[3] Westlake at first intended naming the album after its opening track: Initially, I had in mind that it would be a Servants record called The Word Around Town.

[3]Shortly before the album’s release, “The Word Around Town” appeared on Doing God's Work – A Creation Compilation, issued October 1987.

[5] D87 includes a four-song BBC Radio 1 session recorded in 1987,[6] and two demos of otherwise-unrecorded songs, “Take Me to Your Heart” and “Never Grow Up".

[12] On original release, Melody Maker called Westlake a record of “wry melancholy”, praising the songs’ poetic quality, and the “sheer ease and glow” of the music.

[14] Mojo labelled the album “Lit-pop”, singling out “the urgent, bookish ‘The Word Around Town’.”[8] Shindig!