Bizarrely, the British release, with considerable airplay of "Giving It All Away" (first lines "I paid all my dues so I picked up my shoes, I got up and walked away") coincided with news reports of the Who being sued for unpaid damage to their hotel on a recent tour, including a television set being thrown out of the window.

With Pete Townshend being generally regarded as the Who's mouthpiece, Daltrey's renewed confidence now placed him in a strong position to influence the group policy.

The Who's management team, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, were reportedly concerned that the album might spell the end of the Who or at the very least, a Rod Stewart and the Faces-type situation where the singer's solo success eclipsed the parent band.

[citation needed] The fact that Lambert and Stamp tried to derail the album's chances for the aforementioned reasons, and their increasingly erratic handling of the group's affairs, meant that their days as the Who's managers were numbered in Daltrey's eyes.

[citation needed] He entrusted his affairs to Track employee Bill Curbishley who was fast rising through the ranks, having already successfully renegotiated the terms of a European Who tour the previous year.

[11] In a retrospective review, AllMusic's Dave Thompson said that the album was "a sometimes horrifying shock for die-hard fans, but a pleasant surprise for anyone tired of hearing him voice the increasingly dictatorial Townshend's self-aggrandizement".