In the early 1980s, Devonian-based folk musicians Steve Knightley and Phil Beer, who had been friends since 1972,[1] briefly joined Paul Downes' band Arizona Smoke Revue.

Knightley recalled that Beer told him "let's go out as a duo: I’ll get some folk club dates and we'll make a little cassette in your back room in Dorset, in the garage.

"[1] Knightley had been earning Performing Rights Society income from his work on Night Rider, so using money from the income, the duo created a small studio in Catsley Home, described by Knightley as "an outbuilding in the remotest part of Dorset",[1] and recorded the cassette there in January 1987.

Knightley recalled the duo played "25 gigs a year on the folk scene to audiences of twenty people – seventy sometimes, if we were lucky.

It would be three years until the duo could record a follow-up release, due to Beer's commitments to The Albion Band.

[1] They recorded a final cassette album, Out for the Count (1991), before they looked "for more work",[1] eventually leading to their first CD release, Show of Hands Live (1992).

By 1995, at which point the duo had become much more successful, Show of Hands, as well as their other two cassette albums, had long since been out of print and were unavailable.

[10] Thus, the duo created the compilation album Backlog 1987–1995 (1995) for CD release on their own label Hands on Music.