"Land's End" incorporates music keyboardist Dave Stewart had previously composed for the National Health album Of Queues and Cures (1978).

Guitarist Allan Holdsworth left the group before recording began, and recommended his guitar student John Clark as his replacement.

The title of the album was taken from the British-based Romanian artist Paul Neagu who did a performance under the name "Gradually Going Tornado" in London in 1974.

In a review for AllMusic, Lee Bloom wrote: "This is intelligent fusion -- intricately crafted, high energy, and technically impressive... Gradually Going Tornado, if not Bruford's most successful effort, is certainly among the finest music produced in the progressive rock/fusion genre.

"[1] The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings called the music "strongly melodic, freewheeling and built round Bruford's ringing percussion.