[2] Howe recalled in All My Yesterdays, his 2021 autobiography, that in hindsight the sessions were too rushed; Geffen was eager to capitalise on the group's success and wanted to get a second album out as soon as it could.

[3] Record label executives requested Wetton and Downes write all the songs, since the hit singles from the band's first album had been their compositions.

[2] It had originally been "Barren Land", a song about the mistreatment of Native Americans, but John Kalodner persuaded Howe to change it out of fears it would be "too controversial".

[3] Due to the tensions within the group, producer Mike Stone was put in charge of mixing the album, where technical glitches delayed its release by several months.

The lead-off single, "Don't Cry", reached number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100[8] and climbed to the top of the Mainstream Rock chart.

[10] The B-side of the single, "Daylight", was featured as a bonus track on album original cassette editions, and also appeared on the Mainstream Rock charts, at number 24.

J. D. Considine in his review for Rolling Stone described Alpha as "a sort of sonic confection, a concoction of tasty melodies, sweet harmonies and goopy lyrics intended more for greedy consumption than for artistic appreciation".

Platinum SHM-CD with a DSD flat transfer from original master tapes was released by Universal Music in 2014 and included "Daylight" and "Lying to Yourself" as bonus tracks.