The collection also features an original pre-rock 'n' roll demo, 1955's "Baby," plus a rousing live medley of "Ain't That a Shame/I Got a Woman"/"Tutti Frutti" recorded in Paris in 1964 and a rehearsal take of "Hound Dog" (1956). Billy Vera, himself a rock 'n' roll and R&B veteran, wrote the liner notes.

Little Richard's demo for Specialty Records president Art Rupe was reportedly a series of run-of-the-mill blues songs. Nevertheless, Rupe bought him out of his Duke/Peacock Records contract and sent him to New Orleans to work with Specialty's A&R man Bumps Blackwell. The all-star team of tenor saxman Lee Allen and drummer Earl Palmer were in place. But a hit just didn't emerge during their first recording session, so the team adjourned for lunch.

While at lunch, Richard sat down at a piano and started singing a song called "Tutti Frutti, Good Bootie," a ribald ditty from his live set. Blackwell heard something different, and the lyrics were toned down a tad. Back at Cosimo's studio, as fast as you could say "a-wop-bop-a-lu-bop-a-wop-bam-boom," a hit was born and so was a star. The follow-up, "Long Tall Sally," certified gold, and "Rip It Up" and "Ready Teddy" became a two-sided hit. As annotator Vera writes, "Between his hit records and his thrilling live performances, Little Richard has now become a bona fide rock 'n' roll star, a hero to '50s teens and the epitome of crazy, man, crazy."