Whirlpool was released on 29 April 1991 by
Dedicated Records. It spent three weeks on the
UK Albums Chart, peaking at number 23. "Pearl" was issued as the album's only single on 18 March 1991, reaching number 67 on the
UK Singles Chart. It also included, for the first time, printed lyrics for all of the album's songs. As of 2015, this was still the case, with Cherry Red reported as continuing to send out versions of the CD – now bearing the reference CDMRED304V2 – which were sourced from the lossy master, rather than the
DAT, for tracks 1 to 9, 13 and 14. ==Critical reception==