Some critics feel it does not quite match up to its predecessor. In his retrospective AllMusic review of the album, Richie Unterberger notes, "Many of the songs on "Strange Days" had been written around the same time as the ones that appeared on "The Doors", and with hindsight one has the sense that the best of the batch had already been cherry picked for the debut album. For that reason, the band's second effort isn't as consistently stunning as their debut, though overall it's a very successful continuation of the themes of their classic album."