The single "Wedding Bell Blues", initially written and sung by Laura Nyro in 1966, featured Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day on backing vocals.

[12] In a positive review for The Telegraph, Neil McCormick rated California Son four out of five stars and described it as "sumptuous", writing that "if a great cover version should reveal new dimensions in both song and singer, then this album is filled with them".

However, he described California Son as "epically overproduced" and considered some of the song choices "odd" in regard to the political views expressed by the singer in the years preceding the album's release.

[21] In a negative review for The Guardian, Laura Snapes felt that Morrissey's political views made it "impossible to hear a number of the covers on California Son in anything but a chilling light".

Although she noted "vaguely intriguing gender wrinkles", she questioned his motivation to record "protest-adjacent covers" and criticised both his vocal performance and the production of the album.

echoed Snapes's comments, viewing the song choices as "completely opposed" to Morrissey's political opinions and writing that "California Son displays an ambiguity that reeks of grotesque hypocrisy".