The main lineup consisted of members Michael Been, Scott Musick, Tom Ferrier, and Jim Goodwin.

Freeman departed in 1984, and Joe Read (of Strapps, The Textones, and Code Blue) took over bass duties on Scene Beyond Dreams.

The Call recorded its eponymous premiere album in England and Been recalled in a 1987 interview that the band was in an exploratory phase at this point.

"[2] Peter Gabriel liked the band so much that he called them the "future of American music"[3] and asked them to open for him during his 1982–1983 "Plays Live" tour.

"[8] However, when the band signed a new deal with Elektra Records, The Call produced their most commercially successful album to date.

[10] In the film, Cappello memorably stole the scene as a muscular bare-chested, oiled-up saxophonist belting out the tune on the beach.

In 2018, a cover version of "I Still Believe" appeared in the Paramount Pictures television series Waco about the Branch Davidian tragedy.

In 2022, "I Still Believe" also featured prominently in the last episode of the second season of the TV show Reservation Dogs, which included a cameo by Cappello playing the saxophone.

[15] Their label under-ordered physical copies of the album and the resultant decline in sales limited their chart position.

[17] The album took a turn into the then-rising genre of Americana and was out of step with the shock of grunge music taking over the airwaves.

Michael Been died on August 19, 2010, after suffering a heart attack backstage at the Pukkelpop music festival in Hasselt, Belgium, where he was working as the sound engineer for his son's, Robert Levon Been, band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, also known as BRMC.

[22] On April 18 and 19, 2013, band members Scott Musick, Tom Ferrier and Jim Goodwin reunited for a series of shows in San Francisco and Los Angeles with BRMC's Robert Levon Been taking over bass and lead vocal duties.

[citation needed] On April 22, 2017, The Call reunited and played a show in New Orleans, Louisiana, at Siberia, with special guest vocalists Ray Ganucheau, Michael Divita, and J.D.

In 2023, the remaining band members (Tom Ferrier, Jim Goodwin, and Scott Musick, along with Ralph Patlan) went back to the archives and discovered some live recordings and nearly complete studio tracks featuring Michael Been's voice.