In a 1969 piece called "A Short and Happy History of Rock", published by Stereo Review, Robert Christgau selected Live in Europe as a representative Redding LP in his basic rock "library" of 25 albums.

Despite the limitations of in-concert recording, this album is his best because Redding's stage presence was integral to his popularity, and because it contains most of his best songs.

No other black performer has ever been able to bridge the racial barrier so completely while remaining so true to himself and his skin.

[4]However, Christgau's later appraisals of the album have ranged from it "captur[ing] a sensitive soul man at his toughest and most outgoing"[5] to it being "among [Redding's] worst" due to "too many concessions to an English audience that wanted fast rock and roll songs".

[6] In 2003, Live in Europe was ranked number 474 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.