After the commercial and chart success of its predecessor, Angel Delight, the album sold disappointingly, though it was critically acclaimed, and is regarded by the authors of The Electric Muse (1975) as the first "folk rock opera".

While Lee was in her service, she was murdered, and he was accused, tried and convicted of the crime, and sentenced to death; however, when authorities attempted to hang him, the gallows failed three times, resulting in his release.

It removed the two spoken passages during side one, and (like the standard release) listed Fairport Convention as the collective writers of all tracks except "The Sailor's Alphabet," which had the credit "thanks to Bert Lloyd.

In 2011, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original album, Fairport performed "Babbacombe" Lee in its entirety on both their Winter Tour and at the Cropredy Festival in August.

The performance was released as a CD & digital download in 2012, with a line-up of Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg, Ric Sanders, Chris Leslie and Gerry Conway.