[2] "Hold On" marked an international return to the singles charts for Tunstall, peaking at number one on the US Adult Alternative Airplay charts,[3] number four on the US Bubbling Under Hot 100,[4] the top twenty in her native Scotland and Norway,[5][6] as well as the top thirty in the United Kingdom, Italy and Switzerland.

[7][8][9] Some additional tracks features other unreleased songs such as "Mothgirl", "Bad Day" and "Journey", and during the Drastic Fantastic Tour, Tunstall covered "La Vie En Rose", which is on the U.K Bonus tracks, "My Sharona", The Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian" and Chaka Khan's "Ain't Nobody" which features on the DVD.

The album was reissued on 15 January 2021 in vinyl, triple-disc, and digital formats as Drastic Fantastic: Ultimate Edition, consisting of previously unreleased songs and remixes.

Music critics from The Observer gave Drastic Fantastic five stars, stating the album was "bursting with so many hits that Tunstall's comic-book life is about to go stratospheric".

[27][28] It sold over 290,000 copies in the United Kingdom,[29] later being awarded a Gold certification from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in July 2013.

All tracks are written by KT Tunstall except where notedIn addition with the Deluxe edition, a documentary DVD with the album.

The original studio version "Suddenly I See", which appeared on Tunstall's first album Eye to the Telescope in 2004, was included as a bonus track on the Australian release due to the song's popularity in the country.