Novella

Camp began writing lyrics for this album, usually collaborating on the music with Dunford, which made it the first Renaissance album since Illusion with songs written entirely by band members. Camp said he spent two or three weeks at Dunford's house in Surrey extending each song. The band did almost no pre-production and had not worked out the arrangements, so the recording took two months. They again used De Lane Lea and Dick Plant, who in effect co-produced though the credit goes to the band alone.

On Can You Hear Me? Sullivan ran a gong through a flanger, and on Midas Man he shook a bag of coins. Richard Hewson arranged the strings and suggested a saxophone solo during Touching Once, played by an orchestra member who was never credited. Camp played cello on The Sisters and shared the lead vocal on The Captive Heart.

BTM's bankruptcy left the band without a British label, so the album came out first in the United States on Sire, in a sleeve painted by Pamela Brown. Haslam said the woman on the cover looked like a nun. Warner Bros. signed the band for Britain, and a revised cover was made for the UK release. It reached 46 on the Billboard 200. Deep Puddle Dynamics and Blockheads later sampled Can You Hear Me? Esoteric Recordings issued a three-CD edition on 5 July 2019.