As of 2005, "4-Track Demos" had sold 119,000 copies in the U.S. The album charted in both the United Kingdom and the United States upon its release, peaking at number 19 on the UK Albums Chart and number 10 on "Billboard"s Heatseeker Albums chart. Some reviewers preferred this version to "Rid of Me", which they contended buried some of her vocal range and sonic experimentations under its noisy, in-your-face dynamics. For a side project, "4-Track Demos" received remarkably high praise: "Entertainment Weekly" called it "a chillingly intimate peek into the fierce musical ethic of an independent and compelling voice", "Melody Maker" hailed it as "viciously aggressive music with no numbing narcotic qualities", while "Rolling Stone" said in its four-star review that "its depth, range and conceptual completeness make you wonder why Harvey even bothered with such conventions as a band or a producer in the first place". "Spin" found that Harvey's "vocals stun, especially on those cuts that got the Albini treatment" on "Rid of Me". Robert Christgau, however, still preferred "Rid of Me" over "4-Track Demos".