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?". Each track on the album was recorded at a different live show in the United States mainly during Phish's 1994 fall tour with one track taken from that year's summer 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. 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. 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. 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.
Tracklist selection
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. 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. In addition to utilizing their own selections, Phish involved their fanbase in the compilation of the album. 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. 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.
Sales
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. "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.
