The album was recorded live during the North American leg of her To the Limit tour and released in the UK in October 1979 by A&M (AMLH 64789).

[1] "Mama Mercy" opens the album and is a funkier version of the studio recording from Show Some Emotion, "with some unusual stops".

[3] Armatrading mentions during her live concert (see Steppin' Out DVD, below) that she began writing the song in Amsterdam and finished it in London three months later.

"Love and Affection", her first hit single, appears in a slower version on this album, with Armatrading exploring "the gospel rhythms of the vocal line".

[3] "Steppin' Out", the title song of the album and originally found on Back to the Night, appears here in its solo version and features extended guitar work from Armatrading.

After the release of the album, Armatrading continued to tour until the end of 1979, and only stopped when she became unwell in Australia and needed a minor operation.

[1] Armatrading's biographer Sean Mayes commented in 1990: "with a band of this calibre, performances of such commitment and fresh insight as Joan gives, plus two interesting new numbers, this is a live album which easily earns its place in the collection.

He described Steppin' Out as a "standard rock and roll live album" and a "plain, depressing affair", saying of the solos in "Kissin' and a Huggin'" that "Only Richie Hayward (drums) and Bill Bodine (bass) of the five-piece band manage to avoid their respective instrumental clichés.

The first concert was given to a small crowd and the second to a much larger one in the "vast surroundings"[9] of the Grugahalle, reflecting Armatrading's increasing popularity and success at that time.