Two tracks recorded and finished at Britannia Row (Human Puppets and One True Path), were not included on the original vinyl album.

An expanded double CD edition on Factory Benelux in 2015 re-mastered from the original analogue tapes, and added a bonus disc featuring their 1981 John Peel radio session as well as a complete live concert from 1980.

Musically the album combined austere post-punk rhythms with abstract and/or abrasive guitar textures, together with elements of Can, krautrock and psychedelia.

The exterior sleeve featured black Berthold type on a yellow background, printed on heavy card die-cut to form a pochette envelope, and sealed with a small red I Ching sticker.

The psychedelic element was concealed within, the lining and separate inner sleeve featuring a rich marbled pattern in dark blue, yellow and red supplied by specialist French paper company Keller-Dorian.

The first edition of Always Now went on to sell 5,000 copies and entered the indie Top Ten, although the cost and complexity of the packaging made it problematic to license abroad.

However, in 2006 Q described Always Now as "one of the best albums Britain's second city has unleashed", while avant garde magazine The Wire also praised "the wind-dried skeins of their blasted guitar harmonics and skimped electronics."