Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | |
| Robert Christgau | (B) |
| Rolling Stone | |
Reviews for Waking Up with the House on Fire have been mixed. Allmusic's Lindsay Planer rated the album two out of five stars. She noted that "overexposure in the media, the ever-changing tides and trends of pop music, and, quite frankly, a less than laudable collection of songs resulted in receiving a less than enthusiastic response." She also explained that it "was in no way aided by the irony-laden yet undeniable banality of the emphasis track, "The War Song"." However, she stated: "Two of the more interesting cuts are the vintage R&B "Crime Time" and the upbeat and soulful "Mannequin," blending Beach Boys-esque vocal harmonies with a distinctly Carolina beach and shag flavor." Robert Christgau rated it a B, stating: "Since I had even less use for the dismissive because-he-wears-dresses theory than for the ridiculous new-Smokey analysis, I could never figure out means of commercial propulsion". He also stated that "this calls for concerted protest – which might be easier to whip up if the latest album weren't part three of more-of-the-same."
Read more about this topic: Waking Up With The House On Fire
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