Written while frontman David Gedge was living in Los Angeles, El Rey burns with West Coast sunlight; Hollywood seen through the eyes of a gritty British Northerner. Speaking about El Rey in MOJO Magazine recently, Gedge said: "I've been living in West Hollywood for the last year or so, and while I'm not going to claim that this is my 'L.A.' album, there are some references. I suppose the themes are lust, jealousy, betrayal, regret, obsession, super-heroes. the usual. We chose to record with Steve this time because the new songs were sounding very guitar-ry and quite dark. It's been good. As you'd imagine, really; Albini knows his stuff."

TWP returned from an eight-year hiatus in early 2005 with the release of Take Fountain. The long-awaited album brought them back into the spotlight with all the style and sophistication associated with a legendary group, but fans were also pleased to see the band had lost none of the growling angst with which they had burst onto the scene with the 1985 debut, George Best. The band was a favorite of the famed late UK DJ John Peel.