The album consists of diverse Latin music styles from Cuba (rumba, mozambique, mambo, chachachá, bolero), the Dominican Republic (merengue), Puerto Rico (bomba), Colombia (cumbia, mapeyé) and Brazil (samba, pagode).

[1] The album is mostly sung in English and features guest appearances by Kirsty MacColl, Willie Colón and Celia Cruz, among others.

Three songs, "Loco de Amor", "Good and Evil", and "Office Cowboy" are excluded from the LP.

David Byrne performed "Dirty Old Town" and "Loco de Amor" on Saturday Night Live's Thanksgiving show in 1989.

In a retrospective review for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis wrote "Byrne’s first post-Talking-Heads solo album is a cut above [the multitude of late 80s pop albums dabbling in world music] and an underrated joy".