The album sold over one million copies in the ten days following its release and was certified 7× platinum by the RIAA in the US on April 11, 1996.

[citation needed] Their next album, Third Stage, was not released for another eight years, by which time the band and record label had parted ways and fought a courtroom battle that Boston ultimately won.

[8] Billboard writer Paul Grein cited "The Journey" as an example of science fiction-like music on Don't Look Back that is consistent with the guitar-spaceship cover art of the album (and single).

[9] Grein referred to it as having an "almost religious" tone, anticipating that some listeners would find it "pretentious" but stating that he found it an effective interlude between the harder-rocking songs "Don't Look Back" and "It's Easy".

Grein described the transition from "The Journey" to "It's Easy" as "appropriately jarring" due to the latter song's fast boogie guitar introduction.

[9] "It's Easy" contains the line "I believe what we achieve will soon be left behind", which Emerson points out appears to be sung to a girl with whom the singer is having a one-night stand, but may also be a self-reference to Boston's own music, similar to the band's approach on their earlier hit "More Than a Feeling".

It begins with a short, slow introduction before a surprising change of pace to the fast, harder sound that persists throughout the rest of the song, in much the same way as "Something About You" from the debut.

[18] "Used to Bad News" was written by Delp, making it the only song on the album on which Scholz did not receive a writing credit.

However, Boston members discovered that Swedish pop group ABBA released an album by that name two years prior, so Don't Look Back was chosen.

[22] Don't Look Back was among the first commercially produced compact discs when the format was introduced in 1983, but because of ongoing legal issues between Scholz and CBS Records, the title was pulled after a small production run and did not reappear on CD until three years later.

He took it on himself after negotiations with Legacy Recordings, saying, "I've always wanted to make those albums sound good on CD, and the chance arrived".

Those discs also included a live version of "Shattered Images" (mistitled "Help Me" on the packaging), an unreleased Boston original recorded at a 1976 concert in Philadelphia.

[27] Christgau's Record Guide gave the album a B−, stating "Not only are the guitars perfectly received, but the lyrical clichés seem specially selected to make the band as credible in the arena as they are in the studio, and Brad Delp's tenor, too thin for nasty cock-rock distractions, leaves us free to contemplate unsullied form.