This was originally a collection (actually, two collections) of Phish material used as a demo/sample tape for clubs, sometimes labelled Phish or just "Demo". etc. It was known for years by fans as The White Album, though throughout 1996 there was a movement to call it The White Tape, partly because it had always been on tape (never an album) and partly to avoid increasing confusion with 10/31/94 II, during which Phish covered the Beatles' officially unnamed album in its entirety. It was released in August 1998 as The White Tape (independently and exclusively through Dry Goods), with both original artwork by Trey and new work from Pollock. (Prior to that release, what it included depended on where you got it. Given variations, calling them The White Tapes may have been more accurate.)
The first came from four-track pieces done in a dorm room for their own personal pleasure. Trey distributed one compilation of these pieces circa 1985, and then a slightly different version circa 1986. (At this point Junta was recorded but not yet released and folks were clamoring for some kind of Phish tape to get and cherish.) Both versions of compilation includes first versions of many songs, and some only partial versions, and are typically ninety-minutes long. Only four songs with all four members of the band playing. The compilation includes: Alumni Blues > Steve Reich (c.1985 only), And So to Bed, You Enjoy Myself (acapella), AC/DC Bag, Fuck Your Face, Divided Sky (intro only, acoustic), Slave to the Traffic Light, Aftermath, Ingest, NO2 > Fluff's Travels, Tube (c.1985 only, and probably just filler at the end of side A), Dog Log (c.1986 only), He Ent to the Bog (c.1986 only), (tape flip), Run Like an Antelope, Minkin, Letter to Jimmy Page; Fluffhead filler with the Dude of Life (c.1986 only). Also, occasional 45-minute versions Slave is followed only by (and in this order) Letter to Jimmy Page, Ingest, N20, and Aftermath; and sometimes only by Letter to Jimmy Page and Fluffhead with the Dude of Life. Some versions may also include Hamburger, and there is debate about whether or not Ingest and N20 are different songs. Regarding the acapella YEM, some argue it's one sample of one voiced note played on a synthesizer, and some will insist is 4 tracks of repeatedly voiced and edited actual singing of the separate notes, but in either case are probably both Trey.
(and less commonly circulated) compilation has forty-five minutes of (circa 1987) studio recordings (the first four essentially the same as those versions that appear on Junta), supposedly remixed as a precurser to the release of the original Junta. This compilation has You Enjoy Myself (picks up at the buildup before the scream leading into boy/man/god/shit), Fee, David Bowie, Esther, and Golgi Apparatus; these may be followed by Fluffhead, or by I Know A Little and Sneakin' Sally. An occasional side B has live recordings (with studio Mike added in remastering) of Wilson, Alumni Blues, Lizards, and The Sloth; and a studio (yes, studio) Mike's Groove (usually labelled incorrectly as Mike's Song).
"The White Tape is to me almost like if you combine all of the good pieces of all of our albums. The creative freedom of that first White Album, the playfulness of Junta, the sound quality of Hoist and the conciseness of Hoist -- someday, there's an album like that [combined]. But every time, it's like we can only cover one bit." -- Trey Anastasio, Addicted to Noise, c. 6.95.
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