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.