Rick Wakeman said: "It's just one of those decisions a manager has to make." Wakeman described the record as "the album Yes should have made instead of "Topographic Oceans"." Released in July 1977, the album spent two weeks at No. 1 in the UK and spawned the No. 7 single, "Wonderous Stories". Wakeman considered its fifteen-minute track "Awaken" as one of the band's best. During the "Going for the One" tour, Wakeman released "Rick Wakeman's Criminal Record", a solo album loosely based on criminality with Squire on bass, Alan White on drums, Frank Ricotti on percussion, and Bill Oddie on lead vocals
My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows edition CD was released in 2004, which included the mono mix of the album, one single track and three alternate studio takes. A new mono mix was created for a deluxe edition, released in January 2015, which also included home demos for the album recorded by Visconti and exploratory studio sessions with Boyd. The album reportedly received negative reviews upon its release. In his retrospective review, Dave Thompson, writing for AllMusic, called it "an irresistible affair, if absolutely a child of its psychedelically-inclined time". My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... But Now They're Content to Wear