[8][9] They became innovators of the Bristol sound, with initial endeavours including cutting up samples of pianist Erik Satie and applying them to hip hop-reggae rhythms, and recording with Pop Group member Mark Stewart on "Stranger Than Love".

[9] Alongside producing fellow Bristolian act Massive Attack's debut single "Any Love" and Fresh 4's sole hit "Wishing on a Star", Smith & Mighty released off-kilter covers of the Burt Bacharach and Hal David songs "Walk on By" and "Anyone Who Had a Heart.

[8] The duo thus found themselves in "music industry purgatory," unwilling to alter their style to fit ffrr/London's wishes, but contractually prevented from releasing the album elsewhere.

They compared the album's experimental trawl through different genres and soundscapes to dub producers like King Tubby, Scientist and Dennis Bovell and experimental post-punk bands like Public Image Ltd.[18] "Hold On (Strange Mix)" is driven by distorted, backwards guitar, a breakbeat, ominous keyboards and a "sucked backwards" vocal,[18][19] contributing to an atmosphere that The Wire said was "unlike anything you might have expected.

[6][7] This reissue marked the album's first release in the United States,[12] and reached number 9 on the CMJ Dance chart, compiled from reports of radio play.

"[10] In a contemporary review, Gary Mulholland of Select praised the "awkwardness" of the album, citing the track name "Odd Tune for Piano" and the inaccessibility of "Hold On (Strange Mix)" as examples.

"[19] The Independent deemed Bass Is Maternal "thumping dub/jungle rhythms from the lost elders of ye Bristol scene",[27] while The Guardian called it "as raw as it is thrillingly inventive.

"[28] Less receptive was John Bush of AllMusic, who in a mixed review said the album featured "too much experimentation and not enough hooks," and felt that throughout the record, the duo "simply don't find a happy medium between jungle and reggae.

Although he felt that the record was somewhat scattered, he characterised it favourably with one of Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies: "the gamut of choices open to an artist willing to surrender his or her ego.

Bass Is Maternal has retrospectively been cited by critics as a groundbreaking album that, despite largely originating from 1989, helped predict various strands of mid-1990s music, especially that of the Bristol sound.

"[15] Craig Roseberry of Billboard wrote that the "groundbreaking" album, and the duo's "desconstruted reconstructions" of Burt Bacharach songs in the late 1980s, "helped cement the act's underground cult status.

In the accompanying text, Jon Caramanica called the duo "forefathers of Bristol's tripped-out bass-science scene" and wrote how they "explored all stripes of thick groove" throughout Bass Is Maternal.

The website described the album as "the best representation" of the duo's scope, noting that it "illustrates their experimentation as they attempted to summarize the meeting point between UK rave culture and Jamaican dub.