The album saw the band move on towards a more accessible rock sound than that of their more lo-fi debut Slanted and Enchanted and achieve moderate success with the single "Cut Your Hair".

[4] AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave Crooked Rain a perfect five-star rating, describing it as "the Reckoning to Slanted & Enchanted's Murmur".

"[5] Robert Christgau of the Village Voice gave the album an A grade, describing it as "a tour de force melodywise".

When they set those sentiments to bumpy-road drones or a bit of a country lilt...the result has a subtle, ingratiating beauty.

Cromelin wrote that the album contains "some of the Meat Puppets' loopiness, a Stones/Burritos folk-country resonance, and a chirpy pop tunefulness--along with enough contrary abrasiveness to keep you from getting too comfortable with them.