Reviewing for "Creem", Dave Marsh found it "totally enthralling to see that Lennon has once again unified, to some degree, his life and his music into a truly whole statement". He deemed Lennon's perspective "elitist" and less adventurous than Ono's on her LP, but nevertheless likened the album to the highly political statements made by jazz artists such as Archie Shepp, Charlie Parker and Charles Mingus in their music. Don Heckman of "The New York Times" was unimpressed by "Plastic Ono Band", calling it a "group of empty selections" that, like McCartney's album, showed its creator to be overly preoccupied with himself and weakened artistically as a solo performer. "Billboard"s reviewer described the album as "Self determination music, intensely analytical of self with production values kept down to the minimum", and predicted it would remain the subject of analysis for years like "Sgt. Pepper".