The liner notes contains a foreword by Clarke about the development of his book, from short story to novel. He ends it with a note about the album: "Since the finale of the novel is a musical concert, I was delighted when Mike Oldfield told me that he wished to compose a suite inspired by it. I was particularly impressed by the music he wrote for "The Killing Fields" and now, having played the CD-ROM of "The Songs of Distant Earth", I feel he has lived up to my expectations. Welcome back into space, Mike: there's still lots of room out here."