"[4] The last song recorded for the album was a cover version of “Happy Talk” from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific.

Sensible: “Needing one song to complete an album, producer Tony Mansfield told me to rummage through my records to find something worthy of a cover version.

[1] The success of the single launched Sensible's solo career, and he quickly found himself in constant demand for TV appearances, radio and magazines.

In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Mark Deming wrote: "Part of the idea behind the album was to show he could do more than just straightforward punk rock, and there's no arguing he succeeded."

Deming felt that the "proto-rap" of "Wot" and the "domestic squalor" of "A Nice Cup of Tea" are "comic", but they are also "well-crafted pop tunes that deliver the goods".

In his conclusion, Deming wrote that most of Women and Captains First is dominated by "synthesizers, drum machines, and breathy female backing vocals", giving the album "a slick and instantly recognizable '80s sound" that hasn't dated well.