Musically, the album showed the band dropping their "loud" and "rocky" type songs, as they moved towards a more "American" soul/pop sound.

Since their rise to fame in 1971, Slade had failed to achieve a major breakthrough in the United States.

Slade and their manager Chas Chandler decided that the next best career move was to try and crack America.

"[2] In Spring 1975, Slade relocated to New York City and throughout the year, the band toured constantly, often on packages with the likes of Aerosmith, ZZ Top and Black Sabbath.

Often second on the bill, Slade honed their live show, taking the idea of playing skilfully seriously which went down consistently well with the American audience.

[5] Reflecting on the album in an early 1986 fan club interview, Hill said: "Nobody's Fools was a bit different, wasn't it?

I'm sure you will see quite an American influence on a lot of the tracks and we believe the hard work we put in, in America had paid dividends.

We had six weeks in the studio to get better and better, so the playing got better, and the sound got better, so yeah in terms of improvement it's a big step ahead.

We used some coloured chicks for back-up vocals and I really enjoyed working with them, it was something different for us, and at the same time it gave our sound a lot of body!

"Lea also revealed in a 1976 fan club interview: "We just got a terrific buzz when we were working on the album.

The band were originally unsure of what to call the album, but when listening to the title track one day, they decided to add an 's' to 'Fool'.

[11][9] "Let's Call It Quits" has been described as having a "bluesy pay-off" and "slinky rock groove" by Chris Ingham in the liner notes of the 2007 remaster of the album.

After it became a UK hit, the band had a court case taken against them by Allen Toussaint, who felt the song was similar to his "Play Something Sweet (Brickyard Blues)".

The case was settled out of court with the band giving them 50% in songwriting royalties, though Lea maintained their song was one he had "never heard before or since".

The lyrics of "L.A. Jinx" refer to the bad luck the band seemed to suffer whenever they played in Los Angeles.

Holder said in a 1976 fan club interview: "Something always goes wrong; the gear blows up, we all get electric shocks, and, oh there's always some sort of equipment fault – we're always jinxed!

"All the World Is a Stage" features the prominent use of keyboards and closes with sound effects of high pitched laughing.

[17] Cash Box described the band as adopting a "laid back stance" on the album, noting that "rock is still around in abundance but, equally present, are pop subtleties and a couple of genuine mellow moments".

[18] AllMusic retrospectively noted: "Nobody's Fools has some really great songs on it, but all things considered it was the band's worst album at that point.

Colin Harper of Record Collector concluded the album was "engagingly eclectic, if not quite truly classic.