"Ain't It Strange" and "Distant Fingers", the latter co-written with Smith's long-time boyfriend Allen Lanier, had both been staples of the Group's concerts long before the recording of Horses.

Critics in negative reviews cited that Douglas' production placed more emphasis on creating a heavy sound through numerous guitar parts that smothered Smith's vocals,[1] and, at times, lamented that all of the album's songs were originals of the group.

In a contemporary review of Radio Ethiopia, Rolling Stone critic Dave Marsh opined that Smith "seems to lack the direction necessary to live up to her own best ideas".

"[9] Village Voice critic Robert Christgau stated that the album's sound "delivers the charge of heavy metal without the depressing predictability; its riff power ... has the human elan of a band that is still learning to play.

"[2] AllMusic critic William Ruhlmann retrospectively described Radio Ethiopia as "a schizophrenic album in which the many elements that had worked so well together on Horses now seemed jarringly incompatible", noting that the Patti Smith Group had "encountered the same development problem the punks would—as they learned their craft and competence set in, they lost some of the unself-consciousness that had made their music so appealing.