The recording of the follow-up album faced difficulties from the start. Two key members of the James organisation resigned: guitarist and key composer Larry Gott (who left the group in order to spend more time with his family) and manager Martine McDonagh (who had had a sometimes fraught romantic relationship with Booth, resulting in a son, Ben). Booth announced that he also wished to take a break in order to record an album with Angelo Badalamenti. At around the same time, there was the discovery of a £250,000 tax bill owed by the band.