[1] The album features music from the "Arthur Doyle Songbook," written during his five-year imprisonment in France.

[4] In a review for AllMusic, Brian Flota wrote: "If there is a thin line between being a visionary and merely being a lolling lush, Arthur Doyle's Do the Breakdown easily exists on both sides of the divide...

"[6] Clifford Allen, writing for Tiny Mix Tapes, stated that, on the album, "there are views of an artistic figure whose specificity plays to the universal, and that's part of what makes Doyle's solo work so unique."

He commented: "It isn't polished or pretty, and its delicate, personal expression can be a lot to bear — even for someone weaned on the avant-garde.

Doyle's songs occupy a special place outside any pantheon, yet their realness is shocking and captivating.