Recorded after a 14-year break, it met with an underwhelming response from listeners but served to kick off a largely successful reunion for the band.

[1] Although Matthew Fisher hadn't played with the band since 1969's A Salty Dog, he stated at the time "I felt that I just sort of slotted back into it, like it had only been like the day before ... so it's not so much déjà vu as just carrying on where we left off.

Robin Trower performed on the album and co-wrote the music for "All Our Dreams are Sold", but he declined to join the group on the following tour and was replaced by Tim Renwick.

[3] The review at Allmusic stated that the absence of original drummer B. J. Wilson severely hurt the vitality of the band and that while Brooker was in fine voice, lyricist Keith Reid was "in a mundane, conventional mode" and that the frequent use of synthesizers in place of Matthew Fisher's Hammond organ made the band often sound like a generic AOR group.

[4] Entertainment Weekly stated "...though the songs in The Prodigal Stranger are occasionally overproduced, singer Gary Brooker's powerfully soulful voice still makes the difference every time.