[1] The album is partly a 'best-of' collection as it consists of seven previously released tracks and six new songs ("Love Whispers," "On Our Way to Paradise," "Be Still My Heart," "Stray Cat," "The Mad Siberian" and "Temptation").

[3] The release of Out of the Blue was mainly the result of Donnie Iris and the Cruisers' back catalogue being unavailable on CD.

[4] The band attempted to persuade MCA to release a compilation album, but their former label did not believe there was big enough demand for their back catalogue.

[4] Bret Adams of AllMusic commented that Iris had "deserved to be a star based on the quality of [his] infectious power pop" in the 1980s.

He noted the inclusion of some of the band's previous hits, as well as the "superb" "That's the Way Love Ought to Be" which "features Iris' unbelievable falsetto wail", but regretted others like "Tough World" and "Do You Compute?"