Considered a surrealistic examination of Russell's newfound fame, it was inspired by the musician's personal downsides in being a celebrated live performer.

[1] Bill Janovitz comments that it describes Russell's "surrealistic journey out in the woods of his newfound fame", veering between "ambivalence and outright rejection of that celebrity."

"[2] As Phil Hardy and Dave Laing commented, Carney shows a "different, mellower Russell" and, as with Stage Fright, explores "the personal costs of live performance".

"[2] Side one opens with "Tight Rope", a hooky "cry for help" with vaudeville and music hall influences; the uncluttered arrangement also features dobro and a guitar amplified through a revolving Leslie speaker, while Russell clicks his tongue to keep time on breaks.

[2] "Manhattan Island Serenade" is a wistful ballad with a melody that has been compared to Paul McCartney; its intro features "the sound of tires swishing across wet pavement during a rainstorm".

The first of these is the title track, a "Fellini-esque" piece described by Janovitz as "a comic wheezing-waterlogged calliope" that resembles "the Kurt Weill Threepenny Opera-inspired sounds" used by Tom Waits on Swordfishtrombones (1983).

[3] Vance compares it to a "cheapo space movie" soundtrack,[3] while Janovitz calls it an "avant-garde sound collage" which starts with "tormented ghostly moans sliding into a Zappa-warped doo-wop section set against the Chamberlin tape loops of voices."

[7] "Tight Rope" was released as a single and was his only top ten hit on the Cash Box charts; it also reached number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100.

[9] In his review, he commented that Russell's artistry had increased with each album and praised his uniqueness, believing he repeatedly makes "the right decision" in his work.

They noted that the album draws unobvious parallels between Russell's life and "an old-fashioned carnival", and believed it to be an "amazingly insightful work" that will enchant fans of the singer, whose "exaggerated twang" they deemed the most delightful in rock.

"[1] Writing for The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (1997), Colin Larkin described Carney as a "poignantly stunning" album, and deemed it a semi-autobiographical work which uses "the circus clown theme as an analogy to his own punishing career.