On the previous concept album, A Curious Feeling (1979) all of the vocals were done by Kim Beacon.

When that album did not turn out too successfully, Banks thought that it was pointless to continue that project.

When the album was released in late June 1983, it received mixed reviews and peaked at number 50 in the UK, lasting within the Top 100 for only two weeks.

Three guest musicians (mostly Steve Gadd) played drums, while a Linn LM-1 was used in place of a live drummer on the instrumental "Thirty Three's".

"[9] In his retrospective review for AllMusic, Geoff Orens praised the album for being sparser and more accessible than most of Tony Banks's solo work.

He also approved of his singing the songs himself, saying that his voice "works far better with his music than many of the other more bombastic vocalists he has recorded with as a solo artist."