For the album, original group members Tom Rapp, Wayne Harley and Lane Lederer were joined by Jim Bohannon, who replaced Roger Crissinger.

Rapp stated[2] that he wanted to produce a themed anti-war album, and chose the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava in 1854 as an example of the futility of war.

Producer Richard Alderson said: "I had made great progress in building up my studio on West 65th Street in NYC where Balaklava was recorded.

This enabled a full studio production palette.... Balaklava was primarily an anti-war statement, and secondarily an aural essay on the history of sound and recording.

The cover also included the quote "Only the dead have seen the end of war" by George Santayana, together with surreal and horrific drawings by avant-garde artist Jean Cocteau.

The second side of the LP starts with a version of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne", featuring a unique double bass marimba played by Warren Smith.

[3] This is followed by "Lepers and Roses", a complex ballad full of allegorical classical references, which was arranged by Al Schackman, best known as accompanist to Nina Simone, and also featured Joe Farrell on flute.

"[3] At the end, the sound of a tape spooling backwards through the album takes the listener back to "Trumpeter Landfrey", perhaps trying to convey a message that the cycle of war and confusion is destined to continue.