Hopes and Fears began as a Henry Cow album,[1] but after the first recording sessions in Switzerland in January 1978, some of the members of the band were unhappy about the predominance of song-oriented material.

The newly formed Art Bears recorded four more tracks in London in March 1978 to complete Hopes and Fears, which was released in May 1978 under their name with the rest of Henry Cow credited as guests.

In August 1978 Henry Cow returned to Switzerland to record additional instrumental pieces for their last album, Western Culture, after which the group disbanded.

Georgie Born said that she had written the bass lines for two of the Henry Cow tracks recorded in Switzerland, "Joan" and "In Two Minds", yet she was not credited on their release on Hopes and Fears.

It also shows Frith experimenting with eastern European folk music on "Moeris Dancing",[6] which he explored further on some of his subsequent solo albums, particularly Gravity (1980) and Speechless (1981).

[8][3] Stewart Mason wrote at AllMusic that the album's longest track, "In Two Minds" is the closest Art Bears came to playing "conventional rock music".

[14] Reviewing the album in the June 1979 issue of DownBeat, Frank-John Hadley opined that Hopes and Fears "is a staggeringly literate, uncompromising and entertaining work".