The album did have some critical support, particularly from Robert Christgau of "The Village Voice", who wrote: "To my astonishment, I think "Under the Red Sky" is Dylan's best album in 15 years, a record that may even signal a ridiculously belated if not totally meaningless return to form … It's fabulistic, biblical … the tempos are postpunk like it oughta be, with Aronoff's sprints and shuffles grooving ahead like '60s folk-rock never did." And Paul Nelson, writing for "Musician", called the album "a deliberately throwaway masterpiece". When the "Voice" held its Pazz & Jop Critics Poll for 1990, "Under the Red Sky" placed at #39.