This album was hailed by most critics as a return to form and gave Morrison his best reviews of any of his albums in the eighties. John Wilde in Sounds remarks, "the crescendos here are never dampened by their subtle nature and never fall short of blinding. The whole album aches with a steady stream of sorrow" and concluded by calling it the best record of that year so far, upon release. David Fricke with Rolling Stone described the album as "a fragile, familiar schematic, laid out over haunting, circular melodies airbrushed with acoustic guitars and often abruptly broken up by Morrison's idiosyncratic vocal phrasing."

NME

NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

s review was less enthusiastic than most others and found, "He no longer takes the breath away and as a musician has been content to age with dignity."

Reissue

The 2008 reissued and remastered version of the album contains an alternative take of "Oh the Warm Feeling" and a previously unreleased Morrison composition "Lonely at the Top". "Thanks for the Information" from this album was listed as one of the standout tracks from the six album reissue.

Side one

1. "Got to Go Back" – 5:00
2. "Oh the Warm Feeling" – 3:16
3. "Foreign Window" – 5:20
4. "A Town Called Paradise" – 6:13
5. "In the Garden
   In the Garden (Van Morrison song)
   "In the Garden" is a spiritually inspired song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and included on his 1986 album No Guru, No Method, No Teacher.-Recording and composition:...
   
   " – 5:46

Side two

1. "Tir Na Nog" – 7:14
2. "Here Comes the Knight" - 3:41
3. "Thanks for the Information" – 7:16
4. "One Irish Rover" – 3:30
5. "Ivory Tower
   Ivory Tower (Van Morrison song)
   "Ivory Tower" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and included on his 1986 album, No Guru, No Method, No Teacher. The song was also released as a single with the B-side "A New Kind of Man", from his previous album A Sense of Wonder...
   
   " – 3:34

Musicians

• Van Morrison
  Van Morrison
  Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
  
   - guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , vocal
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  s
• Teressa "Terry" Adams - cello
  Cello
  The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
  
  , string section leader on "Tir Na Nog"
• June Boyce - backing vocals
  Backing vocalist
  A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
  
  
• Richie Buckley - tenor
  Tenor saxophone
  The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
  
   and soprano saxophone
  Soprano saxophone
  The soprano saxophone is a variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument, invented in 1840. The soprano is the third smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists of the soprillo, sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass and tubax.A transposing instrument pitched in...
  
  s
• Nadine Cox - harp
  Harp
  The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
  
   on "Tir Na Nog"
• Martin Drover - trumpet
  Trumpet
  The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
  
  
• Joseph Edelberg - violin
  Violin
  The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
  
  
• David Hayes
  David Hayes (musician)
  David Hayes is an American bass guitar player.Hayes has worked with Van Morrison, The Rowans, Terry & The Pirates, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Country Joe McDonald and others....
  
   - bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Rosie Hunter - backing vocalist
• Jef Labes - piano
  Piano
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
  
  , synthesizer
  Synthesizer
  A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
  
  , string arrangement on "Tir Na Nog"
• Chris Michie - guitar
• John Platania
  John Platania
  John Platania is a well-known session musician, guitar player, and record producer.Platania was born in New York’s Mid-Hudson Valley, in Ulster County, near Woodstock....
  
   - guitar
• Rebecca Sebring - viola
  Viola
  The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
  
  
• Kate St. John - cor anglais
  Cor anglais
  The cor anglais , or English horn , is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family....
  
  , oboe
  Oboe
  The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
  
  
• John Tenney - violin
• Bianca Thornton - backing vocals
• Jeanie Tracy
  Jeanie Tracy
  Jeanie Tracy is a female African American R&B, Dance-pop, Hi-NRG and house singer-songwriter and actress, born in Houston, Texas and raised in Fresno, California.-Career:Growing up Tracy sang in a church choir in addition to studying opera and piano...
  
   - backing vocals
• Baba Trunde - drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  

Production

• Van Morrison - Producer
• Mick Glossop - Engineer
• Jim Stern - Engineer
• Assistant Engineer - Lenette Viegas

Album

UK Album Chart

Year	Chart	Position
1986	UK Album Chart	27

Billboard

Year	Chart	Position
1986	The Billboard 200	70

Singles

Billboard

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1986	"Ivory Tower"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	21