The band, Phish, has an enormous repertoire of incredible, unique, and astonishing musical compositions and epics. Although alike in their improvisational music techniques to jam bands like The Grateful Dead, Widespread Panic, and more, they are in their own world of musical experimentation and lyrical explorations. Labeling them as a simple jam band would be a dishonor to their name.

Many people, both those who have known the band for a while and those who have been fans for years, struggle to know how to make their way through countless studio albums and live releases in order to find the true backbone of music collections that really make up the band. Although most of the magic comes from live shows and the recordings that come from those, they all have a basis in some studio recordings. I will attempt to list the top five studio albums released by the band, and I will give a synopsis and name the highlights from each.

5. "Hoist"

"Hoist" is the fifth studio album from Phish. Released in 1994, it was, to the distaste of some (and some not), the first studio album with large amounts of production and money poured into it. This is due to their new found fame and popularity among others than just the jam band/Grateful Dead scene (the radio crowd). Despite this controversy, this album was a huge success, incorporating a wide variety of genres and musical styles, like bluegrass, soul, psychedelia, and rock, just to name a few. It also includes a number of guest artist, like Alison Kraus, Morgan Flichter, Bela Fleck, and The Tower of Power horn section. These new voices and sounds allowed the band to go into territory that had not been as successfully explored in earlier years.

Album highlights: "Down With Disease," "Sample In a Jar," "If I Could," "Axilla [Part II]," "Wolfman's Brother," "Julius."

4. "Lawn Boy"

Lawn Boy, released in 1992, is the band's second official studio album. It features progressive rock and fusion elements with bluegrass, jazz, and barbershop quarter musical stylings. The guitar of Trey Anastasio sounds fresh and clean in nearly every song, accompanied by nice bass lines from Mike Gordon and soft, classic Piano from Page McConnell that stands out throughout the whole composition. The bizarre lyrics, heard through the vocals of Trey Anastasio, sound great, and Fishman's drums are on point and rhythmic from start to finish.

Album highlights: "The Squirming Coil,"Reba," "The Oh Kee Pah Ceremony," "Bathtub Gin," "Run Like an Antelope," "Lawn Boy," "Bouncing Around The Room."

3. "Story of the Ghost"

This 1998 release by Phish would become their seventh official studio album. It includes 14 concise songs, cut down from countless hours of studio work. Much of the album is seeded from these hours of improvisational jamming that the foursome eventually broke down to find their favorite musical moments, to then later write lyrics around. It is a quasi-conceptual album in the way that many of the tracks come together to narrate a story. The airy, uncluttered grooves and relaxed vocals accompany hints of funk and jazz. The improvisational mastery combined with the fun and light lyrics make it a perfect soundtrack to get down and jam to.

Album highlights: "Meat," "Guyute," "Limb By Limb," "Bryant and Robert," "Water In The Sky," "Roggae," "Wading in The Velvet Sea."

2. "Junta"

Junta, named after Ben "Junta" Hunter, their first official manager, is the first official studio release by the band. Since its 1992 release, listeners have continued to enjoy symphonic-like epics and multi-part progressive rock suites. Its non-traditional structures and arrangements are based on jazz fusion and improvisations, and help the album feel fun, loose, and intricately beautiful all at once. It opens with the smooth, Latin influenced "Fee" a whimsical and silly tale of a Buddhist prodigy, and includes the most often played live "You Enjoy Myself" which is a favorite by many, including fans and band members.

Album highlights: "Fee," "You Enjoy Myself," "The Divided Sky," "Golgi Apperatus," "Fluffhead," "David Bowie," "Ester."

1. "Rift"

This 1993 concept album, or album in which all of the tracks contribute to a unified story, idea, or theme, is incredibly significant for the bands early beginnings and their current years. As the album begins, we are plunged straight into tense, driven music accompanying the narrators words that start to describe his situation. The premise is his restless night of dreams that describe and unfold a strained relationship with a friend who he fears may be trying to steal his lover away from him. As you listen to this tale, all you have to do in close your eyes and enjoy the epic that is frightening, dark, yet inviting and magical.

The story is not the only amazing thing apart of this composition. It somehow manages to successfully blend the incredible musicianship and skills of the four members into one, coherent dark and ominous sound that spans rock, psychedelia, Latin, jazz and funk stylings. It is truly a masterpiece of a musical composition.

Album highlights: "My Friend, My Friend," "Mound," "Maze," "Sparkle," "Fast Enough For You," "Silent In The Morning," "All Things Reconsidered."

*Side note: Also an incredible thing to be mentioned is the albums artwork. It is an artistic representation of every single song in the concept album, except "Horse," because their following album "Hoist" was to have a horse on it.

Honorable mention: "The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday"

Often abbreviated as "TMWSIY," this is a 1987 concept album written by Trey Anastasio (and recorded by Phish), the band's guitarist and lead vocalist, as his senior thesis for music while in attendance at Goddard College. This concept album, never officially released but pieces from it have been played numerous times in live shows and recorded into other studio albums, tells the epic tale from the band's fictional world of Gamehenge. Comparable to fantasy works such as The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings series', this musical sage relays the story of the Colonel Forbin's (the main protagonist who is a retired Colonel from Long Island, New York) attempt the save the Land of the Lizards and rescue The Helping Friendly Book from an evil dictator named Wilson.

Since it was never released, you cannot go out and by this incredible literary and musical masterpiece off of the shelves or in the iTunes store. But, you can find the whole story on Youtube, or even download it from a bootlegged source, as it is readily available if you know where to look.

So, there you are, Phish's top five studio albums ranked, plus a bonus. I know it is completely impossible to come to an indisputable decision on a ranking, because all of there albums contain pure musical mastery, but I hope that I did a good job at taking a stab at it! Let me know what you think, and what your ranking would be!