[2] The notes for The Columbia Studio Recordings (1964–1970), a 2001 release of Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme and four other albums, called the track "Simon's caricature of consumer culture".
[4] "The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine" was released as the B-side of "The Dangling Conversation" in July 1966, reaching number 25 on Billboard's Hot 100.
"[8] In a retrospective review for AllMusic Matthew Greenwald compares it to Marty Balin's "Plastic Fantastic Lover" (recorded by Jefferson Airplane on their 1967 album Surrealistic Pillow).
Greenwald calls it "a great putdown song about the effect of television" that "succeeds precisely because the overall sound of the record conveys the over-saturation and ridiculous nature of the medium".
[10] Andy Fyfe of BBC Music said in his review of Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme that the song "may seem slight on the surface, but their joy at merely being alive reflected the optimism of youth in a time of crisis",[6] referring to the Vietnam War.