Between the Lines was recorded in early 1987. The opening four tracks were recorded in Los Angeles with the producer Dennis Lambert. Two more tracks were recorded there with Richard James Burgess, who had produced tracks on their previous album. The rest of the album was made up of songs written by the band members with the writers producing their own tracks with their father, Buster Pearson, in London. Deniece sings lead on all tracks except "You Should Have Waited" (sung by Lorraine) and "Knock Twice" (sung by Doris).

The album did not sell as well as its predecessor, Silk & Steel, and spent only two weeks in the top 10, and 17 weeks on the UK Albums Chart altogether. However, the album was certified Platinum for sales of over 300,000 copies by summer 1988. It did not chart at all in the US.

The first single, "Whenever You're Ready", was released a month prior to the album in the UK and peaked at number 11 in the UK Singles Chart but only managed to reach number 39 on the US Hot R&B Singles chart, missing the Billboard Hot 100. The ballad "Strong as Steel", written by Diane Warren, was the second single but fared even worse, peaking at number 16 in the UK in October and not charting at all in the US. When the third UK single, "Somewhere Somebody", failed to reach the top 20 in December of that year (peaking at #23), promotion of the album ended with no further singles released (there had been seven and six UK singles from their first two albums respectively). Having released a single every two to four months since 1985, the band released no new material for six months and subsequently changed their image for their next album.

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