The album includes contributions from Rick Danko and Garth Hudson of The Band, as well as U2 and Peter Gabriel, both of whom had worked with Lanois. U2 was recording The Joshua Tree concurrent to the early stages of this album, and Gabriel had recorded So the previous year.
This album includes guest appearances from Rick Danko and Garth Hudson of The Band, alongside U2 and Peter Gabriel, all of whom have a history with Lanois. At the same time, U2 was in the process of recording The Joshua Tree, while Gabriel had finished working on So just the previous year.