In 1986, two years after the release of Strange Frontier, Taylor formed the Cross, recruiting Spike Edney, Clayton Moss, Peter Noone, and Josh Macrae.

[9] The Cross went on to record three albums: Shove It; Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know; and Blue Rock.

Discs One through Eight consist of the Taylor and Cross albums, in chronological order, while discs Nine through Twelve include alternative single edits, remixes, non-album singles, B-sides and a handful of previously unreleased rarities.

These included errors in the printed lyrics, the inclusion of incorrect mixes of certain songs, and several other audio issues.

[5] Taylor assessed The Lot as a good retrospective of his career: "It's very satisfying to get it all in one place.