The first five tracks come from the 1982–1984 period, including a piano version of "Call in the Night Boy", B-side to a non-album A-side in 1983.

Whilst the remaining seven tracks cover 1986–1988, the EMI era of the band's more experimental phase, most songs in this part of the album are drawn from The Colour of Spring and Spirit of Eden.

Nothing post-1988 is featured, as EMI, who released the album, couldn't collect material from Laughing Stock or Missing Pieces, both recorded over 1990–1991, or the live album London 1986, released by Pond Life in 1999.

Allmusic said in their 3/5 review that the album had a "bizarre" track list, but "this will be ideal for fans who want cheap access to some of the group's best B-sides without breaking for the extensive and more expensive Asides Besides.

The song actually finishes at around 6:55 on both Spirit of Eden and any compilation which features it, including Introducing... Talk Talk, and around 23 silent seconds follow until the song reaches 7:17.