[1] The songs on side one of the album reflect Earle's politics: the title track attacks the War on Drugs, and the song "Snake Oil" compares then president Ronald Reagan to a traveling con man and draws attention to his "legacy of creative deceit".

The second side of the album consists of more traditional love songs and a Christmas-themed offering in "Nothing but a Child", a duet performed with Maria McKee.

[3] Time, including it in the September 19, 1988, Critics' Choices, described it as a "rock-inflected, country-based album" that "takes long chances with big themes ... and does them proud".

Rob Tannenbaum wrote that the album "begins murderously and ends sentimentally ... split into two song cycles" and described the first side as being "as powerful as any music made this year".

Of side two he admits disappointment at conventional love songs, saying Earle "has already examined this terrain and done a better job of it."