[5] Love Jones supported Powerful Pain Relief by opening for the Presidents of the United States of America on a North American tour.

"[7] CMJ New Music Monthly wrote that the album "shows the band as determinedly campy as ever, playing the kind of richly instrumental, overly opulent '70s jazz-pop that made the Association so famous.

"[11] The Austin Chronicle concluded that "fans of pink elephants, shag carpeting, and swizzle sticks will sway their velvet-clad booties quite righteously to Powerful Pain Relief; everyone else will miss the point entirely.

"[12] The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said that "the tacky (not funny enough to be called kitschy) collection includes the title track, a phony-sounding, Dee-Lite-style love song; the insipid Sly Stone-ripoff, 'World of Summer'; and 'Vigilante', a laughable attempt at menacing, blaxploitation-film badness.

"[14] AllMusic wrote that "the band evolved their loungey sound away from a Combustible Edison bossa nova vibe to more rock but still created a smooth, cocktail mood.