This was the final album made with Laurel Massé (due to a car accident in early 1979 and her decision to leave the group).

In the U.S. the album was issued as an Audiophile LP in 1979 by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab in a collector's edition under the name "Original Master Recording" (discs made from the original masters).

[1] Until 2005, The Manhattan Transfer Live was the only album of the group that was not reissued in the U.S. on CD.

The cover of the standard edition on Atlantic Records, described by Janis Siegel as "the worst cover in history (perhaps only after Mecca for Moderns and Coming Out)",[2] is a drawing in a cartoon style of the four members of the group.

It was reused for the Wounded Bird Records CD re-release of June 21, 2005,[3] while the cover of the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab edition is a photograph depicting the silhouette of the group at twilight (photography included in the inner envelope of the Atlantic version).