Guaranteed was also the first Level 42 album to be released following the death of guitarist Alan Murphy, who had taken over from Gould for Staring at the Sun and related tours.

The lineup credits for the album listed all of the musicians involved rather than clearly defining the separation between band and guest players.

All cover art and inlay photos implied that the band consisted of Mark King, Mike Lindup and Gary Husband plus a guitarist, but it was less clear on the latter's identity — inlay photos featured Allan Holdsworth while cover artwork featured Jakko Jakszyk.

In practice Holdsworth, who had played with the band during its recent London residency at the Hammersmith Apollo, provided electric guitar solos to only five of the album's songs in the studio: "Seven Years", "A Kinder Eye", "She Can't Help Herself", "If You Were Mine" and "With a Little Love".

The album's title track reached number 17 in the UK Singles Chart in 1991 and had two versions of its music video produced.