Each track on Take Away / The Lure of Salvage is derived from a song released on the band's first three albums and related B-sides, except "Commerciality (Signal Ad)", which is a remix of the White Music outtake "Refrigeration Blues".

[2]Partridge recruited Leckie after feeling guilty that the band had not re-hired him to produce their third album, Drums and Wires (1979).

The pair worked on the remixes for a week while enjoying and deriving inspiration from late night horror films being shown in London's West End, including Alien (1979).

[5] The cover pictures on the album's back and front are taken from a post card of Jayne Mansfield in a swimming pool.

[7] Keiichi Suzuki of Moonriders cited the album as an influence, particularly on the tracks he composed for the Mother video game series.