It is a concept album, "a vision of a drug trip from inception to its blasted conclusion, highs and lows fully intact.

[12] The music becomes progressively more orchestral and serene until the high of the trip, represented by "Ecstasy Symphony"/"Transparent Radiation (Flashback)," moving on to the moment of realisation where the high has faded and the comedown ensues, represented by the harsh opening guitar chords in "Things'll Never Be the Same."

The music was written by the band, except "Transparent Radiation," which is a Red Krayola cover from the 1967 album The Parable of Arable Land.

The band also borrows heavily from the gospel standard "In My Time of Dying" in "Come Down Easy," and it pays homage to Lou Reed in "Ode to Street Hassle."

In his liner notes, Spacemen 3 member Sonic Boom says this release presents the album's songs in their "full guitar laden versions with all the layers of beautifully streamlined guitar—considered by us to be too hard to replicate live and therefore reduced for the original release."