It reached number 7 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart.

The lead-off single was a non-album track "C'mon Betty Home" b/w "Old Joe Clark".

Something Special was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Folk Recording category.

[1] A notable feature of Something Special is that it was highly orchestrated, using strings, brass instruments and a choir.

Allmusic music critic Bruce Eder wrote the album "was the oddest of all the Kingston Trio's albums... a marked departure from previous work by the trio...