Allmusic awarded the album 3 stars with reviewer Bruce Eder stating "Johnny Otis and Pete Welding produced this surprisingly successful soul effort by Bo, which succeeded in reshaping his sound ... Unfortunately, none of this mattered to the people who still cared about Bo Diddley -- they wanted the beat and the old sound ... He gave them his classics in concert, but not on this album. And it all came so late in the day: not only in terms of Bo's identification as anything but an oldies act , but as part of the history of Chess Records (now subsumed into the GRT corporate operation, the Chess imprint having no meaning or significance), that Where It All Began vanished from sight, leaving scarcely a trace or a ripple on the charts.".[1]
Track listing
All compositions by Ellas McDaniel except where noted
"I've Had It Hard" – 3:13
"Woman" (Ellas McDaniel, Kay McDaniel) – 3:06
"Look at Grandma" (Cornelia Redmond, Kay McDaniel) – 3:31