During their 2006 tour of Australia it was announced that these recordings would finally be released as an official album after lengthy pressure from the fan club Frenz of the Enz.

In 1978 Split Enz fired their record company, their manager, and co-founder Phil Judd had left for the final time.

It was a cramped space with percussionist Noel Crombie having to set up his kit in the studio's toilet and Eddie Rayner in a position where he was almost constantly hitting Tim Finn in the head with his elbow.

This was partly due to the engineering and mixing on that album by producer Mallory Earl resulting in tracks described by Noel Crombie as "woolly and average", and also from subdued performances by the band.

Though largely unreleased prior the 2007 CD, ten songs from The Rootin' Tootin Luton Tapes were released in various artist albums or on the B-sides of singles.