We Can't Dance - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

Rolling Stone chiefly commented on the album's lyrics. They criticized "Tell Me Why" and "Way of the World" for being soulless and impersonal social commentaries, but regarded most of the songs as outstanding, and summarized "Although We Can't Dance doesn't quite achieve the vulnerable grace of Duke or the exuberance of Abacab, Genesis has nevertheless delivered an elegantly spare – and even adventurous – album."

Allmusic similarly criticized the lyrics of "Tell Me Why" and "Way of the World", calling them "paeans for world understanding that sound miles away from any immediacy." However, they praised the album for returning to a less pop-oriented direction, and especially complimented the grittiness of "No Son of Mine", "Jesus He Knows Me", and "I Can't Dance".

David Browne of Entertainment Weekly stated that "At a time when everything is uncertain... you almost have to admire a record like We Can't Dance. You know there will be a couple of fleeting moments when the band breaks out of its torpor — for instance, on the very polite primal stomp of 'I Can't Dance' — and that such moments will just as quickly be subsumed by the rest of the musical quicksand."