After two EPs (which were described by the NME as "conspicuously excellent")[2] and a 12-inch single on Ron Johnson Records, that label's collapse led to a move to Communications Unique for debut album Don't Be Afraid Of Change in 1988, which The Guardian described as Brown meeting "the advent of the synthesizer ethic head-on".
[4] Ian Gittins, writing in Melody Maker, described it as "full of wordy thoughts on the state of this nation set to an infectious, chirpy dance beat".
Stuart Maconie, writing for NME, summed up the band's late 1980s sound: "First there's the jagged guitar melodics, sweet but never tacky.
[9] James Dean Bradfield included the debut Great Leap Forward EP in his top 10 favourites from the 'C86' era.
[10] In October 2008, Brown revived The Great Leap Forward and released a CD of new material, Finished Unfinished Business, followed in 2012 by a further album This Is Our Decade of Living Cheaply and Getting By.