He had missed most of their previous tour, following a hand injury sustained in a brawl,[4] and this album turned out to be his last studio effort with Thin Lizzy.

[6] He later added, "I tried not to go out to clubs for about a week, then succumbed..."[7] Robertson and Gorham shared lead guitar parts on only one song, "That Woman's Gonna Break Your Heart".

Unable to meet with Fitzpatrick in time, Lynott agreed to use an image by Sutton Cooper which featured the band as a trio, without Robertson.

He claimed that Robertson's absence was not noticeable due to Scott Gorham's "double duty", and that this was "pure visceral rock & roll, the hardest and heaviest that Thin Lizzy ever made".

[12] Martin Popoff considered the album "a third stroke of genius in two short years", thematically resembling Fighting "but more confessional, reflecting and spiritual.

American all-girl heavy metal band Phantom Blue covered "Bad Reputation" on their 1993 sophomore album Built to Perform.

[24] The Smashing Pumpkins covered "Dancing in the Moonlight (It's Caught Me in Its Spotlight)" for various live performances, turning the upbeat, overlaid melody of the original into a slowly paced acoustic tune; it was recorded as B-side of the single "Disarm".

[26] In 2005, the Thin Lizzy version of "Dancin' in the Moonlight" was used as part of an advertising campaign to launch Magners Irish Cider in the UK.

[27] In 2012 the English indie rock band Alt-J released a cover of "Dancing in the Moonlight" for the compilation The Saturday Sessions from The Dermot O'Leary Show .