Moulding, Bendall and guitarist Dave Gregory wanted to reduce the project to one disc, but Partridge insisted on spreading it over two LPs. It was decided that they release one album with the orchestral portions ("volume 1") and leave the rock songs for its follow-up ("volume 2"). Preliminary "programming sessions" were conducted at Bendall's home in late 1997. The group then commenced recording at Chris Difford's home studio in Sussex, but the sessions fell apart after two weeks. Moulding said that the group had to leave because the studio was not yet fully functioning. According to Partridge in a 2007 interview, Difford "stole" the master tapes, "and he's still got them to this day," forcing the band to record the album from scratch—twice (the second runthrough was deemed unsatisfactory).