[2] Popmatters considers the album to be "perfect road fodder in its own inimitable way", noting driving-related themes in its lyrics and a similarly suggestive sound in the music (citing the track "Driving Song" as an example).

[5] Dusted writes that the "band's approach" is summed up in its opening track "Watching the Candles Burn": "dueling guitars that wildly alternate between a countryish strum and noisy, half-improvised solos; Rick Rizzo's amelodic, almost aggressive singing; a general sense of freewheeling, youthful energy.

The album was re-released and expanded with the addition of the entire 3-song Wayne EP and videos for the tracks "Arsonist" (directed by Guy Roadruck for cable TV), "Watching the Candles Burn" and "Among the Pines" in 2003 by Thrill Jockey.

[12][13][14] Critic Greg Kot wrote of the album in 2003: "As a document of that era, "Prairie School Freakout" is both steeped in tradition (wearing influences from Crazy Horse to Patti Smith) and ahead of its time (prefiguring grunge and alternative rock).

"[3] Decrying their lack of success in comparison to their peers, Noel Gardner of Drowned in Sound wrote that the album "is a better record than anything The Flaming Lips, Yo La Tengo, Mercury Rev or Pavement – all similarly venerable, all vastly more bankable – have ever released.