Phish's The Siket Disc, named for engineer and mixer John Siket, contains improvisations performed by the group in the late winter and early fall of 1997 at sessions for its album The Story of the Ghost.
Originally available only by mail order from the band, it was given a retail release by Elektra shortly after Phish announced that it was going on an indefinite hiatus in the fall of 2000.
The release was some indication that the band and its record label would endeavor to keep the pipeline filled during Phish's absence, however long that might be.
But as an addition to the group's catalog, it was slight.
Theoretically, a band like Phish finds its greatest moments of inspiration in the formless, spontaneous interplay between the players, but that interplay is also conditioned by the song, and even the overall concert or album, in which it is contained.
On their own, these nine examples of Phish's improvisatory style don't sound like much, though they range from guitar solos to ambient sounds.
For fans, who can provide the context for themselves, that's fine; but a more general audience is likely to find itself wondering when the tracks are going to coalesce into something, which of course they never do.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Name Is Slick | Phish | Play | 03:59 | 9 MB | 18 MB |
| 2 | Fish Bass | Phish | Play | 01:11 | 2 MB | 5 MB |
| 3 | Quadrophonic Toppling | Phish | Play | 01:58 | 4 MB | 7 MB |
| 4 | The Happy Whip and Dung Song | Phish | Play | 05:29 | 12 MB | 28 MB |
| 5 | Insects | Phish | Play | 03:11 | 7 MB | 20 MB |
| 6 | Title Track | Phish | Play | 01:00 | 2 MB | 5 MB |
| 7 | Albert | Phish | Play | 02:18 | 5 MB | 8 MB |
| 8 | My Left Toe | Phish | Play | 04:47 | 10 MB | 27 MB |
| 9 | What's the Use | Phish | Play | 11:19 | 25 MB | 72 MB |
| 35 mins | 80 MB | |||||
| 35 mins | 194 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trey Anastasio | Composer |
| 2 | John Billingsley | Editing |
| 3 | Jason Colton | Assistant Producer |
| 4 | Sofi Dillof | Photography |
| 5 | Chas Eller | Editing |
| 6 | Jonathan Fishman | Composer |
| 7 | Brett Hughes | Design |
| 8 | Chris Laidlaw | Assistant Engineer |
| 9 | Bob Ludwig | Mastering |
| 10 | Page McConnell | Composer |
| 11 | Phish | Primary Artist |
| 12 | Brad Sands | Assistant Producer |
| 13 | Kevin Shapiro | Assistant Producer |
| 14 | John Siket | Engineer, Mixing, Producer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |