The album was seen by reviewers as a disappointing follow-up to Faithfull's Broken English, as the album trades the angry and controversial alternative new wave arrangements of the previous one for a more mainstream rock texture, using over a dozen session musicians and, for some, giving a certain anonymous feel to the songs.

The main singles of the album were "Intrigue", penned by the singer's then-husband, Ben Brierley, and "For Beauty's Sake", written by Faithfull and Steve Winwood.

Marianne Faithfull described the album's recording as a long and arduous process, marked by numerous instances of miscommunication between herself, the instrumentalists, and the producer.

[1] She particularly commented that bassist Steve York and drummer Terry Stannard did not gel properly, and that producer Mark Mundy made inappropriate production decisions, such as the inclusion of horns on "Intrigue".

"[1] In their retrospective review, AllMusic's Richie Unterberger criticized the album for backing down from the musical and lyrical boldness of Broken English in favor of more conventional and accessible material, though he did state that there was "at least one commercially viable track", in "For Beauty's Sake" (a Faithfull–Steve Winwood co-write).