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.