The collaboration with Rundgren proved to be difficult, especially for Partridge, and numerous disagreements arose over drum patterns, song selections, and other details. Partridge characterised Rundgren's musical preferences as "completely contradictory to mine", for instance, suggesting a fuzz guitar overdub where Rundgren wanted a mandolin. Moulding acknowledged that, until then, it was typical for Partridge to act as an "executive producer" for XTC's albums, frequently undermining the authority of the actual credited producer. According to Rundgren: "Essentially, it was kind of preordained by me what the record was going to be, which was something they never endured before. I think and Dave trusted me, but Andy never did." Gregory intimated that "Todd and Andy were like chalk and cheese as personalities, they didn't hit it off from the start. Things just went from bad to worse."