After his 1990 single "Crown of Thorns" from the album Raindance failed to find commercial success, Datchler began working on his next musical project with a collective of musicians under the name Medicine Wheel.

Datchler then chose to rerecord the track with producer Rupert Hine in order to improve its hit potential: "I could tell that I was going down the right path but I was blinded by my own limitations in a studio sense.

[3] Both Clark Datchler and Rupert Hine originally wanted the track "State of Play" to have been released as Medicine Wheel's debut single, but Virgin favoured "The Last Emotion" instead.

[1] Upon its release, Andrew Hirst of the Huddersfield Daily Examiner picked "The Last Emotion" as "single of the week" and wrote, "A true songsmith's song, blessed with a caress of quality.

"[4] Peter Kinghorn of the Evening Chronicle described it as a "wistful pop-rock ballad that lingers after the final bars fade – auguring well for the album Fishing for Souls".