Kissing to Be Clever

Steve Levine produced and engineered the debut, which was recorded at Red Bus Studios, with Phil Pickett on keyboards and Helen Terry among the backing singers. Trevor Bastow arranged the strings. The album sold about five million copies worldwide, over a million of them in the US, and spent 88 weeks on the Billboard chart, peaking at number 14 in March 1983. In the UK it reached number five.

Time (Clock of the Heart) was not on the first UK edition. It was a stand-alone single in Europe and was added to the North American version of the album in 1983. A 2003 remaster restored the original colour cover, which earlier editions had replaced with a black-and-white photograph of George.

Smash Hits' Beverly Hillier gave it nine out of ten and called it a first class record. Rolling Stone's Lloyd Sachs said it positively jumps. AllMusic's Lindsay Planer wrote that it was embraced by post-disco dance fans, new wave listeners and pop fans alike.