Steeleye Span amicably disbanded five days after making this recording for reasons that are irrelevant here.”[2] It is one of only two albums the band issued on which John Kirkpatrick played (not counting a later live reunion album, The Journey), making it one of only two albums to employ an accordion as a primary instrument.

The album is also notable because only two of the tracks ("Saucy Sailor/Black Freighter" and "False Knight on the Road") were songs that the band had recorded before, so that most of the material on the album is essentially new material.

The band went on to release a second live version of "The Maid and the Palmer" on The Journey.

The departure of Bob Johnson and Peter Knight and their replacement by Martin Carthy and Kirkpatrick for this album (and Storm Force Ten) had taken the band away from its heavily amplified rock sound of the mid-1970s, and back to the cutting edge British folk rock approach reminiscent of the band's origins.

The Live at Last version is much expanded and features the use of odd (but effective) contrasting time signatures.