This is Big Big Train’s second demo recording and was made available initially as a demo tape and then a demo CD-R. The cover artwork was originally simply a printed logo, but later versions of the CD-R featured a painting by Jim Trainer.

With the exception of one song (Far Distant Thing) which was recorded in a 24-track studio for a Power FM radio session, the release consists of demo performances made on an analogue 8-track tape recorder in 1992. The drums were recorded live, in one take, and the additional instrumentation was overdubbed (again, normally in one take.)

All of the songs featured in the band’s live performances at this time but (with the exception of Kingmaker) none of them were revisited after the release of the first studio album Goodbye to the Age of Steam.

Kingmaker was re-recorded and released on the band’s 2010 EP, Far Skies Deep Time. The later version of Kingmaker featured re-written lyrics and some changes to the chord sequence but, for the most part, it is the same song as the early version from The Infant Hercules. Kingmaker has subsequently featured in live performance in 2015 and 2018.