Lead guitarist Ray Fenwick had played on individual tracks with this line-up before including the theme from the TV series Magpie but never on a full album before.

Operator", and "Tumble Down Tenement Row" are characteristic of the group's 1960s sound, featuring precise drumbeats, loosely played organ, and hollered singing.

Other songs include the instrumental "Today Gluggo, Tomorrow the World", a cover of the old blues "Trouble in Mind" (performed in the style of Nashville sound and twang vocals), and the country pop song "Legal Eagle Shuffle", which follows the genre's typical storyline of divorce and truck driving.

[citation needed] Reviewing Gluggo in December 1973 for Creem, Robert Christgau said "Davis has been putting out moderately enjoyable records for as long as I've kept track.

"[13] Joel Vance from Stereo Review called it "happy, loose, thoroughly professional", and "great fun", concluding that "it's good to have Spencer Davis back, undiluted and unbowed.