The album produced two singles, "Cry" and a remix of "Golden Boy", the former which became a groundbreaking music video featuring numerous "changing faces" that cross-faded from one to another as they mimed the lyrics to the song.
"Wet Rubber Soup" was also made into a video, which was effectively a collage of snippets from Godley and Creme's past work. "Cry" is featured at the end, with a version of the video slightly different from the single version – one part shows Lol Creme 'morphing' into Gonzo from the Muppets.
In an interview in Musician magazine in 1985, Lol Creme said: "We're not in the music business. We left it in 1976 and we haven't taken it seriously since. We decided to celebrate our 25 years together by taking all the music we've ever done – demos, masters, whatever – and putting it in a musical blender, the Fairlight [CMI]. Then we got J. J. [Jeczalik]ofArt of Noise to reprogram the sounds to a disco beat so we could dance at our party."[2]
The album was originally released in a number of variants depending on the format and territory. The core version of the album consists of 2-3 tracks which was released as a UK LP. For the international release the second side of the LP was replaced with previously released songs. For the CD release the original UK track listing was combined with the international version tracks.
The album was reissued as "History Mix Vol. 1...Plus" which added tracks from "Cry", "Golden Boy" and "Snack Attack" singles to the core album version.
A contemporary reviewer for Hi-Fi News & Record Review deemed it "the oddest concoction I've ever heard; it's as if video wizards Godley and Creme were trying to do a pop video without the visuals." They highlighted the "disconcerting medleys" that comprise the album, which they said "seems like the world's first successful audio collage. Sonically, this is a transient response tester all the way through, and so effects-laden that it's hard to assess in musical terms."[3]
"Expanding the Business / The 'Dare You' Man / Hum Drum Boys in Paris / Mountain Tension" – 17:03
Includes: "Business Is Business" (Godley, Creme), "How Dare You" (Godley, Creme), "Neanderthal Man" (Godley, Creme, Stewart), "This Sporting Life" (Godley, Creme), "One Night in Paris" (Godley, Creme), "The Dean and I" (Godley, Creme), "Sand in My Face" (Godley, Creme, Gouldman), "Umbopo" (Godley, Creme)
[1]
