Contemporary reviews for the album were mixed. "Rolling Stone"'s Paul Gambaccini praised the band for attempting something utterly different amidst "a stagnant pop scene", but criticised the album's lyrics, feeling they overused British pop culture references, and complained about some musical passages. Despite this, Gambaccini thought the album "merits some recognition". "NME"s Barbara Charone said the album was "the band's best, most adventurous album to date". "The Guardian"s Robin Denselow wrote that "much of the material is indistinctive and tedious". Writing for "The Village Voice" in June 1974, Robert Christgau assessed the record as "down-to-earth progressive, which means that it indulges in snooty satire about the vulgar futility of working class youth. Would T.S. Eliot be proud? I doubt it. But I have the feeling that they're saying right out what all their co-workers in the genre are thinking, and there's some pretty dense music here."