[4] Paul Cole of the Birmingham Evening Mail called ″Little Princess″ "the single the fans asked for", saying, "rarely has McNabb been in better vocal form".

Rudyard Kennedy, writing for AllMusic said the album was "a well-thought-out, well-produced niche product" but that "featuring no hits and lacking the raw energy one normally associates with a live release – is probably the least-essential item in McNabb's catalog.

[4][6][8][9] The magazine Uncut commented, "As Potency proves, over more than a decade [Ian McNabb has] been making quality pop characterised by lyrical maturity and an old-fashioned respect for melody", but gave the album a low rating of 3/10.

The title refers to both McNabb's nickname (after his penchant for wearing Beatles-style boots in the mid-80s while with The Icicle Works) and the "official bootleg" nature of the release.

The cover was designed by Ged Doyle at Plast-c.[4][6] Jerry Ewing reviewed Boots in the magazine Classic Rock, saying it was "a double CD full of rarities and out-takes from across McNabb's excellent solo career".

The album was a limited release of 1000 copies, and also included a cover of the Sly Fox song "Let's Go All the Way" and two versions of a new track, "Gravy".

According to McNabb's liner notes for the album, it is an attempt to improve on "a bunch of tunes from [his] catalogue [he] felt, although not uhappy [sic] with in their previous incarnations, had a lot of room to grow".