The album was recorded in Los Angeles during January and February 2003. It is also notable as being the first Ian Gillan-fronted Deep Purple album to make use of backing vocals other than Gillan's own (since the 1972 sessions for the song "Woman From Tokyo" in Germany which featured Jon Lord and Roger Glover singing backing vocals) with the song "Haunted" featuring Beth Hart. The album includes "Contact Lost", a short slow instrumental requiem for the Space Shuttle Columbia astronauts, written by guitarist Steve Morse when he heard the news of the crash.