Coinciding with the album, O'Sullivan abandoned his distinctive dress sense, which included a short cap and trousers, and instead presented himself as a more masculine, hairy-chested singer with a perm, wearing sweaters with the letter "G" emblazoned on them, which helped establish him as a sex symbol.

Upon release, Back to Front was a critical and commercial success, reaching number 1 on the UK Albums Chart and allowing O'Sullivan to become the era's best-selling British-based artist.

"[1] The album was musically dominated by piano and orchestral arrangements, while O'Sullivan's lyrics were observational in style,[2] and were described as bearing a "satirical view of life.

"[3] The singer's signature image at the time was inspired by 1930s film stars like Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin,[3] and featured "pudding basin" hair, a large cloth cap, a grey school shirt with a twisted collar and short trousers,[1][4] prompting comparisons to, among many reference points, the Bisto Kids.

[7] This coincided with O'Sullivan changing his visual presentation, as he began to wear standard-length trousers and big T-shirts with "G" emblazoned on them,[1] having been inspired by American college sweaters.

[8] This was a deliberate attempt to prevent "[making] an impact like Tiny Tim" in the US that "would have taken years to shake off," and the subsequent American edition of Himself, which included "Alone Again (Naturally)", featured an updated image of O'Sullivan on the album artwork.

O'Sullivan began writing songs for Back to Front by sitting at the piano without specific ideas, instead "[doing] a few Fats Dominoes and just [having] a good time.

[12] As with Himself, the recording for Back to Front took place in three-hour sessions with a rhythm section, an arranger (Johnnie Spence) and Mills as producer, the latter of whom he "trusted" though would occasionally disagree with.

"[9] In an interview during the album's recording, O'Sullivan described his lyrics as an observational, "uneducated look at things," and said he would often base songs on situations he read in newspapers because "they are current.

", with its narrator "tripping a girl up in order to meet her," and "What Could Be Nicer", which is one of O'Sullivan's 'family songs' with "very English" kitchen sink lyrics that wistfully detail domestic scenarios with "home-spun philosophy," according to writer Chris Ingham.

[11] "Out of the Question" concerns a lover's mood swings, while "The Golden Rule" is one of O'Sullivan's most musically inventive and lyrically offbeat songs,[11] with its "assonant convolution and linguistic legerdemain.

"[10] As with "But I'm Not", Fats Domino influenced the song "I'm Leaving", which opens with an octave synthesiser and features lyrics of urban claustrophobia that O'Sullivan has described as perhaps chronicling his childhood town Swindon failing to achieve city status.

[24] O'Sullivan ultimately became the year's biggest-selling British-based artist worldwide,[25] rivalling Elton John as Britain's most successful singer-songwriter export overseas and embracing both teenage and adult audiences internationally.

[11] The concerts, which began at the National Stadium, Ireland, on 31 October 1972,[27] were critically acclaimed, with one NME writer noting O'Sullivan exuded "much more confidence than you'd expect from a guy who's only doing his second gig," referring to his November 1972 show at the Hammersmith Odeon.

"[28] On 21 February 2012, a remastered version of the album was released by Salvo (a reissue label owned by Union Square Music) as part of their Gilbert O'Sullivan – A Singer & His Songs series.

This version contains extensive sleeve notes and adds three bonus tracks; the non-album singles "Alone Again (Naturally)" and "Ooh-Wakka-Doo-Wakka-Day," along with the former song's B-side "Save It".

"[9] Oregano Rathbone of Record Collector gave the 2012 reissue a perfect score, writing that "Back To Front is rammed with diffident, bashful, playful greatness," and concluded that "[r]esistance is futile.

[26] "Clair", the album's best known song, is frequently highlighted in reviews, Rathbone for instance who described it as possessing a "could-the-world-ever-have-been-like- this innocence," though noting that, "as O’Sullivan ponders in the sleevenotes, probably couldn't be written in a century as cynical and suspicious as this one.