Phil Palmer had previously worked with David Bowie and Frank Zappa, and is the nephew of Ray and Dave Davies of The Kinks.

The songs "Bottom to the Top", "Barefoot and Pregnant", "You Rope You Tie Me" and "Your Letter" have subsequently appeared on compilation albums.

"You Rope You Tie Me", "Barefoot and Pregnant" and "Takin' My Baby Uptown" were included in the set list for Armatrading's seminal concert at the Rockpalast in Cologne in 1979.

[14][15] Reviewing for Record Mirror, Geoff Travis gave the album 5 out of 5, writing that Armatrading "provides a vocabulary that is full of feeling and understanding and infused with her own character that is streets ahead of her rivals in articulating her emotions In a rock and roll song" and lauded her as "without doubt one of the greatest artists that there is making music at the moment.

The fact that she is one of the least pretentious and one of the most courageous people without courting the sensationalist press that she could count on if she were to be more explicit about the meaning of many of her songs, does nothing but enhance her stature as a writer, singer and artist.

"[12] Phil Sutcliffe for Sounds summed up that "musically To The Limit is a small step within Joan's known area of excellence.

"[16] Reviewing retrospectively for AllMusic, Dave Connolly described it as "one of her better albums", stating that "nothing on To the Limit is great, but nearly everything is good".