The album includes the work and sound of the Australian Concert orchestra on the songs "Baby Don't Cry" and "Men and Women". The band recorded both tracks live in the studio, with the 60-piece orchestra being conducted by Colin Piper and engineered by Neil Sandbach. For the opening track "Questions", guitarist and saxophonist Kirk Pengilly used a brass horn to compose a Far East sound. Australian singer Deni Hines was hired to provide backing vocals on the album's third single, "Not Enough Time" and "Strange Desire". The singer would go on to marry Pengilly one year later. Tim Farriss was absent during most of the album's production having suffered with exostosis. Pengilly had to play most of his material. Pengilly himself was recovering from the end of a ten-year relationship. Other band members were also going through eventful experiences in their lives, including drummer Jon Farriss, who was preparing to marry his girlfriend at the time, Leslie Bega, whom he met the previous year in Los Angeles. Bassist Garry Gary Beers and his then-wife, Jodie, were awaiting the birth of their second child. In the band's 2005 official autobiography – "INXS: Story to Story", Optiz recalls, "The album is very much Andrew, Michael and myself. We didn't have everyone's minds on the job because some of them were going through significant things in their personal lives".