[3] Reviewing for Sounds, Phil Sutcliffe gave the album 5 out of 5, describing it as a "continuation of Back To The Night, [...] maintaining the musical standards of lightness, flexibility and clarity and in several songs stepping into a new dimension of expressiveness with her lyrics."

and that she "has quite possibly come up with the richest work of this renaissance [of putting the heart back into music] so far, and if there's another album as good as this in the remainder of the year we'll be very lucky indeed.

"[10] Reviewing for Melody Maker, Richard Williams wrote that her "writing, singing, and playing evince a sure-footedness which borders on arrogance" and "much of this must be due to the influence of her new producer, Glyn Johns, whose finest hour this is.

"[11] When reviewed in Billboard magazine, the album was described as "thoroughly diverse and immensely enjoyable", delivering "the kind of lyrically touching and introspective ballads that have characterized Janis Ian's work.

[13] In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Dave Connolly calls it Armatrading's "most muscular music to date" and particularly praises "Down to Zero" and "Love and Affection".