Recorded with Italian disco producer Giorgio Moroder, the album marked a change of musical direction for the group and became influential on later synth-pop bands.

In 1973, Sparks had decamped from the US to the UK, resulting in a change of lineup upon hiring English musicians to fill the roles of guitar, bass and drums.

They had expressed admiration for pioneering Italian producer Giorgio Moroder, creator of Donna Summer's iconic disco anthem "I Feel Love", to a German journalist who turned out to be a friend of his.

The group dropped the standard guitar, bass and piano from its musical palette and the new sound was dominated by layered sequencers and synthesizers, underpinned by the drums and percussion of Keith Forsey.

Aside from Ron Mael's lyrics and Russell's vocals, musically, the sound of the album matched that of Moroder's trademark sound that had begun with Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" and had continued in much of his solo work, with songs like "Tryouts for the Human Race" and "La Dolce Vita" continuing in the vein of his work with Summer.

This sound was also exemplified on Summer's 1977 album Once Upon a Time ("Now I Need You", "Working the Midnight Shift", "Queen for a Day") and 1979's Bad Girls (in songs like "Sunset People").

[14] Record Mirror said that the album was "a complete frustration from beginning to end" with odes to Donna Summer's "Down Deep Inside" on "My Other Voice" and to David Bowie on "Tryouts for the Human Race".

[9] Sounds' Sandy Robertson, on the other hand, wrote that "the band have found in Moroder the best filter for their ideas since Rundgren" and qualified the album as "icy sharp and fresh".

In a four-out-of-five star review published on AllMusic, John Bush wrote; "the marriage of Sparks' focus on oddball pop songs to the driving disco-trance of Giorgio Moroder produced the duo's best album in years".

Joy Division's drummer Stephen Morris stated: "When we were doing 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', there were two records we were into: Frank Sinatra's Greatest Hits and 'Number One Song in Heaven' by Sparks.