, on 4/16/94, said of Hoist, "Vermont's finest band delivers an astoundingly good album that promises a feast for modern rock, album rock, college, album alternative, and pop outlets, provided they're willing to bend their parameters at least a little. ..Radio support or not, Phish fans are bound to get hooked yet again." (Posted by Mike Pelczarski .)

See also, reviews and sound clips from Music Boulevard.