Foxx's two previous solo albums, "Metamatic" (1980) and "The Garden" (1981), had included a number of compositions written for earlier projects but shelved for one reason or another, such as "He's a Liquid" and "Touch and Go", originally performed live with Ultravox, and "Systems of Romance" and "Walk Away", written during sessions for the album "Systems of Romance". In contrast "The Golden Section" was almost wholly made up of material written especially for the album in 1983, the exceptions being "Like a Miracle" an earlier version of which was recorded during the "Metamatic" sessions and released on the deluxe edition of that album, and "Endlessly", an early version of which Foxx had released as a single in mid-1982. Another eight songs he recorded around the same time as "Endlessly", that were to have formed an album, were scrapped.