Employing acid house and techno styles, the music on the album is instrumental and was created using a Roland TR-909 drum machine and Ensoniq SQ-80 sequencer.

[3] With Adamski having built up a reputation and following via his live work, he attracted the interest of major labels, subsequently signing to MCA Records with help from entrepreneur Paul Smith, who ran the Le Petit Prince restaurant in London.

[4] His debut album,[5] Liveandirect is a live release of Adamski's work recorded in summer 1989 at various raves, nightclubs and parties in the United Kingdom as well as at Amnesia, Ibiza.

[6][4] As Keyboard magazine wrote: "Each side of this instrumental LP is one continuous groove, with arrangement breaks between tunes but never a pause in the beat.

"[4] Although Adamski was in possession of a Casio FZ10M sampler, it is not used for rhythmic loops; it only surfaces sporadically on the album in a sparing fashion, namely with an "I love technology" sample and several percussion sounds taken from bhangra music.

Also released that month was his debut single, "N-R-G", a "squiggly acid piano shuffler" which also featured in live form on Liveandirect.

[15][16] At the time of release, house and rave DJs and producers were referred to as "faceless" by the press due to their lack of public image.

[17] Adamski appeared onstage in raves and clubs without any lighting, and this "faceless" approach continued to the album artwork of Liveandirect, which does not feature any pictures.

[19][16] In a contemporary review of Liveandirect, Keyboard magazine were favourable, writing that: "[Adamski is] heavy on the filter resonance and string machine, and has no artistic pretensions whatever.

"[8] Boys' Own magazine soon parodied Liveandirect with the name Liveandire, exemplifying the subsequent backlash against live rave acts from producers and other parties who promoted a return to pre-acid house clubbing.

[7] In a retrospective review, John Bush of AllMusic did feel that the album had "dated just as badly as its contemporaries," but nonetheless wrote that "Liveandirect is by no means the worst rave crossover LP released during the late '80s and early '90s."

[20] Influential graffiti artist Xenz cited Liveandirect as an influence, saying: "Having spent most my childhood breakdancing to electro it was only natural that I gravitated to acid house.

"[21] To mark the 20th anniversary of Liveandirect, Adamski released a re-recording of the album entitled Vile Acid Rent (an anagram of the original title) on the Germanys Major label in summer 2009.