His own version of "These Days" appears here after having been previously recorded by Nico, Tom Rush, who also covered "Colors of the Sun", and Gregg Allman.

In her November 1973 review in Rolling Stone, Janet Maslin wrote that "for inwardly panoramic songwriting of an apocalyptic bent, Jackson Browne's second album is rivaled only by his first (the second one wins), and Jackson himself is rivaled by nobody," adding that "his work is a unique fusion of West Coast casualness and East Coast paranoia, easygoing slang and painstaking precision, child's-eye romanticizing and adult's-eye acceptance."

He stands alone as a composite of ambivalence about maturity, weariness of the race, fear that love may not be enough ... confusion over whether or not a lasting home can be found in a progressively nightmarish world.

"[7] In a 1999 Rolling Stone review, Anthony DeCurtis claimed the album as uneven and that "Browne is still searching for his true voice on For Everyman.

"[3] Music critic Robert Christgau gave the album a B grade, writing "Even as he lists toward the pretentious and the vague, the reflective evenness of Browne's delivery sets up an expectation of cogency that on this album is satisfied only by such relatively unambitious songs as 'These Days,' 'Red Neck Friend,' and the charming 'Ready or Not.'

"[8] Cash Box called "Ready or Not" a "catchy autobiographical sketch of life on the road" whose "story line is an intriguing romance with humorous overtones" and said the song had "excellent balance and instrumentation.

"[11] Record World called it a "nifty self-produced number that features good country-tinged instrumental work behind [Browns's] ear-catching vocalizing" and that "straightforward lyrics follow a solid melody line.