Over his past few album releases, Donovan had hired a succession of popular record producers in hopes of chart success: Mickie Most for Cosmic Wheels, Andrew Loog Oldham for Essence to Essence and Norbert Putnam for 7-Tease.

The success of these albums was mild at best, and indicated a shift in Donovan's popularity away from the superstardom of the 1960s and towards a distinctly smaller fan base.

For his next album, Donovan decided to embrace this fan base by taking on the producer duties himself and writing a set of songs that were directly at odds with the popular sounds of the time.

While Slow Down World does contain some upbeat numbers, many of the songs feature tired and resigned lyrics.

Without access to the label's promotion mechanisms, he never again achieved chart success or the same level of record sales.