Swanyard Studios (Islington, London); AIR Studios, (Oxford Street, London); The Workhouse (Old Kent Road, London); Odyssey Studios (Marble Arch, London); The Wool Hall (Bath, Somerset); The Hit Factory (New York City, New York)
Eric "ET" Thorngren produced the album, along with Glenn Tilbrook. The group officially expanded to a sextet with the addition of former Soft Boys member Andy Metcalfe; a bassist in that group. But here, Metcalfe was used as a second keyboard player (behind Jools Holland). However, despite being pictured and billed as a full member of the band, the track-by-track musician listings included with this album reveal that Metcalfe only played on three songs: "Tough Love", "The Prisoner" and "Some Americans". Metcalfe left Squeeze before their next album was recorded, although he worked again with Glenn Tilbrook during his solo years. The album peaked at number 14 in the UK Albums Chart, the highest ranking there for a Squeeze album, aside from greatest hitscompilations, until Cradle to the Grave (2015) reached number 12.[1][2][3]
The album was released in September 1987 and gave them their biggest US hit single, "Hourglass." The song became an unexpected US hit[4] for the band, reaching number 15 on the BillboardHot 100, which Chris Difford attributed to the video for the song as much as the song itself: "I would think that the video has had a lot to do with it. It’s been played a lot, and everybody you speak to compliments you on it. When you meet fans after gigs, they say, “Your video’s great.” They don’t say, “Your album’s great.” So it’s the first thing they think of."[5]
A second song released in the US later in the year, "853-5937", also landed at number 32 on the US Hot 100.
AllMusic gave a mixed summary of Babylon and On. Although reviewer Chris Woodstra held the album's resurrection of older sounds to be "a welcome one", he opined that the move seemed "forced", despite noting "some moments of inspiration".[6]
