A Live One

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For the Loudon Wainwright III album, see A Live One (Loudon Wainwright III album). For similar uses, see Live One.
A Live One
Live album by
Phish
ReleasedJune 27, 1995
RecordedJuly 8–December 31, 1994
GenreJam rock, jazz fusion
Length131:04
LabelElektra
ProducerPhish
Phish chronology
Hoist
(1994) 		A Live One
(1995) 		Stash
(1996)
Singles from A Live One
  1. "Bouncing Around the Room"
    Released: 1995
  2. "Gumbo"
    Released: 1995
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[2]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[3]
Los Angeles Times[4]
Rolling Stone[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[6]
The Village VoiceC+[7]

A Live One is a live album by the American rock band Phish, released on June 27, 1995, by Elektra Records. The album was the band's first official live release, their first album to be certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and one of the best-selling releases in their catalog.[8]

Background and contents[edit]

Although tapes of concerts recorded from the audience had been distributed among Phish's fanbase for several years by the time of A Live One's release, the album marked the first time that the band had officially released live recordings directly from their soundboard masters. The album was named after a question that the band members were often asked by fans: "When are you gonna put out a live one?".[9]

Each track on the album was recorded at a different live show in the United States with one track taken from the 1994 summer tour and the rest from the fall tour. Although recorded at different venues, the songs are noted in the liner notes as having been recorded at "The Clifford Ball", a reference to aviator Clifford Ball that the band would use again as the name of their 1996 festival.[10] This decision was made because the band's management could not secure the recording rights from every venue featured on the album at the time of its release.[11]

Five of the songs—"Gumbo", "Slave to the Traffic Light", "Wilson", "Simple" and "Harry Hood"—had never appeared on any of Phish's studio albums, but all of them were and are regularly performed by the band in concert. A Live One marked the first time all five had appeared on an official Phish release. Of those songs, only "Slave to the Traffic Light" would subsequently be released in a studio version, when a recording of the song from 1986 appeared on the 1998 Elektra reissue of the band's demo release The White Tape. The track "Montana" is a two-minute excerpt from the longform improvisation that followed “Tweezer” during the band's show in Bozeman, Montana.[12] On A Live One, "Montana" serves as a prelude to the epic "You Enjoy Myself", one of the most well-known versions of that song.

Two of the concerts that were excerpted on A Live One were later issued in their entirety by Phish: July 8, 1994 (Featuring the ALO version of "Stash") and November 28, 1994 (Which is the source of the aforementioned "Montana").[13][14]

Tracklist selection[edit]

The track-listing for A Live One was selected by the four members of Phish, each of whom reviewed the concert tapes from their 1994 fall tour and drafted a list of personal favorite performances.[15] The band then compiled a master list of 560 song performances that had received mention by at least two of the members, which was further narrowed down to a shortlist of 30 songs, from which the final tracklist was selected.[16]

In addition to utilizing their own selections, Phish involved their fanbase in the compilation of the album.[15] The band posted an official thread on the rec.music.phish Usenet newsgroup, in which the message board's users were encouraged to suggest performances they believed should be included.[16] The July 8, 1994, version of "Stash" was brought to the band's attention through the thread, and was ultimately chosen for inclusion on the album.[15]

Sales[edit]

In July 1995, A Live One peaked at #18 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the United States, and was their first album to reach the chart's Top 20.[17] The album sold nearly 50,000 copies in its first week on sale.[18] "Bouncing Around the Room" and "Gumbo" were both issued as singles, but neither appeared on a Billboard chart.

Phish received its first RIAA award for the album. The RIAA certified the album gold on November 10, 1995, for sales of 500,000 copies, and platinum on October 9, 1997, for sales of over 1 million copies.[19]

Track listing[edit]

Disc one
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording date and venueLength
1."Bouncing Around the Room"
December 31, 1994 – Boston Garden (Boston, MA)4:08
2."Stash"
  • Anastasio
  • Marshall
July 8, 1994 – Great Woods Center for the Performing Arts (Mansfield, MA)12:31
3."Gumbo"
December 2, 1994 – Recreation Hall, University of California, Davis (Davis, CA)5:14
4."Montana"
November 28, 1994 – Brick Breeden Fieldhouse, Montana State University (Bozeman, MT)2:04
5."You Enjoy Myself"AnastasioDecember 7, 1994 – Spreckels Theater Building (San Diego, CA)20:57
6."Chalk Dust Torture"
  • Anastasio
  • Marshall
November 16, 1994 – Hill Auditorium, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI)6:48
7."Slave to the Traffic Light"
November 26, 1994 – Orpheum Theatre (Minneapolis, MN)10:46
Disc two
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording date and venueLength
1."Wilson"
  • Anastasio
  • Marshall
  • Aaron Woolf
December 30, 1994 – Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)5:07
2."Tweezer"
  • Anastasio
  • Fishman
  • Gordon
  • McConnell
November 2, 1994 – Bangor Auditorium (Bangor, ME)30:55
3."Simple"GordonDecember 10, 1994 – Santa Monica Civic Auditorium (Santa Monica, CA)4:53
4."Harry Hood"
  • Anastasio
  • Fishman
  • Gordon
  • McConnell
  • Brian Long
October 23, 1994 – Gator Bandshell, University of Florida (Gainesville, FL)15:11
5."The Squirming Coil"
  • Anastasio
  • Marshall
12:30
Total length:131:04

Personnel[edit]

Phish

with The Giant Country Horns (on "Gumbo")

  • Peter Apfelbaum – tenor saxophone
  • Carl Gerhard – trumpet
  • Dave Grippo – alto saxophone
  • James Harvey – trombone
  • Michael Ray – trumpet

References[edit]

  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "A Live One – Phish". AllMusic. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
  2. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). "Phish". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  3. ^ Hermes, Will (August 4, 2000). "Phish albums". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
  4. ^ Masuo, Sandy (July 30, 1995). "Phish 'A Live One' Elektra". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
  5. ^ Moon, Tom (August 24, 1995). "Phish: A Live One". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 8, 2008. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
  6. ^ Randall, Mac (2004). "Phish". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 635–36. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  7. ^ Christgau, Robert (November 28, 1995). "Turkey Shoot". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  8. ^ "Putting Music To Words: Author Walter Holland Talks Phish's 'A Live One'". JamBase. 8 March 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  9. ^ Puterbaugh, Parke (2010). Phish: The Biography. Hachette Books. p. 128. ISBN 9780306819209.
  10. ^ Puterbaugh, Parke (2010). Phish: The Biography. Da Capo Press. p. 9. ISBN 9780306819209.
  11. ^ Holland, Walter (2015). Phish's A Live One. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 8. ISBN 9781628929393.
  12. ^ Phish.net Song History: Montana Online. Accessed: August 23, 2011.
  13. ^ Todd, Nate. "Phish Releasing Great Woods 1994 Audio Including 'Gamehendge' Performance". JamBase. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  14. ^ Bernstein, Scott. "Phish Announces Bozeman 1994 Live Archival Release". JamBase. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  15. ^ a b c "June 1995". Phish. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  16. ^ a b The Phish Companion: A Guide to the Band and Their Music. Hal Leonard Corporation. 2000. ISBN 9780879306311.
  17. ^ "Phish Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  18. ^ Sutherland, Scott (30 July 1995). "POP MUSIC; A 12-Year Climb to the Heights". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  19. ^ "RIAA". Recording Industry Association of America. Archived from the original on 2007-07-01. Retrieved 2012-11-08.

External links[edit]

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