Reviewing the album for "Spin", Doug Brod hailed it as "a striking return to form" for the band, while "Q" magazine called it a "career highlight" in the group's discography. According to "Dotmusic" writer Jamie Gill, the album succeeded as a resolute "back to basics rock record" and weltering exploration of decadent rock and roll. Andrew Perry from "The Observer" felt it was the kind of boisterous, playful collection of songs "which, genuinely, nobody has the spirit or wit to put together these days". In the opinion of "Rolling Stone"s David Fricke, the intense record reconciled the frenzied music of the band's early years with the matured formalism of David Johansen's 1978 self-titled solo album. AllMusic's Mark Deming believed the songs were philosophical, multisyllabic, and surprisingly intellectual for a group that was once decadent and fashionably punk. Writing in "Blender", Robert Christgau deemed Johansen a "far more practiced and studied" songwriter, who "mourns mortality and celebrates contingency in the most searching lyrics of the year—lyrics deepened by how much fun the band is having"; he assigned it an "A+" grade in his "Consumer Guide" review.