Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | |
| Robert Christgau | B |
| Rolling Stone | (favorable) |
| Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
| Stylus Magazine | (favorable) |
Although the album received generally positive reviews upon its release, praise wasn't as unconditional as it had been for its predecessors. Rolling Stone's original review stated that "if the new album is hard to get into, it's also difficult to ignore" but a later review incorporated into its album guide gave it 4.5/5 stars, calling it a "tour de force". Robert Christgau gave it a B, saying that there were "lotsa duds". In the Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop music critics' poll, the album placed 7th overall for 1980, beating out such better selling releases as Michael Jackson's Off the Wall, Stevie Wonder's Hotter than July and Pete Townshend's Empty Glass.
In 1989, Rolling Stone placed it at #11 on its list of the 100 best albums of the 1980s. And, in 2002 Pitchfork placed it at #26 on its own list of the 100 best albums of the 1980s. In 2012, Slant Magazine listed the album at #68 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980's".
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